How did you find Dzana? I don’t exactly know how I found her, but I found a bunch of emails in different tour books, or online, and I wrote to maybe six or seven of them, and she was the one that corresponded with me the most.
Was she also your driver? Yes, and a very good driver in a very comfortable good sized car.
Would you consider a sketch of your day to day itinerary? We started out with a visit to the Tunnel because it made sense to go in the early morning when they were a few tours there, and the traffic would not be so bad.
Then we did a walking tour of Sarajevo. She and I had decided on which sites to see. We visited the mosque, the Catholic cathedral, the orthodox church, the Jewish Museum (the Sephardic Synagogue), and also went to see the Jewish cemetery, and the spot where there is a monument to Tito and a huge run down monument with a list of all of the names of all the Jews who were killed by the Nazis. We visited the museum that has the Sarajevo Haggadah and made sure to be there for the one hour it is displayed only on certain days. We also visited other parts of that museum. I particularly like seeing things that are dioramas so you get a sense of costume and settings that illustrate how people lived. I also don’t eat lunch during the day and it was Ramadan so Dzana was also fasting. So we got a lot into that first day.
On Day 2 we visited Mostar. On the way we stopped to see a couple of sites. One was the spot where Tito masterminded a defeat against the Nazis. I believe it’s called the battle of White Case. I’d have to go over my pix to remember the other stops. In Mostar we walked the town, saw the bridge (too early in the season to see the boys who jump from it but that wasn’t important to me anyway). There aren’t really any Jewish sites left, just a synagogue that’s been repurposed. We visited a beautiful Turkish House. Unfortunately the war photos museum was closed ( in fact, in every town I went to in Croatia, and in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the War photos museums were closed, very disappointing). On the way back, we stopped where there is a Tito bunker (I think) but I wasn’t interested in seeing that - although I probably should have - I’m not a great underground person. We also picked up dinner at one of the restaurants along the river that was famous for roasted lamb (the whole lamb, was being roasted on a spit). Absolutely yummy.
On Day 3 we went up into the countryside. But before we left, since we had run out of time on Day 1, we went to one of the Turkish houses in Sarajevo, then to the Ashkenaz synagogue and spent time there. Then we headed out to the lake area with a sweet snack stop. Worked our way back from there to Travnik and hiked all the way up to the Fortress and I got more history of the region when it was a kingdom. Explored Travnik (waterfalls) a bit as well. Headed to Jajce and the beautiful coulored Mosque, had a snack stop there, walked part of the town.
On Day 4 we went to the gorgeous City Hall. She dropped me at the airport for my flight home.
Am probably not covering everything I saw, but this should give you some idea. And I could have used more time around Sarajevo to see some other museums but feel like I got a good sampling.
Hope this helps.
