Saturday in Falatici, BiH

Mina, Mia, Patti and me

Saturday afternoon with Mina and Hamo in Falatici - a village 15 minutes by car from Sarajevo.  Mina is a superb cook, and this time I sampled her Tikvenica - pita filled with squash and Sirnica - cheese pita.  Baked plums for dessert...heavenly!

Patti introduced me to Mia, who with her daughter spent summer 2011 in my house while I was in Sarajevo.  Through them I met Emina and Hamo, Mia's mother & father.  Emina also visited me in Shelburne.

Hamo offered some homemade grape rakija

From their deck in Falatici

The pour

Patti and the boys--Fletcher, Isaac and Bailey with Hamo

The judge and the professor making Vermont proud

Bijela Tabija - White Castle/Bastion

You can see it from Bascarsija--the big white fort--Bijela Tabija.  Dan's suggestion for a morning walk.  We winded our way up the streets, past the 7 a.m. crowd of men drinking coffee in the outdoor cafes, past the women descending to go to the markets, past the cats--dead and alive.  A few times we stopped to chat and ask directions, but mainly we walked up and up and up.    Notable was one man who was charmed that we could chat in Bosnian.   Before you knew it, he was on the topic of how he defended the houses in his village during the war, he showed us a huge scar on his belly from scrapnel, pointed to the renovations he's still doing on the house.

Women chatting at the gate

When we got to one of the medieval town gates, we stopped for a view.  Spectacularly clear skies - we could see details of the city and talked a lot about landuse, geography as destiny, the future of the city.

So Bijela Tabija is a huge, stone fort that was originally established in 1550, probably on the site of earlier fortresses, given its strategic location.  Later it was rebuilt to accommodate cannons.  Today, it is abandoned.  There are signs that it is an important archeological site as well as historic monument, but nothing prevents anyone from entering the property.  We didn't see glass or cans strewn around--that was good.

O'er the ramparts we ...

The real reason for hiking up there is for the view.  It is nearly at the treeline, so Sarajevo lies before you.  I pointed out the Sarajevo Brewery and the Franciscan Monastery and Catholic Church.  They are distinctive in their dark red brick and white trim.  I was surprised that Dan hadn't been to the brewery or pub or been in the neighborhood--Bistrik--since it played such a prominent role in providing water to beseiged Sarajevo.  So at my prompting, the downhill path was to that side of the river.

The definite Austrian influence on the interior of the pub

I love Franjevacka Street.  A church, brewery, and mosque coexist within one block of each other--all active and well kept--and just a minute's walk from the river.

What I mostly note is that I am happy.

Sarajevo Film Festival

The Sarajevo Film Festival takes over Sarajevo for a week starting July 6th.  It started right after the war, and is now in its 18th year.  It is so easy to buy tickets.  The box office has a staff of bilingual volunteers who are clearly happy to promote all things Sarajevo.   For KM19, or about $15, I bought tickets to four films, including:

• Djeca/Children of Sarajevo directed by Aida Begic.  It is about two orphans of the Bosnian war who grow up on the streets of Sarajevo in the earlz  2000s, surviving by stealing and protected by gangs, who eventually find the way to Islam as an emotional/social sanctuary 
• Two Furnaces for Udarnik Josip Trojko, directed by Goran Devic.  This is a film about workers in a foundry who dismantle the forge.  I will learn later what the iron was turned into.

Last years festival was dominated with the paparazzi trailing Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt as they paraded around town being feted for In the Land of Blood and Honey.  I wouldnt mind a little less frenzy this year.

Sunday at Vrelo Bosne

 

Vrelo Bosna is a park that was originally established under the Austro-Hungarian administration as a summer retreat.  Vrelo Bosne - the origin of the Bosna river - has a 3 kilometer tree lined path (horse chestnut trees) that leads to an open park with small lakes, open meadows, play ground, and restaurant and lots of concessions.  

Sunday was a perfect day to be there...sunny and warm.

Therese and I painted, though we didn't provide any competition for the professional who was there!

A family behind us just enjoying the kids!

Therese liked his work so much that she bought one of his oils

Quick Guide to Restaurants in Sarajevo

Much needed guide to restaurants, including hours, phone number,  and location

http://inside-mag.com/ba/destinations/sarajevo/item/25-restaurants

Skakavac Waterfall

15 days of continuous work.  Time for a break.  Dan suggested that we get a lift up to the beginnning of the trail to the Skakavac Waterfall.  It's about 12 km north of Sarajevo.  Rasim picked us up at 8 a.m., and we were on the alpine path to the falls by 8:45.  Wood cutters were working along the road, and the hike through the woods to the falls was perfect...enough of an elevation to get exercise, but not enough to exhaust.

The falls are about 98 meters tall, and for more than an hour we stared at the falls and talked philosophy, religion, and more philosophy.

It wasn't the right setting to talk central banking!

On the way back we stopped for water at a memorial for some of those from Nahorevo, the village below the falls, who were killed during the war.

Although there is a bus from Nahorevo back to Sarajevo, we decided to walk the 5 miles back, which was definitely worthwhile, as we had a chance to attack linguistics theory and practice our Bosnian on some of the people we passed.

What a perfect day!

Primer on Dalmatian Spirits

Here's an important vocabulary list:

Rakija - the catch-all term for any kind of spirit distilled from fruit in Bosnia/Croatia, and it pretty much translates to ‘brandy’. Just as there’s apple brandy, plum brandy, berry brandy and so on, varieties distilled from different source materials take more specific names.

The Croatian Adriatic coast is known for a great variety of herbal grappas, some typical for only one island or group of islands.

• The island Hvar is famous for grappa with the addition of myrrh (mrtina — bitter and dark brown). 
•  Korčula, and the city of Dubrovnik are famous for grappa with anise (aniseta)  
• Central Dalmatia the most popular rakia is grappa with nuts (orahovica). It's usually homemade, and served with dry cookies or dried figs. In the summer, it's very typical to see huge glass jars of grappa with nuts steeping in the liquid on every balcony, because the process requires the exposure of orahovica to the sun. 
• Northern Adriatic — mainly Istria — rakia is typically made of honey (medica) or mistletoe (biska). Biska, which is yellow-brown and sweet, is a typical liquor of Istria.

slivovitz - plum brandy

Plums ready for slivovitz

• lozica – grape brandy 
•  kruškovača – pear brandy 

• rogačica – grape brandy infused with carob pods 

• travarica - herbal rakia -  usually drunk at the beginning of the meal, together with dried figs.

Travarica