A Sunny Morning Walk

 A quick walk on a Sunny Friday morning in Sarajevo before having to work (the whole reason I am here!).  We were able to walk into the Catholic Cathedral this morning and see the beautiful church that was completed in 1889 when the Austrians controlled the city. This is where Pope John Paul II lead mass here. 

 The church is dedicated to the Most Holy Heart of Jesus and is very similar to the Notre Dame Cathedral in Dijon. 

 After the church a walk over to the BiH government building took us through the Olympic Park for the 1984 Summer Games.  Street Vendors were out selling art and freshly squeezed pomegranate juice. There were several choices to make for the juice.  Alas, I was full of Turkish Coffee, so I will have to get one later.

 Here is where there is a beautiful statute in Trg Oslobodenja park commemorating the Olympics.

On Tito Street-- the only street that still bares the old Communist Dictator's name-- there is the Eternal Flame for World War II victims, Vječna vatra, with it written in three languages (Serbs, Croats, and Arabic) aimed at uniting the country after 1945. It is dedicated to those who gave their lives trying to liberate the city from the Fascists.  You can see the damage left from bullet holes from the war in the 1990s.

Eternal Flame

 After the brief period of work in the morning, we walked by the Alipašina Mosque, on the corner of Tito Street, and was one of the most dangerous places to be during the war.  It was originally built in 1560-1 and in the corner, the grave stones are from fighters from the Austro-Hungarian Army.

Alipašina Mosque

gravestones in the corner

grave stones

 Close by is the Veliki Park-Parkuša, a park full of ancient Muslim grave markers.  In front is also the Mother and child War Memorial, which is very moving.  It is a mother leaning over to protect her child from falling bombs.  The fountain base has feet print in a variety of small child-sizes, which just make it very poignant.  To the side are rotating columns with the names of those children who died in the war.  When you spin the columns to read the names, there are bells that jingle inside each column.

more grave stones in the park

Mother and Child memorial fountain

feetprint

spinning columns with the victims' names

grave stone with a ball on top indicates a high official in the Ottoman period

Not sure I want to eat whatever is served from this

Austro-Hungarian architecture along Tito Street

Looking back to the Eternal Flame

a marker on a wall to journalists who were killed in the war

Tito Street

 We finished the evening in the Sarajevska pivara, Sarajevo's brewery, which has been functioning for centuries.  A sign on the wall tell the name in German, Serbian, and Arabic.  It sits upon a large fresh-water spring. During the war, people would come here on a daily basis to get their water, as it was their only access to water.  Great beer too!