DIVERSIONS

from Sarajevo Survival Guide

Contents:

EXCURSIONS
CEMETERIES
GOING OUT OF TOWN
CONVOY
ENTERTAINMENT AND ACCOMMODATIONS
COFFEE SHOPS
EXHIBITIONS
THEATERS
CINEMA
RADIO
NEWSPAPERS
TIPS FOR THE TRAVELER


EXCURSIONS

They demand quite a bit of courage. The best known journalists' routes lead to the front lines...Sarajevans once loved their hills and the fact that their city was like a bird in a green nest. In the war, these hills are the sites where the death of Sarajevo is being engineered and spread around, daily.

As an exchange for foreign currency, or for food and drinks, you can find a guide who will take you to all these places and more:

to Dobrinja, the new part of the city that was built for the 1984 Winter Olympics and is now divided by trenches, many of its buildings burned, with cemeteries between the blocks, on the playgrounds;

to Stup, an old neighborhood on the road West, with the old Catholic church that burned to the ground;

to Otes, a medieval village which became part of the town, with almost 10,000 inhabitants, and which does not exist since the beginning of December of 1992.

You can also visit Igman, a mountain once known for its beautiful terrain, where you could meet does and wildcats;

or go to Stojcevac, the residential complex of Josip Broz Tito--where the first casino opened for the 1984 Winter Olympics.

From some of these sites you can get coffee, alcohol, meat and vegetables for a price which is much lower than on the black market. The combination of this mercantile enterprise might lower significantly the price of your tour, and the amount of your fear.

Tours from the city cannot be organized to Jahorina (former famous ski-resort, now the military base of the aggressor), to Trebevic (former sledding route, now a front line), to Pale (air-spa, swimming pool, bowling--now the military-political capital of the enemy), to Borike (horseback riding, now cut off from information), Treskavica (hunting and fishing, now a front line), Ilidza (thermal spa, now occupied, ethnically-cleansed territory with a military base).

For the people of Sarajevo, each time they leave their home is a major outing. To visit a friend is an event. Paths lead through back doors, over fences, through gardens, far from the dangerous roads. Visits usually end by staying overnight, for life ends in the early afternoon. In fact, war-parties are the best kind of entertainment. Once they start, they last until the morning. Hosts are those who, for that evening, have the electricity, or the drinks.

CEMETERIES

The beauty of old Sarajevo cemeteries has been ruined by growing needs. They have been reopened when two contemporary cemeteries--Bare and Vlakovo--became inaccessible. Small old cemeteries which were active for certain neighborhoods, even streets (mahalska) were closed in 1878, with the arrival of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. More than a century later, they started functioning again. People are being buried next to Mosques, on playgrounds in front of their houses. The old military cemeteries--Austrian, of the First Yugoslavia, German, and a partisan one--are full. Since September, the small stadium in the sports complex Kosevo was turned into a cemetery, too. Funerals are held in early morning or dusk hours, to avoid the shelling. There is a rule not to go to the funerals and not to have flowers and wreaths. They cannot be bought anyway, even if someone would want to.

GOING OUT OF TOWN

Officially, there is no such thing as "going out of town." Since April of 1992, the city has been forced to turn (inward) and to greet those who come fulfilling their diplomatic, journalistic and humanitarian tasks.

CONVOY

Convoy is the term which equals organized exit, a ticket with no return. For all such journeys there are lists, and time to be spent waiting, filled with uncertainties. They are organized by the Children's Embassy, Red Cross, by the Jewish Community...Those who entered one of the lists in June, who have all the needed documents, are not sure that they will be leaving the city in December. There is always a new document required, a new rule to obey, a new delay. And, no wonder, each convoy has its own rules. Children's Embassy takes out children, mothers, the very old and the exhausted. The Red Cross is taking out old, sick and children. The Jewish Community took out Jews and their friends, supplying them with false documents. Slovenes took out their citizens and those who could remember one Slovene in their family in the past seven generations. At these sad departures you could often hear anxious questions: "Father, what's your name?" "Mother, what's your name?"

Discreetly, but to no one's surprise, the city was left by wives, children, parents, and friends of various officials. Illegal channels were used...On each of these starts there was a "connection," a guy dealing with the formalities which basically means exchanging tangible hard currency for the invisible bus ticket.

ENTERTAINMENT AND ACCOMMODATIONS

Tourism in Sarajevo comes down to foreign journalists and politicians. The latter ones stay in the city only for a few hours and run away. Soldiers and journalists stay longer, but are regularly replaced. Only for the people of Sarajevo is there no exit. They don't live in shifts.

Journalists are either in the Holiday Inn, or with friends who have a good basement. They travel the city in protected cars, and with the obligatory bullet-proof vest.

Sarajevo has numerous hotels. They are all full, except for the Bristol and Posta. They became homes for refugees. The same goes for the oldest and most famous hotel, Evropa, the part which has not burned...

Guests are accepted only in the Holiday Inn, a hotel with two directors. One was appointed by the City Parliament, the other by the Republic. Of course, not all the rooms are available, for some no longer exist. During the stronger shellings, guests leave their rooms and sleep collectively in the basement, armed with their cellular phones. The hotel is well supplied with alcoholic drinks and refreshments. Only there can you try the best of local cuisine--big selections of Viennese and Oriental delights.

Guests are, of course, foreign journalists. There are some locals, too. These are private businessmen, merchants, people for all times and all imaginable businesses...Service is decent. At night the hotel resembles "Casablanca."

Culinary specialties are offered, since last October, in the following places:

The selection of drinks is very limited. As for the food--aside from soup, one can get cooked veal, hamburgers (domestic version is called pljeskavica). How the food gets there is kept as the biggest professional secret. Silent are both those who order and those who deliver. And those who eat.

There are private clubs, too. In case you have someone to take you there, look for:

Modern, prewar life of cafes, in which mingled the youth of the city and its business circles--good music, excellent coffee, whiskey, home-made brandy--since November they re-emerged, protected with thick slabs and UNHCR foils, with generators for their own electricity. Their names: Bugatti, Piere, Stefanel, Charlie, Sky, Indi, Holland, 501, S.O.S., GoGo, Tvin...They start working at 11 a.m. and close at nightfall. Some work until the curfew--visit only if you have a friend who knows the city well. Some are open as long as there are guests. All are armed.

There are places where you can gamble, playing cards. It is convenient for foreigners--payment is in hard currency anyway. One shouldn't have too much self-confidence. Sarajevo gamblers cannot reach Italy or Cote d'Azur anymore. Their skilled passion has to be fulfilled here.

COFFEE SHOPS

Sarajevo had its first coffee shop more than four hundred years ago. They spread quickly, hundreds of them, and became very popular places for gathering and slow enjoyment. Their offering was limited, but what was offered was of the best quality: Turkish coffee (Bosnian version), tea and fir-tree juice. As time went by, European-style cafes merged with those...They introduced espresso, pastry, and alcohol. Both styles lived together, beloved and nurtured by the same public.

EXHIBITIONS

Once a week in the partially destroyed Red Cross building in the "Sniper Alley." Exhibitions by local sculptors, painters and "conceptualists." Hot tea is also served. The gallery is owned by "Scena obala."

THEATERS

"Kameni teatar 55" is located in a shelled building in the main street, Marshal Tito 55. The auditorium is one of the safest places in the city. Every day at 1 p.m. (the time is determined by the difficulty in moving about in the lightless city at night) there is a performance, a presentation of a new bank, newspaper, or a commemoration of some significant event...

Sometimes there are cocktail-parties where humanitarian aid is served. Hair is the most popular hit.

CINEMA

"Scena obala." Once a week at 1 p.m. The place is safe. Heating by battery. Movies are on video tapes. The cinema is also a meeting place for intellectuals, foreign newsmen and artists.

RADIO

Those with batteries/generators can listen to government radio and some independent, privately owned stations. The most popular are the urban stations "Zid" and "Studio 99."

NEWSPAPERS

The daily OSLOBODJENJE...is published in a completely destroyed building. When there is not sufficient paper it is published in small editions and the news vendors stick the sheets onto facades. Also available are RATNI DANI and BLIC, and TENNIS, the magazine of the Architects' Association.

Travelers also bring into the city old issues of the dailies and weeklies from the former Yugoslavia and elsewhere. These papers circulate from house to house.

TIPS FOR THE TRAVELER

When you come to Sarajevo, be prepared and be mature. It might prove to be the most important decision you make in your life. Bring:

Everything you bring will be consumed or exchanged for useful information. You should know when to skip a meal, how to turn trouble into a joke and be relaxed in impossible moments. Learn not to show emotions and don't be fussy about anything. Be ready to sleep in a basement, and walk and work in danger. Give up all your former habits. Use the telephone when it works, laugh when it doesn't. You'll laugh a lot. Despise, don't hate.




PLEASE SEE:

DART GAME--The beginning
THE ESSENTIALS--Everyday life
THE EXTRAS--Non-essentials
FUTURE AND PAST--End of the beginning
A COOKBOOK FOR WAR

OR RETURN TO:

THE INTRODUCTION