CHEEZMAN's photostream  

Sarajevo is kind of a difficult subject. Other than the Turkish Fountain in Sebilji square, it's hard to find anything clearly recognizable as Sarajevo. I think for many, Sarajevo is a place in name and connotation, either of the recent war or the 1984 Olympics. Yet summoning up an image, unless you've been, is difficult.

Of my many photos, this one as well as any shows Sarajevo. It's taken from the old Ottoman section, where the streets are medieval and narrow. The rising hill in the distance give a hint as to why Sarajevo was defenseless to the Siege; hills like it encircle the City, placing it at the bottom of a bowl, vulnerable to the pounding of high gun emplacements.

This scene shows also the slightly grotty look that you see all over Bosnia. This is to take nothing away with the true special quality of this place. The layers of history that you see and feel going back hundreds of years rival any major city in Europe. It's a place that needs visitors, needs to be visited so that the name is not just a shorthand for exotic suffering. The sadness is here. It's palpable. But so is a a City that is a joy to experience. Few things bring such peaceful feelings as the sounds of the 4:30 a.m. call to prayer floating through your hotel room, gently waking you. May the peace here continue.

Berlin is at about the latitude of Prince Rupert, British Columbia and on the Solstice, which is pretty much now and for the next couple of weeks, the sun sets at 21:33. Here we look up the Spree River, from the old East Berlin to the west.

I heard the music before I'd ever heard of this festival and it was the energy of this band that sucked Melissa and I in for a linger. They were playing something with a rousing and happy Balkan beat.