So yesterday my new travel buddy convinced me to go on a tour called times of misfortune. I think they are selling themselves short. It should have been called the times of resistance.
Most of the trip with my dad was heavily focused on world War 2 history and impact but since I've been in the Balkans, the turbulent history is even more modern. In my own lifetime.
This tour focused on the 4 year siege the Serbians inflicted on the Bosnians when they chose to leave Yugoslavia. For four years they were stuck, fully (nearly, the UN did control the airport and landing strip) surrounded by the Serbs trying to bomb them into submission. A year into the siege they built a tunnel, shorter than me and a little more than half a mile wide, under the landing strip at the airport to shuffle in food, weapons and other essentials. Our tour guide used this tunnel many times, as an 18 year old to get much needed supplies for his family.
The tour guide tried to make clear that this siege and the fight was not ideological on the side of the Bosnians; before, during and after the siege people from all four religions represented in the city (Catholic, Muslim, Orthodox and Jewish), worked, lived and regularly interacted with each other. As far as I can see this is the first city I've been to that really did not have a true jewish quarter, which in other cities both strengthened culture, but also allowed others to look down on the Jews. Their goal during the siege was to survive. And they did.
After the tour I had some more Burek, which is so so good but gave me heartburn. I also had baklava!! Since it was still raining and miserable I came back and for the first time since the trip started I tucked into some Netflix.
Today I bid farewell to my travel buddy and got my nails done!! I then hit up an Islamic school and a museum at the Jewish synagogue (which was a 3 minute walk from each other) and then got a massage!!!
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