Free Walking Tour of the Old City of Sarajevo Day

The Latin Bridge in Sarajevo. This is where it all started. And by "all," I mean "all."

Today was the day to do the free walking tour through the place where the history of the 20th Century began on June 28, 1914: Sarajevo.

But, first, there can be no free walking tour through the historic core of Old Sarajevo unless I leave my hotel. And the hotel looks impressive in the sunlight.

This is the Isa Begov Hamam and Hotel, just across the Miljacka River from the core of the old city. It occupies a site that was the first hamam in Sarajevo after the Ottoman conquest of Bosnia, so this dates back to 1462. The building suffered tremendously in various wars and natural disasters until, finally, about 15 years ago, it was fully restored to be the boutique you see above.

The Miljacka River is more decorative than functional:

This building might be the Emperor's Mosque:

It is right next to my hotel. I walked past it on my short walk to the start of the free walking tour, but the designated walking tour had not yet begun -- only my personal walk to the walking tour -- so I got no description of what building this is or its history. But there is a lot of history in the old city.

More of the Miljacka River:

There is a tram system that loops around the old vity:

And this is the view of the Latin Bridge from the next bridge upstream.

For a place so fraught with history, it's interesting to see people treat the Latin Bridge as just a bridge:

Cats, too:

But this is quite literally where the history of the 20th Century began on June 28, 1914, right at this spot:

Those footprints represent the place where Gavrilo Princip was standing when, through a bizarre series of events, he found himself standing right in front of the stalled, open-air vehicle in which Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir apparent to the throne of Austria-Hungary, and his wife Sophie. He fired his pistol twice. The Archduke and his wife were mortally wounded. And the world changed forever and irrevocably.

This event and this corner of this city was the catalyst for unleashing series of events that defined the 20th Century:  World War I; the end of monarchies and empires in Europe; the rise of communism; the rise of Hitler; World War II; the end of Europe as the center of global power; the destruction of faith in the western experiment. All because of two pistol shots in Sarajevo.

Control of Bosnia, at that time, had passed from the Sick Man of Europe, the dying Ottoman Empire, to the "not quite as sick" Austro-Hungarian Empire. Apparently some Bosnians were OK with this because Austria-Hungary represented an upgrade from being under the thumb of the dying Ottoman regime. But Princip was not. He was part of a small group of ... activists? ... guerillas? ... terrorists? ... who wanted to foment rebellion and allow for an independent nation of unified southern Slavs. Ironically, Princip's actions brought about what he wanted, the creation after the end of World War II of the modern state of Yugoslavia. 

There is more to Sarajevo than being the flashpoint where World War I started. And there is more than being the center of the Bosnian War in the mid 1990's.

This is the Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque, which dates back to the 16th Century:

This fountain is the foot-washing station for the mosque. It's also a source for drinking water out of the same taps as one can use for foot-washing water.

And before someone thinks that it is gross to drink from a tap people use to wash their feet, we've all drank water from the bathroom sink tap that we use to wash our hands and face, so get over it.

This is the clock tower next to the Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque:

The time at the top is not regular time, it is solar time, with the day beginning not at an arbitrary point that roughly approximates the middle of the night, but with the sunset, as the religious day for Moslem is solar. It's true for us Catholics, too -- the Jewish also -- where religious days begin at sundown. The clock has to be adjusted a couple of times per week because the relationship between the earth and the sun is not static.

We now are about to enter the part of the old city dedicated to souvenir stands:

Peace has come to Sarajevo. There is nothing wrong with making a little money.

This is another site that is critically important to the events of June 28, 1914: the Old City Hall:

The Archduke Ferdinand was riding in an open-air vehicle in a parade-like motorcade when he drove past the Texas Schoolbook Depository. Sorry, wrong open air vehicle. Wrong assassination. The Archduke was, in fact, riding in a parade-like motorcade that day. The parade route was numerous potential assassins along it, all associated with the same group of Bosnian radicals as Princip. One of the assassins tossed a grenade at the car in which the Archduke was riding, but the grenade bounced off that vehicle and into the vehicle immediately behind it. That vehicle was carrying a number of important military officials. The grenade then exploded causing multiple injuries and deaths. Franz Ferdinand then was rushed to safety at the Old City Hall.

If he had just stayed there that day, after that incident, it likely would not have been the catalyst for World War I although, who knows, since Austria-Hungary was itching for a fight with the independent Republic of Serbia. But Franz Ferdinand did not stay put in the safety of City Hall. He wanted to go to the hospital to check on his injured comrades.

But not this hospital:

That now-abandoned building then was a military hospital on a bluff overlooking Sarajevo. If that had been the hospital to which the injured military officials had been taken, Franz Ferdinand would have been secure. Instead, the military officials were taken to the main city hospital. The Archduke wanted to visit them. The Archduke's driver was given conflicting directions about a new, more secure route to take to get the Archduke (and his wife Sophie) to the hospital. The driver took a wrong turn near the Latin Bridge and his vehicle came to a stop as the driver attempted to recalculate the route. And standing right there, at a delicatessen across from the Latin Bridge, where Franz Ferdinand's car came to a stop, was a man who thought his only chance at assassinating the Archduke had passed him by.

A whole lot of events had to go horribly wrong for all of this to happen. But they did happen and the world changed forever.

These are old city walls:

And this is the only man besides Marshall Tito who could unite the Yugoslavian nation:

Nikola Tesla at a restaurant bearing his name. A Serb born in Croatian territory, so all of the Yugoslavian people could claim this genius as their own. And what do you think Tesla was thinking here? Maybe about how the Great Pyramids of Egypt were actually massive electrical generators ...

This is the Orthodox Church of the Nativity of the Theotokos, the largest orthodox cathedral in Sarajevo:

And for us papists, the main Catholic church in Sarajevo:

Sacred Heart Cathedral.

With a statute of Saint John Paul II:

And we will end with an poignant and artsy photo:

Throughout Sarajevo, there are what they call "Sarajevo roses." These are holes in the pavement representing where mortal shells exploded during the Bosnian War on the 1990's. They've painted them red where there were deaths at that site from the explosion. This would have been one such place. In front of the main Catholic cathedral.