Sarajevo

Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, is one of Europe's most fascinating and atmospheric cities, a place where the Ottoman East and Habsburg West meet within a few steps. Its heart is the Bascarsija, an old Ottoman bazaar of coppersmiths, cafes and the domed Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque, giving way abruptly to grand Austro-Hungarian boulevards. Within a small area stand mosques, Orthodox and Catholic churches and a synagogue, earning it the name Jerusalem of Europe.

History

Neolithic Butmir culture remains were found at Ilidža in 1893, the Illyrian Daesitiates here were the last in Bosnia to resist Rome until their defeat by Tiberius in 9 AD, and the Roman settlement of Aquae Sulphurae stood at Ilidža; Goths and then, in the 7th century, Slavs followed, and in the Middle Ages the area lay in the Bosnian province of Vrhbosna, where papal documents place a cathedral of St Paul in 1238. The Ottomans founded the city in the 1450s, taking 1461 as its founding date, when the first governor, Isa-Beg Ishaković, turned a cluster of villages into a capital with a mosque, a covered market, a hamam, a caravanserai, a bridge and the governor's palace, the saray that gave Sarajevo its name, first written in a letter of 1507 (Wikipedia, Sarajevo).

The main sights

• Bascarsija - the Ottoman old bazaar and its mosque and cafes.
• The meeting of East and West - the line where the styles change.
• The Latin Bridge - the old stone bridge over the Miljacka.

When to go

May to October, for the warmest, most pleasant weather and lively cafe culture; the surrounding mountains, which hosted the 1984 Winter Olympics, offer skiing in winter. Spring and autumn are quieter and atmospheric. The compact old centre is easily explored on foot.

Good to know

It is a real, lived-in city rather than a polished tourist showpiece.

Nearby

The Olympic mountains, the Tunnel of Hope and Mostar are within reach.

Key facts