Dispatches from Sarajevo

19.06.2015

Pedestrians on a wide Sarajevo pavement in low evening sun, with Beko and Penny Market signs on a building beyond

When I touched down at Sarajevo Airport, I didn't know what to expect. My friend sent somebody to pick me up. I was greeted with, "Welcome to Sarajevo! Where the history is crazy and the people are friendly." Her name was Emina and what she said proved to be completely true.

In Sarajevo I found a small city in a deep valley, the setting sun turning its river to gold and washing its buildings with mellow light. A city where a Turkish bazaar turns into a 19th century Austrian thoroughfare, turban-topped tombstones stand in the gardens of small mosques, narrow streets wind their way up steep hills and drinking coffee is a way of life.

During my time there, I managed to attend a silent disco, pretended to be some sort of photographer at a wedding and narrowly escaped an attack from a pack of wild dogs, all whilst the city closed down for the Pope's first visit to Sarajevo since 1997.

Here’s some snaps to prove I'm not just making this up.

A steep cobbled lane between pale houses and parked cars in Sarajevo, with red tiled roofs and green hills beyond

A table of coffee cups and an ashtray by an open window, looking out on long grass, a wall and blocks of flats

A wedding group of five on a sunny pavement against a stone wall, one in a tulle skirt holding a bouquet

Three people in feathered headpieces sat on the pavement against a stone wall, two with cigarettes in their mouths

A hand holding a plastic bottle of homemade višnja, a cherry rakija, over a picnic table of pasta salad and flatbread

Višnja is a type of rakija – a drink popular across the Balkans. Višnja is cherry, this one was homemade and really good.

Glass bowls of water with floating white daisies, a pink rose and a red gerbera, on a stone edge in the grass

A garden party under a pine hung with paper lanterns and purple balloons, people round a table and a small dog on the grass

Ahmed, aka A Skitzo, pulling a face with a glass in hand in a sunlit garden, a parked car behind

Ahmed aka A SKITZO – He came second place at the Under 21s DMC Scratch championships a decade ago. He gave me a tour of the Sarajevo night-life which ended at sunrise at a club called Pussy Galore.

Bosnian coffee for two on a red tray: copper pots, small cups, sugar cubes and Turkish delight, with glasses of water

Bosnian coffee, like Turkish coffee but not, because it’s Bosnian.

A large cemetery crowded with headstones and grave slabs, with houses, flats and a tall chimney beyond

A group of people painting the railings round a cemetery of white headstones, beside a quiet road

How many people does it take to paint railings? 10 obviously.

A red tram passing shopfronts signed Kuhinja and Aščinica in Sarajevo, beside a green pavement railing

Did you know that Sarajevo was the first European city to have a fully operational tram network? Of course you did.

A long Sarajevo street of tall ornate buildings in bright sun, with a person waiting on the wide pavement

A crumbling pockmarked wall with graffiti, a Josipa Vancaša street sign, a Kafana sign and a yellow Opasnost warning

Some wall, I don’t know why I took this photo, I probably had a reason at the time.

The Vječna vatra, or Eternal Flame, burning in a bronze ring in front of an arched niche carved with an inscription

The Vječna vatra (Eternal Flame), a memorial to the victims of WWII in Sarajevo.

Dogs asleep on a cobbled street outside wooden shopfronts, with a busy café terrace and a minaret beyond

Note: these are not my attackers, these boys were super chill.

The Miljacka river running shallow over stones under a road bridge, with houses on the hills beyond

The Miljacka river.

A busy square in Sarajevo with a domed wooden kiosk, a tall minaret, café umbrellas and green hills beyond

For more shoddy photos follow @superbillah on Instagram, or you can check out my tumblr thingy here.

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