My Visit to Bosnia (Mostar & Sarajevo)

Society Travel & Tourism
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Hey, I was recently able to visit Mostar and Sarajevo in Bosnia… amazing muslim architecture for the heart of Europe.. they both have ‘old Turkish quarters’ unlike anything I had seen in Turkey.. preserved medieval muslim towns in the heart of Europe..

I think its amazing and think more people should go.. so many eastern handcrafts.. the food is all halal.. the music is very eastern influenced and sounds more like traditional pakistani or arabic than turkish..

Its too bad I was the only ‘muslim’ tourist as far as I could tell.. there was one guy from Iran that asked me to take his picture, but not any others… Its all ‘perception’ about the war.. I didnt see any UN peacekeepers or checkpoints driving around…

More muslims should go and spend their money there as a way to help their economy develop and let the locals feel more connected to the outside world with the return of tourists instead of just going to pakistan/india and seeing same old!

check out
www .sarajevo-tourism.com
see the 360 pan shots
and goto ‘the culture and history’ to see the picture gallery

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Re: My Visit to Bosnia (Mostar & Sarajevo)

Oo!

What was your purpose for going there? business, pleasure?

Do you have any pix?

I've always been interested in the Balkan region and what went on there.. :)

Kuch Yaadgaar Kirdaar
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Re: My Visit to Bosnia (Mostar & Sarajevo)

I was visiting just out of personal interest to see Ottoman ‘Muslim Europe’ their legacy and influence… there is much interest in muslim spain but not enough in eastern europe where the turks held power till as late as 1878 (all parts of albania, serbia, bosnia, bulgaria, macedonia)… there are still sizeable and vibrant muslim communities there ranging as high as 90% in kosovo and 70% in albania to 30% in macedonia, 40% in bosnia, and 10% bulgaria..

heres some pics from Mostar and Sarajevo.. not sure if this will work

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Re: My Visit to Bosnia (Mostar & Sarajevo)

I use to Live in London E7

A Message to Anti Pakistani Forces
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Re: My Visit to Bosnia (Mostar & Sarajevo)

Yeah I know theres a large Muslim population there. thas why i’m interested in it.. acutally what i always wondered was why they consider Muslimt o be a ethnic identity instead of a religious identity.. the majority of Albanian/Bosnian Muslims I’ve seen here are not muslim in behavior/belief at all, only by ethnicity.. not sure why..

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Re: My Visit to Bosnia (Mostar & Sarajevo)

well I dont know enough about their cultural history but maybe because they didnt convert till Ottoman times (about 400 years ago) they already had their cultural identities established..

Albania was under Byzantine influence so more Greek orthodox. Bosnia, Serbia, and Bulgaria were all independent kingdoms with their own Kings.... Since they converted to Islam relatively recent in their history they had more cultural identity with their fellow Slavic people of the Balkans so developed their own brand of Islam...(maybe like Pakistanis have more culturally/historically in common with India than the middle east)

Also historically/culturally Bosniak muslims are cuturally different from Albanian muslims thus the distinction by ethnicity..... just my thoughts..?

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Re: My Visit to Bosnia (Mostar & Sarajevo)

Gorgeous!!!

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Re: My Visit to Bosnia (Mostar & Sarajevo)

Dear LondonE7,

thanks for the lovely pics.

Are these places recently renovated after the war? How many of Bosnia's historical sites were affected by the war? Where were these pics taken? Was this area affected by the war?

I am very curious to learn. Merci boku.

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Re: My Visit to Bosnia (Mostar & Sarajevo)

niceeeeee...

yea I am also anticipating in knowing answers to LI's questions.

do you find that women nowadays moan more about housework than times gone by?
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Re: My Visit to Bosnia (Mostar & Sarajevo)

hey.. i dont know how to label the old pics.. i have more if u like

the only places i visited were Mostar and Sarajevo so i cant comment on other historical sites in bosnia… the three pics of the stone bridge and the interior of the 16th century mosque were taken in Mostar, the rest are sarajevo…

the stone bridge was shelled and completely destroyed during the war due to its symbolic value of uniting the two sides of the town (mostar is half croat and half muslim), it was rebuilt with EU funding and recently reopened… they still had the original plans in a museum in istanbul which was used for the reconstruction.. there are some articles on the bbc news website about this..

the big moorish looking building is the town hall and library in sarajevo.. it was quite ornate looking in some older pics.. its was set on fire and is now closed to the public… again due to its symbolic importance to burn the library to erase a peoples culture… all of sarajevo was under siege for 3 yrs and cut off due to the heavy artillery on the surrounding hills overlooking the city

you see lots of bullet holes in buildings in mostar and along the croatian coast (zadar, dubrovnik).. its just over 10 years since the end of the war and a lot has been restored so you dont see the extent of the damage..


view of mostar and the neretva river seen from the Stari Most bridge


old turkish quarter bazaar area in Mostar


bullet ridden building from frontline, Mostar


medieval stone old town, Mostar


view of downtown sarajevo and old town hall from serb front lines


exterior courtyard of 16th century Beg’s mosque, sarajevo


central clock tower with arabic numerals, sarajevo


a mosque by night, sarajevo


war damage, downtown mostar

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Re: My Visit to Bosnia (Mostar & Sarajevo)

wow...I'd love to go there.

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Re: My Visit to Bosnia (Mostar & Sarajevo)

I cant wait to go back and explore some more.. :)

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Re: My Visit to Bosnia (Mostar & Sarajevo)

Honeymoon :balley:

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Re: My Visit to Bosnia (Mostar & Sarajevo)

Bosnian music.... some of their tracks are very pakistani sounding.... sarajevo radio is AMAZING...

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Re: My Visit to Bosnia (Mostar & Sarajevo)

:love: nice. Thanks for sharing E7.

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Re: My Visit to Bosnia (Mostar & Sarajevo)

sorry folks.. the music got moved to the audio gallery.

check attachments in that message thread