Entering Sarajevo
Friday, May 21st, 2010Sarajevo: October 23, 2008
A vivid orange slice of Sarajevo rooftops flashes into view, below us in the valley. Then it’s gone. After six hours on the bus, encircled by the misty blues and greens of the gentle Bosnian countryside, Sarajevo is bright and arresting, a shot to the arm.
First glimpse of Sarajevo; it came out of nowhere
The lethargy of bus travel suddenly shed, I crane to see it again. A few seconds later, the rooftops are back, multitudinous, and Sarajevo stays in sight as the bus continues to wind down the mountain pass. It came from nowhere and now it is everywhere – rooftops gathered in the valley and crawling up the mountain sides towards the bus: houses everywhere.
It is like the others, a simple house clad with utilitarian, light grey cement and a terracotta tiled roof. One of the first houses on the hill as we wind down. The side that faces the road, the entire square of it, is riddled with tiny, ragged holes. It flashes into sight just briefly and, like the first glimpse of Sarajevo, imparts its image deeply before it’s gone.