Sunday, July 28, 2013
Some more pictures of down town
The only thing I don't like when I am taking pictures is the streets are narrow so it is sometimes impossible to back up far enough to fit all of a building into my picture. I saw this nice building and I was on the other side of a wider street but even then I could not back up any further because there was a small wall and a river behind me.
Ugliest Building in Sarajevo and Bosnia and Maybe all of Europe
Every time I take a ride down town there is this real ugly building surrounded by otherwise nice buildings and whoever I am with always likes to say, "There is the ugliest building in all of Sarajevo and Bosnia and probably all of Europe." It does have a guitar store in one of its shops, so it has just a little bit of a redeeming value.
Vrelo Bosne
Last Saturday I went to a place called Vrelo Bosne for a walk. It was a pretty nice place. You walk down a nice shaded path (well really it is a street) and then when you get probably a mile or so down there is a larger park that you can walk around. There were also horse and buggies which I took back rather than walk.
Monday, July 22, 2013
Sarajevo Rose
Before I came to Sarajevo I knew virtually nothing of the place except that there was a war here back when I was in high school (I have heard some stories about the war that I will relate at another time). One thing I did when preparing for my trip was to do image searches of the city. Of course when I would type in Sarajevo into Google and hit enter there would be pictures of the city during the war however, as I would scroll down the page I would also see pictures of the mountains, countryside, famous buildings and structures and a few pictures of what appeared to be spilled red paint on sidewalks. Even though I never clicked on any of these images to read about what they were I had an idea of what they were.
As I said in a previous post, I know just a few people who own and operate their own little pizza and sandwich shop. They said this time of year is the slowest because the schools near their shop are closed for the summer and many people are on vacation. They told me that if I need a ride anywhere to let them know because they could have their one delivery driver, Bimba, give me a ride since they are not very busy. Before I tell you the rest of my story I should mention a little about Bimba. He is a big guy, probably in his 40's or early 50's, and looks like he would be a former KGB agent. He is a nice guy and I am told that he has a little kitten that follows him around. When they first told me his name I didn't quite understand it. When I asked them to repeat it they said, "Bimba" but kind of laughed a little bit. When I asked why they laugh when they say his name I was told because that is his nickname and that it means little boy in Italian.
He has given me a ride a few times but we don't really talk because he speaks very little to no English. I was here about a week and had to go to this office to get a residence card. He took me and someone else who I know who also "works" as my translator. When we walked back to the car I saw this spot in the parking lot that looked like it had been filled in with plaster and painted red but since mostly faded. This was what I had seen in some of the pictures I saw when I did image searches on the internet of the city. I had an idea of what they were but wanted to be sure. I asked the one person if they knew what it was and they said no so I asked if they could ask Bimba. They said something to him in Serbian at which he looked at me and said one word, "Bomb."
Rather than smooth out or repave the sidewalks and streets where mortars had struck during the war they went around and filled them in with resin and then painted them red as a way to commemorate those who were killed during the war. They would call these spots a Sarajevo Rose and while they have faded over the years, if you are watching where you are walking you will see them throughout the city.
Here are just a few pictures of one that I saw which was a little faded. If you do a quick Google image search you will see many more of them, one of which I included so you can see the color.
As I said in a previous post, I know just a few people who own and operate their own little pizza and sandwich shop. They said this time of year is the slowest because the schools near their shop are closed for the summer and many people are on vacation. They told me that if I need a ride anywhere to let them know because they could have their one delivery driver, Bimba, give me a ride since they are not very busy. Before I tell you the rest of my story I should mention a little about Bimba. He is a big guy, probably in his 40's or early 50's, and looks like he would be a former KGB agent. He is a nice guy and I am told that he has a little kitten that follows him around. When they first told me his name I didn't quite understand it. When I asked them to repeat it they said, "Bimba" but kind of laughed a little bit. When I asked why they laugh when they say his name I was told because that is his nickname and that it means little boy in Italian.
He has given me a ride a few times but we don't really talk because he speaks very little to no English. I was here about a week and had to go to this office to get a residence card. He took me and someone else who I know who also "works" as my translator. When we walked back to the car I saw this spot in the parking lot that looked like it had been filled in with plaster and painted red but since mostly faded. This was what I had seen in some of the pictures I saw when I did image searches on the internet of the city. I had an idea of what they were but wanted to be sure. I asked the one person if they knew what it was and they said no so I asked if they could ask Bimba. They said something to him in Serbian at which he looked at me and said one word, "Bomb."
Rather than smooth out or repave the sidewalks and streets where mortars had struck during the war they went around and filled them in with resin and then painted them red as a way to commemorate those who were killed during the war. They would call these spots a Sarajevo Rose and while they have faded over the years, if you are watching where you are walking you will see them throughout the city.
Here are just a few pictures of one that I saw which was a little faded. If you do a quick Google image search you will see many more of them, one of which I included so you can see the color.
Mmmmm Kebabs
Another food that has become very popular here are kebabs. Basically it is a large hunk of meat on an upright rotisserie and they cut some off and stuff it in a pita along with any fixin's you want. The family that I know here own and operate their own little pizza and sandwich shop called Hollywood Pizza. I have eaten there a number of times. They made me a pizza the other day with brussuto on it and man was it good. They also make a number of pasta dishes and paninis. I was down town and was walking over to their place when I walked past a place and saw these big hunks of meat just roasting on a rotisserie. When I got to their place I asked them what it was and they told me kebabs. I said I had heard that there were a few places in Philly that may have had these but I would always procrastinate and ended up never going. They said they have become real popular here and throughout the entire region.
Last week they had to run a few errands in Old Town and I went with them. We hadn't eaten and they asked if I was hungry. When I said yes I thought we were going to go to the place that had the smoked sausages. Instead we went to a little place that had kebabs. They use this hand held deli slicer that looks like an metal angle grinder/cutter. They shave some meat off and stuff it in a pita. I had lettuce and tomato with mine. The meat was sliced real thin, thinner then what we use on cheese steaks, which is what this kind of reminded me of. When I asked what type of meat it was I was told it was young cow so I don't know if that means veal or not. All I do know is it was good.
Last week they had to run a few errands in Old Town and I went with them. We hadn't eaten and they asked if I was hungry. When I said yes I thought we were going to go to the place that had the smoked sausages. Instead we went to a little place that had kebabs. They use this hand held deli slicer that looks like an metal angle grinder/cutter. They shave some meat off and stuff it in a pita. I had lettuce and tomato with mine. The meat was sliced real thin, thinner then what we use on cheese steaks, which is what this kind of reminded me of. When I asked what type of meat it was I was told it was young cow so I don't know if that means veal or not. All I do know is it was good.
Lets go out to the movies
There is a nice movie theater down town called Cinema City that I have been to twice (went to see Superman and The Lone Ranger). First, the movies are in English but have subtitles in Croat-Serbian. Second, tickets are very cheap. It is about 5km, which is a little over $3 US. Back home it is $10 a ticket or $8 if I have a coupon. I asked why is it so cheap and was told that since the average salary is a lot less, if they were to charge more they wouldn't sell any tickets. Besides the price the only thing that is different is that when you buy tickets they show you a computer screen that has the seating plan of the theater and you have to pick what seats you want rather then just walking in and sitting wherever you want. It shows you what seats have been sold and what are still available. What was funny is when I went to see The Lone Ranger I was the first person to buy tickets so all of the seats were available. Then 5 more tickets were sold and the people picked the seats on both sides of me, so that was a little weird.
Cevapci
I don't think it is any surprise that I like to eat. With the exception of a few dairy products there really hasn't been anything that I have eaten here that I haven't liked. A few weeks ago the people that I am staying with said there is a place in Old Town that I had to go to. They said they have what is called Cevapci (chi-va-chi-chi) or as I now like to call them, smoked sausages. They told me this is a very famous food here in Sarajevo (and the entire region) and there is a place in Old Town that is famous for them.
When we got there you just go in and sit down. All this place makes is Cevapci so you tell them how many you want and what you want to drink (I had two and a coke). It was a small place and there is no back kitchen area. They cook everything right behind the counter in a brick oven. They serve you the sausages in what we would call pita bread (which has also been cooked in their brick oven) along with a small pile of onions, and that is it. You eat the sausages with a fork and then pull the break apart and eat that. And, well, it is delicious.
When we got there you just go in and sit down. All this place makes is Cevapci so you tell them how many you want and what you want to drink (I had two and a coke). It was a small place and there is no back kitchen area. They cook everything right behind the counter in a brick oven. They serve you the sausages in what we would call pita bread (which has also been cooked in their brick oven) along with a small pile of onions, and that is it. You eat the sausages with a fork and then pull the break apart and eat that. And, well, it is delicious.
Sunday, July 14, 2013
Pictures from up in the Mountains part VI
These pictures are of the ruins of a ski resort that was used to house refugees during the war back in the 1990’s. I was told that while refugees were housed there they believe a fire in one of the fireplaces got out of hand and the place burned down.
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