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PLACE: Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina
DISTANCE: 15km-20km
TIME OF RUN: 7.30am-9.30am
REASON: A visit to mark the anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre
ROUTE: From the city centre, along the Miljacka River, to Ilidža
Sarajevo is seductively surrounded by mountains. I had plans to run up to the old Olympic bobsled track on Trebevic, but changed my mind after a Sarajevan I became friends with told me she didn’t like the mountain slopes. It’s where the Serb snipers hung out during the siege of Sarajevo in the 1990s, making civilian life hell. Apparently druggies also like the spot.
Instead, she suggested Ilidža, a suburb about 12km out. The guy from my youth hostel recommended running along the river.
It is the same Miljacka River that witnessed the events that would spark World War 1 – near the Latin Bridge a stone marks the spot where Gavrilo Princip stood when he assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in 1914. There used to be a display of his embossed footprints at the fateful spot, but it went missing during the siege in the 90s.
The river itself isn’t more than a very wide and shallow mountain stream, with pavements on the banks. Like in some other parts of Sarajevo, there are buildings next to the river that still show the damage from the war.
Banners commemorating the Srebrenica massacre 20 years ago leave no doubt as to how the people of Sarajevo regard what happened there, even though the UN recently failed to pass a resolution declaring it genocide.
After a few kilometres, things get really leafy on the banks of the Miljacka, with trees lining the path, and eventually you get spat out among some high-rise residential blocks, all communist-era living.
There’s a lot of football graffiti in this city. Fans are also known for their rioting during matches.
Past the Olympic base (Sarajevo hosted the 1984 Winter Olympics), the river run comes to an end and I’m on the road that forms the main drag through town. On the opposite side of the road, near a McDonald’s and the shiny five-star Radon Plaza Hotel, is a big building housing the offices of the popular paper Oslobodenje. During the siege, it bravely continued to print every day, except for one, and subsequently won a string of awards.
Then there is the airport, which was neutral UN territory during the siege. Much of the aid that kept the city alive came through here. Under the runway is an underground tunnel, constructed during the war by Bosnian Muslims as the city’s link to the outside world through which provisions like arms, food, cigarettes and even electricity were smuggled.
From here the road isn’t entirely runner-friendly and at some point the pavement stops. But after what feels like a slightly too-long run already, I get to Ilidža, where I’m blocked by the huge, ridiculously named Hotel Hollywood, complete with a water-world entertainment park.
Eventually, I find the much-lauded park with horse-and-carriage rides. Even though it’s early, the horses stand ready for business.
A combination of laziness and exhaustion means I first need to stop for an espresso at one of the restaurants in the park. The tree-lined Velika Aleja, with gravel footpaths on either side, goes on for longer than my lazy legs want it to, but curiosity keeps me going.
Back in the Ilidža CBD, my feet decide they’ve had enough, but fortunately for them, this is also where the tram starts. I buy a ticket at a kiosk (the man ahead of me buys two toy guns, and I wonder whether he is planning to use them later at work, or if these are gifts for his children) and get on the tram, feeling just a little bit guilty.
This is an edited version of a post from Du Plessis’ blog.
To read the full account, visit carienrunstheworld.word-press.com
