Night Train to Sarajevo

August 24, 2024

Okay, okay, we did take the train from Mostar to Sarajevo for a weekend visit, but it was at 6:30am, not at night. But I thought "Night Train to Sarajevo" was a more intriguing title than "6:30am Train to Sarajevo".  But since I got you here, why don't you stay.  

Sarajevo is such an intriguing city to me. On one hand it's a bit shrouded in mystery as much of the eastern block countries are (or were) to a boy from the United States growing up during the cold war*.  And on the other hand, my mind is full of positive images from the 1984 Winter Olympics showcasing this amazing city as well as horrific images I saw on television (when I watched - as I was in college and not reading a lot of news) from the war in Bosnia & Herzegovina. 

*A quick side note: While The People's Republic of Yugoslavia was a slavic country with ties to the former Soviet Union, it famously stayed neutral during the Cold War, not siding with the US or Soviet Union, despite being a communist country. 

The train from Mostar to Sarajevo takes about two hours, but travels along a delightful stretch of landscape that includes mountains and small towns. We almost decided to jump off the train in a small town called Konic just cuz, why not, but we decided to stay the course. 

One of the aspects of travel that I love are the random encounters with fellow travelers from all over the world. In this case, we saw three older women struggling with a massive amount of large, heavy looking suitcases, so we all pitched in to help them get their gear onto the train in Mostar.  So, naturally, the extrovert in me couldn't help but ask where they are from and what they are doing in BNH (the short hand for Bosnia & Herzegovina). 

They were from Nigeria and were two sisters traveling with their mother all around the Balkans for several weeks.  We were all tired so the conversation didn't last long, but we traded information on our countries (I admited that we had not been to Nigeria, but had been to several countries in Africa and they encouraged us to visit their country).  

When we arrived in Sarajevo, since no one else stepped up to help them down the rather long flight of stairs, Team Jahns once more helped them down with their luggage.  I don't tell this to elicit a pat on the back - to me this is what everyone should do - but I point it out because I value having these moments to model this type of compassion for fellow travelers /people, no matter where they are from - for our kids and loved that they (at least Ryan) jumped in to help as well. Good boy! 

Our first stop after disembarking from the tain was the Avaz Twist Tower, a 40 story, 172 meter tall skyscraper and the headquarters of a Bosnian newspaper company.  It is apparently one of the top 11 twist towers in the world - I didn't realize that was a category that people follow!  But we paid the 15 Euros (yes, they take Euro in Bosnia even though they are not part of the EU yet and the official currency is the Convertible Mark) for all of us to ride the elevator to the top of the tower for a snack and the views. It didn't disapoint. 

We continued our walk from the train station to the Marriott Hotel passing by a funky sculpture park, some handsome churches and the iconic Miljacka River (sometimes called the Sarajevo River). 

After checking into our hotel and having a drink in the impressive penthouse lounge, we wandered to the Old City for some culture and some local food. 

I can't get enough of these Bosnian Old Cities with the cobblestones and Turkish influenced architecture. So fun to stroll through and marvel at despite the crowds and the heat. 

I am not usually a tour guy, but we had started to feel that we were seeing a lot of places, but not really immersing ourselves in the history and the stories of those places.  So we decided to join a tour of Sarajevo with the kids.  Our guide from the "Meet Bosnia" tour company was a young history major named Ahmed and he did a very servicable job integrating his own experience - his parents were living in Sarajevo during the 4 year siege - with the history and events that were so devastating to this beautiful city. 

For those who are not familiar, the Seige of Sarajevo was a nearly 4 year blockade of the city by the Yugoslav People's Army and then the Army of Republika Serpska (Serbs).  This was the longest seige of a capital city in modern miliary history.  The Serb military forces never took posession of the city for a couple of reasons.  

For one, the people of Sarajevo, who were mostly Bosniaks, but also included some Serbs who were more loyal to their city than their ethnic group, new the city better than the invaders and were able to mount a very effective defense.  Another key reason was the UN forces.  Their presence certainly influenced the Serbian military strategy in the area.  

Below are some photos from our tour. You will see there are some remants of the 1984 Winter Olympics, a highpoint for the city and for the former Yugoslavia, and images from the seige. 

At the tail end of the tour we excused ourselves and took the gondola back down to town which was a special thrill for the kids.

The kids were beat after the 3 hour tour so we let them stay in the hotel and watch a movie while we did a date night. We wandered around the old city some more (when it wasn't so hot and we didn't have whining kids all around us), visited the Seige of Sarajevo Museum, drank some traditional Bosnian coffee and got a massage at an Indonesian place tucked down an alley near our hotel. 

The next morning was Sunday which is our No Tech Day so we read our physical books and then went to a mall, had lunch, did some window shopping, found an arcade and played some games and then walked to the train station to catch our ride back to Mostar. 

I loved Sarajevo.  It's not too big and not too small.  There is a lot of culture and history and a lot of beauty.  Two days was definitely enough for us, but if you are one who likes to do everything then maybe you can use another day or two.