See the hot spots around The Balkans In 60 Days – Stop 16 Sarajevo, Bosnia

27-28/8/2018. After a night at Mostar, I was on my way to Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia. Green mountains and beautiful turquoise waters accompanied me almost the whole way. My wishful thinking was that life’s journey would be as beautiful.

Sarajevo, a name I heard when I was small. My learned teacher impressed on my young mind that it all started when a couple of people were murdered, and soon the whole world went berserk and joined in. Whoa! The whole world? Yeah, the whole world. A spark was all it took to become a conflagration. But why? Since then, adults have hung their heads in shame, often just using the acronym WWI to refer to it when they have to.

Some 30 years ago, this place again was right in the midst of another major strife and then slaughter. I wanted to come and see this tinder box. I wanted to feel it. It would be eerie, it would give me goosebumps, but I wanted to know what drives us to madness. I wanted to see if this ill wind was still blowing, and the still water still ran deep. Or was the past really water under the bridge? I didn’t want to relive history but the memory, however tragic.

As soon as I arrived in Sarajevo, the temperature dropped drastically. A couple of days ago in Croatia, I was still being toasted brown. The sky was also shrouded in wintry gray, as though this city was destined for something sinister. I thought Bosnia was a majority Muslim country, but actually, it is the biggest group but not the majority. Other religious backgrounds—Serbian Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and others—make up more than half the population. Politics and religion incited conflicts in the ’90s that killed tens or even hundreds of thousands. And this happened only about 30 years ago in affluent Europe. After a few casual conversations with the locals, I could almost still feel the unease in the air; the tenseness was palpable. Strange bedfellows that carry the historical baggage they could not forgive nor forget.

27-28/8/2018 在莫斯塔一晚后启程前往波斯尼亚首都, 萨拉热窝。一路绿水相伴，两边青山护驾，这路程很美，望人生路程也是这样。

我小时后就听过萨拉热窝这城市，多年像耳鸣般在耳朵环绕。不是因为小时已经了了，而是老师提过，这城市跟世界大战有关，而这名字也取得有趣，总是一个处于紧张焦虑的城市，热窝或热锅的蚂蚁，这里的人肯定不好过。后来他们确还又干了一场。因此我要到这里了解什么使我们疯狂，感受空中飘着的气氛，酝酿的危机。

一到萨拉热窝 (Sarajevo) 就大降温，两三天前在克罗地亚还给烤得焦黄，怎么忽然入冬了呢。天气也阴沉沉的，使这城市好像笼罩在重重玄机中。没来之前以为这是个慕斯林国家，其实慕斯林只是最大派别，还不到半数，这里还有信东正教的塞尔维亚人，罗马天主教的克罗地亚人和其他，占了超半数。这信仰和政治使这三兄弟在九零年代就来个不是你死就是我活。这还是在欧洲，才二三十年前的事。这两天碰到回教徒，天主教徒，等闲聊后感觉这是个貌合神离的社会，忘却不了以往恩恩怨怨，历史包袱。这萨拉热窝好像就是注定要不稳定。

Pedestrian shopping street 步行街 — Sarajevo shopping street 萨拉热窝商街

At a street corner, a building overlooking the Latin Bridge was now turned into a museum. A memorial plaque was placed here to mark this spot of the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria that started the World War, resulting in millions dead. I stared at the spot, wandering around it like a lost soul, trying to relive the tragic incidence—a killing that begot more killings. What caused people to lay their hands on another being? For country? For religion? Self-interest? Could killing ever be justified? We must have been quite savage back then. We were, we did it again, a second time. No third time, yet.

就是这地点, 这建筑前发生刺杀导致第一世界大战，数百万不明不白伤命。我就在这点像飘魂徘徊，深思。捍卫宗教，国家，利益就可于心无愧？我们干了一场，没学会教训，后来又再干一场。第三回还没呢。

我还是像小时，童年无知，只知道是非，是哪样的人会动手伤害别人？我一直抓头脑