This post features our drive from Doboj to Zelinje via Tuzla and Zvornik.
Tuzla (Pop 120,443, Elev 245m, Founded 950AD) was a real surprise because we thought it would be ugly and industrial as was most of the view between Doboj and Tuzla on the secondary road. Instead we found a city centre that was full of colourful pedestrian alleys filled with all manner of cafes and restaurants. It was here that we were approached by a young University student eager to tell us about his country – he had overheard me trying to interview some of the locals. A pleasant change. Tuzla is the economic, cultural, educational, health and tourist centre of northeast Bosnia. It is an educational centre and is home to two universities. It is also the main industrial machine and one of the leading economic strongholds of Bosnia with a wide and varied industrial sector including an expanding service sector thanks to its salt lake tourism. The city of Tuzla is home to Europe's only salt lake as part of its central park and has more than 350,000 people visiting its shores every year. The history of the city goes back to the 9th century; modern Tuzla dates back to 1510 when it became an important garrison town in the Ottoman Empire. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, Tuzla is also regarded as one of the most multicultural cities in the country and has managed to keep the pluralist character of the city throughout the Bosnian War and after, with Bosniaks, Serbs, Croats and a small minority of Bosnian Jews residing in Tuzla. Tuzla is also the city that sadly received all the displaced women and children after the massacre of over 8,000 men and boys in Srebrenica (next post).
Zvornik (Pop 58,856, Elev 146m, Founded 1410) has a very quaint alpine appearance and on the Drin River just across from Serbia. It is hard to believe that in 1995 this was the centre of the bloody massacre of over 8,000 men and boys.
We stayed in a little A-Frame house just 14km downstream of Zvornik to awake to a very solemn visit to one of the world’s most infamous genocides – the murder of 8,372 Bosnian Muslims just a few kilometres down the road…
No comments:
Post a Comment