Yesterday was our first full day exploring the ecumenical and historic powder keg city known as Sarajevo.  Sarajevo is known as "Little Jerusalem" as it has 4 major religions living side by side - Catholic, Orthodox, Judaic and Islam.

With our Rick Steve's guidebook at our side, we started our self guided walking tour in the Ottoman sector dating back to the 1500s.  At a plaza known as Pigeon Square, we dodged gypsies to make our way to the Baščaršija.  It is said that those who drink its water will some day return to the city, so we all had a sip.

Kelly and Ron decided to have our first foray into an important tradition to the Bosnians - Bosnian coffee.  To the untrained eye it looks like Turkish coffee, but the Bosnians insist that you take the time to slowly pour the sludgy mix over your sugar and give it a good swirl.  It also comes with a piece of Turkish delight and a glass of water (to no doubt get the grounds out of your teeth).  Both Kelly and Ron thought that, despite it s murky visual, it's surprisingly good.  So suck it, Starbucks.

After our breakfast and coffee, we ambled down Coppersmith Street, with it's tenants and craftsmen selling evil eyes and copper goods.  We stepped into one shop and started admiring the goods.  We started talking to the shopkeep who informed us that he had learned the coppersmith trade from his father, who had learned it from HIS father.  Kelly bought a beautifully simple copper coffee service and the shopkeep showed us his hand-crank coffee mills ("the man grinds the coffee, the woman boils the water").

After Coppersmith street we checked out the outside of some of the mosques and marvelled at their sky-touching minarets.

It's so troubling to see a religion that the large majority choose to practice peacefully perverted by a small few.

The Ottoman Empire crumbed and just like that, Sarajevo was snapped up by the Hapsburgs of Austro-Hungary who sent in their architects and builders.  It's an obvious line where Ottoman ends and Vienna begins.

Just on the Austria side of the divide is the Hotel Europe, which houses a Viennese cafe, so we popped in for a coffee and sone cake.

We strolled through the main strasse and then took a significant and historical turn - to the Latin Bridge.  The Bridge doesn't look like much, but historically it's street corner changed history.  Here's what went down 100 years ago:

Franz Ferdinand, heir to the collapsing Austro-Hungarian empire (and not that shitty band) and his wife Sofie were on a state visit to Sarajevo, smiling and waiving at their subjects.  Also in town was Gavrilo Princip, a member of the Serbian anarchist group the Black Hand who, with his cronies had earlier thrown a bomb at the Archduke's car.  In some sort of horrible comedy of errors, Princip slipped into a delicatessen to enjoy a tasty bunwich kitty-corner to the bridge.  Franz Ferdinand had suddenly changed his mind and told his driver that he wanted to visit the people wounded by the earlier bomb attack.  The driver, totally confused by the Archduke's last minute route change accidentally stalled the car at the right bank of the Latin Bridge.  Princip exited deli, raised his hand and emptied his 9mm Browning at the car, killing the Archduke and his wife.  To make a long story short, this set off a chain reaction that pissed everyone off and lead to World War 1, the war to end all wars (until the next war).

To be continued....