Sarajevo, Bosnia (in winter) in Photos

Shot on Canon R5 and Ricoh GRiii

This January I made a quick 5 day visit to Sarajevo, Bosnia. I’ve had it on my destination list for a while, and while I didn’t end up in the city during the season I would’ve originally prefered, I still managed to enjoy it in all its frozen wintery glory.

I’ll definitely return in the summer/warmer months ( hopefully soon).

One thing I found incredibly interesting, but also hard to nail down, was this mixed feeling of cultural trauma and also rebirth that permeated the city. Rebirth is also probably the wrong word to use, because you could argue that the spirit of Sarajevo has persisted through the centuries no matter the challenges.

The war from the 90s has left its mark, and there is still a sizeable population (on both sides of the conflict) that seems unwilling or unable to move on. I can’t judge these feelings, as they’re understably incredibly complex and context specific. However, that feeling of “persistence” in spite of struggle, and the willingness of the people groups to still look toward hope and a brighter future, it lingers. This feeling is especially obvious in the youth.

This, however, is a travel blog (not a post-war cultural analysis). My degree background (and the 6 years I spent studying the Bosnian conflicts) do qualify me to speak on this a bit more than the average blogger, but for today I will just keep this as apolitical as possible and stick to the photos.