Balkans Part 1

This is going to be a short post. It is midnight and I am about to go to sleep. I arrived in Sarajevo, Bosnia this evening. I was in Dubrovnik, Croatia for the past three days with some class mates. This is a fascinating part of the world. Our hotel is in the old town of Sarajevo next to a grave yard. We have a balcony with a view of the city and the mountains. There is a feeling to this place and it probably has something to do with the fact that it has seen conflict only fifteen years ago. I felt this in Dubrovnik. It is a beautiful city on the Croatian coast of the Adriatic Sea. They call it the Gem of the Adriatic and for good reason. The battlements of the old town tower above the sea and surrounds a labyrinth of cobbled streets, passages, and houses with the typical red slate roofs of the Mediterranean. Only fifteen years ago, the city was under siege as Serbian forces attempted to put down the Croatian struggle for independence from the former Yugoslavia. Far above the city, perched on a mountain top, is an old fortress. It was used by the Croatian army during the conflict to defend the city from Serbian forces. Bullet holes pepper the walls and the entrances. Today, the fortress is used as a museum to remember the conflict. We watched footage inside the museum of Serbian shells pounding the fortress and the city. It was an eerie feeling to see the exact location where we had been eating dinner the night before on the docks being pounded by a Serbian shell fired from a destroyer out to sea. The sight of the ancient city walls also being pounded by shells was also quite a thing to see. The next few days will be very interesting. We are going to visit different governmental organisations in Sarajevo and will also be conducting our own interviews and research. For now, I need sleep. There will be more to come!