Sarajevo -- travel article in Jewish Week

Old Synagogue, Sarajevo. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

Jewish Week runs a travel piece by Hillary Larson on Sarajevo,  describing the Bosnian capital as "safe, restored and beautiful." Afterall, the Bosnian war ended 15 years ago....and even when I last visited, five or six years ago, it had regained much of the lively vitality of its pre-war days.

Larson writes:

Now is the time to visit Sarajevo, which has developed a welcoming tourism infrastructure but has yet to be blanketed with Western chains. Bosnia and Herzegovina is still inexpensive by European standards: You can eat well in a restaurant for under $10, enjoy a wide range of hotels for less than $100 per night and take buses all over the country for the cost of a New York taxi ride.

 Larson briefly describes Sarajevo's several important Jewish sites, such as the Old Synagogue (now a Jewish museum), the New Synagogue (a gallery), the Ashkenazic synagogue, and the Old Jewish Cemetery. (But fails to mention the Sarajevo Haggadah, the 14th century manuscript, preserved in the National Museum, that was brought to the Balkans from Spain and is the enduring symbol of Jewish presence in the region.)

 Sarajevo Ashkenazic synagogue. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

 
See the much fuller report that I posted here last year, which also links to a wonderfully colorful description of Sarajevo by Bob Cohen.