Academic Travel Post #4: Bosnia
What an experience! I loved visiting Sarajevo because it felt like I was taking a mini trip to Turkey! The turkish influence there is undeniable. Our hotel was located right next to the town bazar (turkish style market) with hundreds of shops selling handmade jewelry, hand woven rugs, spices, textiles etc. Not to mention that I had the best honey drizzled baklava of my life at a little street cafe here! I love the feeling of this city and its deep (albeit tragic) history. At one time it was a trade mecca, a principle stop on the Silk Route. In fact Sarajevo was so developed that it was the 2nd city in the world (after London) to get electricity in the 1890s. Unfortunately, several wars have nearly decimated the city. Most recently the Siege of Sarajevo (1992-1996) resulted in the destruction of 90% of the cities infrastructure. Reconstruction efforts are still going on today. In fact the week we visited they just were taking their first census since the war, a war which happened...