Sarajevo

This is one of the gates leading to Camp Butmir, in Sarajevo. The multi-national facility was certainly impressive, but the city proper had much more to offer in the way of photo opps…

This pleasant block of apartments sits within the jurisdiction of the United Nations-supported local government.

And literally across the street is this mess, under the jurisdiction of the breakaway government and not supported by the United Nations. Think the UN is trying to send a message to someone?

If you didn’t already know, Sarajevo was synonymous with war even before its thousand-day siege. This is the bridge where the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Serbia was assassinated in 1914, the event which kicked off the First World War.

Signs of gunfire from the latter half of the century can still be seen throughout the city.

That’s not to say, of course, that Sarajevo isn’t a pleasant place to spend an afternoon. Here’s me enjoying a good, strong cup of Turkish coffee.