Any Travels

When Yugoslavia fell apart, Bosnia and Herzegovina were torn to pieces by a agression. Now the fighting has stopped, peace has returned, but there aren't many travelers who make it this way. Still the country has some interesting things to see and do.

Bosnia and Hercegovina (or Bosnia Hezegovina as some prefer it) is a crossroads country. Sandwiched between Croatia and Serbia, it's been a zone of contention since Occident and Orient first began arm-wrestling for it. It's been through Christian, Muslim and Orthodox hands; for a while its people seemed to enjoy their multi-cultural milieu.

Then in 1992, after a disputed vote for independence, Bosnian Serb nationalists shattered social harmony with the help of the federal army and Serb officials. The resulting three-way civil war pitted Muslim Slavs, Orthodox Serbs and Catholic Croats - all former neighbours - against one another.

The war devastated the country's infrastructure and already deflated economy, left refugees numbering in the millions and gave its partisans the ignominious distinction of having introduced the phrase 'ethnic cleansing' into modern parlance. Although travellers are beginning to return to Bosnia and Hercegovina, especially the gorgeous Sarajevo, it will be many years before the scars heal and the country again boasts a significant tourist draw.

Historically, Bosnians were a pretty tolerant lot, their land peopled with practitioners of Islam, Eastern Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Protestantism, Judaism and a host of other religions and ideologies. Their art and architecture reflected this diversity, as did their cuisine. This brotherly acceptance ground to a bloody halt with the brutal bouts of 'ethnic cleansing' during the war. In the post-war period, memories of the atrocities committed by all sides remain fresh, and that spirit of tolerance has gone the way of the many mosques, synagogues and other symbols of divergent faiths that were torched and shelled during the fighting.

Religious conflict is one of the unavoidable facts about this devastated country. Despite wishful thinking about a renewed tolerance and integration, the Serb Republic is almost entirely Christian and the Federation is almost entirely Muslim. In each part of Bosnia and Hercegovina, churches and mosques are being rebuilt at lightning speeds, but this phenomenon has more to do with nationalism than religion, since most people are fairly secular. Ironically, Serbs, Croats and Bosnian Muslims are all South Slavs of the same ethnic stock. Physically, they are indistinguishable.

Dialects notwithstanding, the people of Bosnia and Hercegovina speak the same language, though that language is called 'Bosnian' in the Muslim part of the Federation, 'Croatian' in Croat-controlled parts and 'Serbian' in the Republika Srpska. The Federation uses Latin script, while the Serbs use Cyrillic. There are over 30 letters in the alphabet, many of them pronounced as they are in English. Bosnia takes its name from the Bosna River that runs through it, Hercegovina from the herceg (duke) who ruled the southern portion of the region until the 15th-century Turkish conquest.

Removing one's shoes is customary in Muslim households; the host family will provide slippers. In general, the Bosnian people are incredibly friendly toward visitors, but when conversation turns to politics, your best strategy is to listen. People are eager to talk about the war but are generally convinced that their side is right.

The country's Eastern background is evident in its cuisine of grilled meats, bosanski lonac (a stew of cabbage and meat), baklava (a Turkish sweet) and the ubiquitous servings of burek and pida (layered cheese or meat pies). Vegetarians have fewer choices, but there's always sirnica (cheese pie) or zeljanica (spinach pie). Tufahije is an apple cake topped with walnuts and whipped cream.

Bosnia's best known author is Ivo Andric, the Nobel prize-winning author of Bridge over the Drina, the first of a trilogy of historical novels. Another thing the country's famous for, it may surprise you to learn, is basketball, Bosnia's most popular sport. What may surprise you further, in case you hadn't heard, is that their players are really good.

View of Stari Most from the North
"Stari Most" means "Old Bridge" and is the genesis of the name of the town of Mostar. Signs were prominently posted on the bridge saying "No jumping". However, that stopped nobody. We saw a group of young people diving and jumping off the bridge into the Neretva River and having a great time. According to a Mostar local, "We, the men, used to show our bravery to our fiancees by jumping to the river from the deck of the bridge before getting married. This did not belong to a specific ethnic group. It was a common tradition." I was glad my brand new husband did not feel compelled to prove his manliness to me in the same way.