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Walks · ·2 min read

Sarajevo Baščaršija — a slow walk through the 1462 bazaar the modernists called sick lungs in 1942

In 1942 the architects Grabrijan and Neidhardt, the same men who would later be celebrated as champions of Bosnian heritage, published a master plan that called the čaršija 'sick lungs, full of cavities' and proposed to demolish it. They lost that argument. Baščaršija has been Sarajevo's living Ottoman bazaar since Isa-beg Ishaković founded it in 1462. Half a day, no map needed, plenty of stops for coffee — and a walking demonstration of why the argument failed.

By Nedim Hadzimahmutovic ·Sarajevo · Sarajevo

Baščaršija is small enough to walk in twenty minutes and big enough to lose yourself in for a day. This is how we would spend it.

Baščaršija seen from Mount Trebević, with its Ottoman rooftops and minarets visible against the Habsburg-era city beyond.
Baščaršija from above — the bazaar to the right, Habsburg blocks to the left. Photograph: Julian Nyča, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Start: Sebilj square

Begin where everyone begins. The wooden fountain at the centre, the Sebilj, was built in 1753, burned, rebuilt, and is now feeding pigeons and rumours in equal measure. Buy a corn cone if you like the chaos.

10:00 — the coppersmiths

Walk east into Kazandžiluk street. Behind these doors are families who have been shaping copper for generations. Stop into any workshop. Buy a small džezva. They are better than any souvenir.

11:00 — coffee (the first one)

Slip into Dibek or Caffe Divan at Morića Han. Order a bosanska kafa. Take an hour. The hour is the point.

12:30 — the synagogue and the mosque

A five-minute walk west. The Old Synagogue (now the Jewish Museum, telling the story of Sarajevo’s Sephardim) and the Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque (1531, the largest dome in the country and a courtyard you can sit in). They are two minutes apart. The proximity has always been the point.

13:30 — lunch

You cannot leave without ćevapi. Three contenders:

  • Željo. The institution. Loud, perfect, no nonsense.
  • Petica. Slightly quieter, equally legendary.
  • Mrkva. Argentine charcoal, smokier flavour.

Order ten with onion, somun bread, a side of kajmak, and a bottle of mineral water.

15:00 — the post-lunch wander

Walk back through the bazaar slowly. Buy a bracelet from one of the silver stalls. Sit on a step. Watch the call to afternoon prayer move through the square. You haven’t done much. You’ve done everything that matters.

17:00 — climb to Žuta Tabija

If you have legs left, follow the cobbled street uphill out of the čaršija to the Yellow Fortress. From there you’ll watch the city go pink, then gold, then dark.

We told you it was a slow walk. And if a shopkeeper greets you with bujrum (please, come in), do come in. There is rarely an obligation. There is usually a coffee.

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