Hiking and Skiing Mountains - 20 minutes away

It takes less than 20 minutes to be up in these mountains. Sarajevo is at the bottom left of the map. I have passed on skiing this year, but hiking with Fikret has been tremendous. We mainly concentrate on the two Olympic mountains--Bjelasnica and Jahorina.

Yesterday Mike took Emily, Joan, and me up to Jahorina to tour the ski village at the top, then HE found (no way I could find it again) Riblji Restoran in Pale--not just a fish restaurant but as they say, "an oasis of peace in luscious nature." Through the mountains, up the dirt road that turns into a one lane path, up still until you reach the mountain stream that becomes the Miljacka river. They have their own fish farm and serve only the trout they raise. With beer, of course.

Hiking Around Sarajevo

There's only one person to go hiking with in Sarajevo--Fikret Kahrovic. His Bosnian Hiking Adventures is a one-man show. He announces the hikes for the week, level of difficulty, and meeting place.

One hike with Fikret and that's it. You're sold!! He has spent his life in mountain rescue and guiding, and he gives you straight answers about any of your questions about the war, what Bosnians are really like, what to trust, and the geology of the region. Most of all, he's kind, alert, funny, and so competent that you just relax and hike.

Today I met the group at the Holiday Inn. Among us were the Austrian ambassador and his wife, the Spanish ambassador and wife, a Canadian Mountie who is now working for the war crimes tribunal protecting witnesses, three economists (!) and a prosecutor for the war crimes tribunal. Fikret is always nonplussed about who is hiking.

We drove to the base of Mt. Bjelasnica--that's where the men's alpine events were held during the 1984 Olympics and hiked from Babin Do (could that mean "grandmother's valley"? to Bijele Vode (white water). These valleys are high in the mountains, It was sunny and warm and the sheep and Bosnian shepherd dogs were great entertainment.

Right now my legs are killing me...but I'm so happy!

Biban's

Way up in the hills...way up...is Biban's.

Picnic tables, pub food, homemade slivovitz, and the most mystical sounds

when the calls to prayer from dozens of different mosques surround you as you gaze over the Sarajevo landscape.

It was Nancy's last night in Sarajevo and nearing the end of Clare and Jon's time here.

Patti just needed a 2 hour sabbatical from the extraordinary contradictions of everyday life here.

And everybody wanted ustipci (fried dough) with kaymak and some Sarajevsko pivo.

On our way over to Edo's in Skandarija to get photos from a card burned onto a CD, Nancy (my niece) and I stoppped at the exhibition hall to see what the latest installation was. The Collegium Artisticum is a huge hall in underground Skandarija where contemporary artists have a chance to show their work.

Nancy and I come from different eras and have different tastes. But we were both absolutely captivated by Nesim Tahirovic's exhibition. He uses primarily wood, metal, and nails to create avant-garde, humanistic, fantastic comments on the possibility of religions to mean something to each of us and to cross lines of human experience.

As we were leaving, both awestruck with the emotion as well as sheer volume of the work, Nesim Tahirovic came up to us and gave us a book with reproductions of his work. At first we had no idea that this was he. Nancy looked at a photo of him and motioned to the security guard with the question--was this THE ARTIST? A nod and we were both in pursuit of him.

What a warm hearted, gregarious, sweet artist!

Nice day in the 'hood.

Walking back and feeling great, we stopped to photograph a bride and groom and then Jadranka Kosor, the prime minister of Croatia, as she happened to be stepping out of President Silajdzic's residence.