Things to See and Do in Sarajevo: More Sights Worth Your Time.

Things to See and Do in Sarajevo: More Sights Worth Your Time.

November 2021.

I’ve really enjoyed sharing our Sarajevo adventures with you over the past few months. Across six articles I’ve revealed the city’s essential attractions, along with some of our favourite experiences. Now, it’s time to gather up the rest in one comprehensive roundup: Things to See and Do in Sarajevo: More Sights Worth Your Time. Buckle up, we are going to cover a lot of ground.

Let’s start off in the modern centre and Marshal Tito Street, the city’s great spine that carries foot traffic out of the Ottoman old town and into the European quarters. It took its present shape during the Austro-Hungarian rule when Sarajevo pushed westward from the bazaar, lining its new artery with grand townhouses, banks and civic institutions.

The street’s name honours Josip Broz Tito, the leader who held Yugoslavia together for the better part of four decades. Long-term readers may recall our visit to his grave at the Museum of Yugoslavia in Belgrade. For generations this has been the street where Sarajevans come to stroll, meet, drink and eat. And that’s precisely what we did over numerous visits, taking in the architecture, murals and street musicians.

There seemed to be prominent buildings wherever we looked. Of these, I stopped to photograph the imposing Central Bank of Bosnia Herzegovina. Built between 1929 and 1932, it has housed one bank or another throughout its life, including the Mortgage Bank of Yugoslavia and the National Bank of Communist Bosnia.

Things to See and Do in Sarajevo: More Sights Worth Your Time.

Two dramatic bronze figures, a man and a woman, guard the main entrance. Impossible to miss, a Russian émigré sculptor by the name of Vladimir Zagorodnjuk cast them after relocating to the Balkans after the Russian revolution. In fact, he made a career out of adorning the banks and palaces of interwar Yugoslavia.

Another structure that caught the eye was Napredak Palace, a partly residential building that is home to the Croatian cultural society, HKD Napredak. Napredak means progress, and for decades this protected national monument sat at the centre of the city’s cultural and social life.

Designed in the secession style and apparently the first building in the city to boast a lift, it has hosted a variety of events, including musical performances, film screenings, political speeches and arts fairs. Today the culture society still has offices here, while other parts of the building are shopfronts and private homes.

Of the street’s numerous arty flavours, one you certainly can’t miss is the Remembering Srebrenica mural. Situated on the flank of a building called the Olomanka, it dates back to 2018. The flower actually came earlier, designed by a group of women from the town of Gračanica. If you’re new to my Sarajevo series and unfamiliar with the town of Srebrenica, check out my post Memory and Resilience: The Museums of Sarajevo.

Remembering Srebrenica.

For a drink and a bite, we can somewhat recommend Cafe Metropolis, an institution that’s been famed for its coffee and cake since 1998. Our flat whites were just fine, as was our slab of James Bond Cake, a layered affair featuring shortbread, caramel, whipped cream, chocolate flakes, walnuts and more.

Just bear in mind that, as with many of Sarajevo’s cafes, smoking is permitted. If like us you’re sensitive to it, you won’t be lingering beyond the last bite. While putting together this article, I noticed some terrible reviews online regarding the service. Luckily, we didn’t have any issues on that front.

For many, the sole purpose of a visit to Marshal Tito Street is to spend a moment at Sarajevo’s Eternal Flame (Vječna vatra.) This memorial to the soldiers and civilians who died in the city during World War II burns at the point where the street meets the pedestrian stretch of Ferhadija.

It was first lit on April the 6th 1946, one year to the day after the city was freed from four years of Nazi occupation. The flame itself sits in a shallow, elegant semicircular niche cut into the facade of the former Austro-Hungarian Landesbank. Behind it, a stone inscription honours the Sarajevans, Serbs, Muslims and Croats who helped win the city back.

Things to See and Do in Sarajevo: More Sights Worth Your Time.

This is the perfect moment to transition into neighbouring Ferhadija, Sarajevo’s great pedestrian boulevard. It is one of the city’s loveliest streets to stroll; a broad, shopfront-lined thoroughfare running east from the Eternal Flame towards the Old Bazaar (Baščaršija).

Look down as you walk and you might catch some curious splashes of colour underfoot. Each one is called a Sarajevo Rose, with several dozen lying scattered around the city. They mark spots where mortar shells struck during the siege of the 1990s, killing Sarajevans.

There’s one right outside the City Market, a covered hall known to locals as the Markale. This is where many locals come to get their daily fruit, veg, eggs, cheeses and cured meats.

Look out for (and maybe even try if you’re feeling brave) stacked slabs of salted, air-dried goat meat. A Bosnian speciality, it is called jaretina, and locals eat it cold with cheese and bread. Moreover, the ribbons of fat that run through each piece are apparently prized as the sign of a choice cut as they keep the meat tender rather than tough.

City Market.

The City Market rose commemorates lives lost in one of the deadliest attacks of the 90s siege. Forty-three people died when a mortar hit crowds in August 1995, an act that finally pushed NATO into the air strikes that helped bring the siege to an end. An additional memorial on the building’s outer wall invites visitors to say a prayer for the victims.

Not all memorials in and around Ferhadija Street relate to the Bosnian War. This one, for example, stencilled onto a facade, is in tribute to an FK Sarajevo football fan by the name of Vedran Puljić. He lost his life during fan violence in October 2009. His death became a flashpoint for football-tied and ethnically charged tensions across the city.

A cluster of sights lie on and around Ferhadija Street. First, we came upon Ferhadija Mosque, an elegant single-domed structure raised in the early 1560s. Four and a half centuries later, it still sends out the call to prayer five times a day.

Despite showing up several times during our monthlong stay, we never did find the mosque open. Thus we made do with a look around its pretty little courtyard and graveyard. There are only a few dozen Ottoman-era graves, but it provides a peaceful corner just steps away from Ferhadija’s foot traffic flow.

Ferhadija Mosque.

Back along the street, on a square of its own, the Sacred Heart Cathedral is a much grander affair with Neo-Gothic vibes, twin stone towers and a statue of Pope John Paul II by the entrance.

The statue depicts The Pope’s visit to Sarajevo in 1997, not long after the end of the siege. Drawing a crowd of over fifty thousand, he stood on this very square and asked his audience to lay down the hatreds of the war. To forgive, and start afresh.

As for the cathedral, it went up in the 1880s upon a design by Josip Vancaš, an Austro-Hungarian architect who wanted to bring a taste of Dijon’s iconic Notre-Dame to the Bosnian capital.

We found the interior surprisingly plain and uncluttered. Handsome, but by no means stunning. Some of the stained glass was definitely a standout, designed by Vancaš himself and made in Innsbruck.

If you want to squeeze in an additional church at no extra effort, head barely two minutes east to Liberation Square and the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Theotokos. It is the largest Serbian Orthodox church in the city, a five-domed basilica completed in 1868.

Things to See and Do in Sarajevo: More Sights Worth Your Time.

As we approached, we paused to watch a group of old men hunched over a game of giant chess.

Curiously, the funding for such a grand Orthodox church wasn’t just sourced from wealthy Serb families. It also came from the Ottoman ruler of the day, Sultan Abdulaziz, whose tolerance allowed for an Orthodox landmark to rival some of the city’s great mosques.

Inside, the walls and vaults showcase a blend of Baroque and Byzantine, while the ceiling hosts a scatter of gold stars in a deep blue evening sky. The centrepiece is the iconostasis, its gilded icons brought over from Russia in 1873.

There are numerous lovely side streets that run off Ferhadija, but the pick of the bunch is almost certainly (and get ready for this name, it’s an absolute peach), Saliha Hadžihuseinovića Muvekita Street. This atmospheric, slender Ottoman lane is a great spot for a drink, the buildings quite literally leaning in towards you from both sides.

The street takes its name from the 19th century timekeeper of Gazi Huzrev-beg Mosque, a man who spent thirty years working out the exact hours of prayer by the position of the stars and the sun. The lane is packed with heritage buildings, though many of the cafes themselves are opportunistic tourist traps.

Saliha Hadžihuseinovića Muvekita.

I have already reviewed numerous mosques across the city throughout this series. Still, there are two more I’d like to add before they slip my mind. First, Ali Pasha Mosque is one of the finest examples of Ottoman architecture anywhere in Sarajevo. Finished in 1561, it was the endowment of Sofu Hadım Ali Pasha, a Sarajevo-born statesman who rose through Istanbul and served as governor of the Bosnia Eyelet. 

The mosque sits in a large, well-kept garden with a scattering of graves, including the tomb of Ali Pasha himself. It suffered damage in the Bosnian War, but has since been restored and added to Bosnia’s list of protected national monuments.

There’s also the Emperor’s Mosque, Sarajevo’s oldest mosque and the first built after the Ottoman conquest. Founded in 1457, the original stricture was wooden and then rebuilt in stone under the brilliantly-named Suleiman the Magnificent.

Sadly for us, the interior was undergoing a full restoration. And I’m not kidding when I say full restoration; this is the sight that greeted us that day when we entered. Now, almost five years later, I’m sure the place looks wonderful.

Things to See and Do in Sarajevo: More Sights Worth Your Time.

Nevertheless, we enjoyed wandering the mosque’s atmospheric graveyard garden which, among all the tombs, holds a fascinating relic. It is a lone chimney from an ancient bathhouse that once stood here, bearing witness to the comings and goings over the centuries.

For an hour at Sarajevo’s largest green space (spoiler: it’s not all that large), we headed to Veliki Park one afternoon. Prior to being laid out as a park in 1888, it served as a Muslim burial ground called Čekrekčija Cemetery. Some of its ancient headstones still stand.

A number of statues and memorials are also permanent features. Some relate to the horrors of the siege, others celebrate iconic Bosnian figures, such as Hasan Kikić, a writer and champion of social justice. He served as a captain of the Young Partisans during the Second Wold War, but lost his life in 1942 aged 36 when he was ambushed by Chetnik soldiers. 

The largest piece of art is the Memorial to the Murdered Children of Besieged Sarajevo (1992–1995). Designed by the Bosnian sculptor Mensud Kečo, the glass pieces represent a mother shielding her child. It is set within a bronze ring made from discarded ammunition and shell casings collected from the aftermath of the siege.

Veliki Park.

Behind it, seven aluminium cylinders contain the engraved names of over five hundred children who died during the war.

Some exceptional architecture surrounds the park. Of these, I stopped to picture the Austrian Embassy (located at Džidžikovac 7), an Art nouveau masterpiece dating back to the Austro-Hungarian era.

I’m going to end this final Sarajevo post with three of the best view points one can get across the city and the surrounding countryside. Let’s start with Vratnik, one of Sarajevo’s most atmospheric neighbourhoods, a steep tangle of cobbled lanes and Ottoman houses climbing the hillside above the old town.

Back in the 1700s, the district was actually part of a fortified walled city that at its height was ringed by three kilometres of ramparts, in addition to numerous forts and tower-gates. A handful of them still remain!

We loved exploring Vratnik’s narrow and steep-as-hell streets. There were charmingly wonky homes, terracotta rooftops, little old ladies hanging up laundry and plenty of lounging cats. Though after our misadventure in the Old Jewish Cemetery, we held off on any stroking this time around.

The views are great. You’ve got views over the roofs of Vratnik, as well as across Sarajevo as a whole. What’s more, from certain streets there are vistas across the countryside stretching out from Sarajevo’s eastern edge.

Things to See and Do in Sarajevo: More Sights Worth Your Time.

For the next set of views, let me take you to the tallest building in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Rising 172 metres above the Marijin Dvor district, this is the Avala Twist Tower, one of Sarajevo’s most modern landmarks.

It is fitted with two hundred thousand individual placed panels that make the whole structure appear to twist as it climbs.

Opened in 2009, it serves as the headquarters of Bosnia’s leading daily newspaper, Dnevni avaz. Visitors can take the lift up to the 35th-floor sky lounge, as well as the 36th-floor observation deck where a full 360-degree panorama opens up.

The lift is one of the fastest in Europe and the views are spectacular. It feels particularly good value at just 5KM entry per person (roughly €2.5o). I’ll let the views speak for themselves.

I would like to think I’ve saved the best for last. One evening, perfectly timed for sunset, we made our way up to the Yellow Fortress (Žuta Tabija), which crowns the Jekovac cliff just above Kovači Cemetery. 

Built between 1727 and 1739, this former cannon fort guarded the eastern approaches to the city and served as a defensive point against the Austro-Hungarian advance of 1878. Not much remains of the fort, but one of its wide open terraces is now a favourite viewpoint for locals and tourists alike.

The Yellow Fortress.

The westerly views over the town are absolutely magical, and the ideal way to sign off not only this post but my Sarajevo series as a whole. Thanks to everyone who has followed and taken the time to leave a comment. I’ll be back later in the autumn with a change of country…

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