Sarajevo – Largest City of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Sarajevois the capital as well as the largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina with an estimated population of 369,534 and the Sarajevo metropolitan area which includes Sarajevo, East Sarajevo together with the surrounding municipalities is inhabited by 608,354 people.

Besides, it is also the capital of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina entity as well as the capital of the Republic of Srpska entity and the centre of the Sarajevo Canton. It lies within the greater Sarajevo valley of Bosnia surrounded by the Dinaric Alps, located along the Miljacka River in the centre of the South-eastern Europe and the Balkans.

It is one of the most interesting historically and varied cities in Europe and a place where the Eastern and the Western Roman Empire separate, a place where the people of the Roman Catholic west, Eastern Orthodox east and the Ottoman south, met, lived and got separated.

 It was an example to historical turbulence as well as the clash of civilization together with signs of hope for tolerance and peace through multi-cultural incorporation and is a city which is vibrant and busy and is historically famous for its traditional religious diversity of Islam, Orthodoxy, Judaism and Catholicism which coexisted for centuries.

Jerusalem of Europe/Jerusalem of the Balkans

Sarajevo, due to its long and rich history of religious as well as cultural variance, was at times called the `Jerusalem of Europe’, or `Jerusalem of the Balkans’. Till recently in the 20th century, it was the only major European city to have a Catholic Church, Orthodox Church, a synagogue and a mosque in the same neighbourhood.

Being a regional centre in education, it is also a home to the Balkans’ first institution of tertiary education in the form of Islamic polytechnic which is known as Saraybosna Osmanli Medrese and present times University of Sarajevo.

Sarajevo is also the leading social, cultural and a political centre of Bosnia and Herzegovina with its region wide influence in education, entertainment, politics, media, fashion, science as well as arts, which had made an immense contributions to its position as Bosnia and Herzegovina’s most important and biggest economic centre.

Cosmopolitan European Capital with a Unique Twist

Sarajevo has now been restored from most of the war damage caused by the Yugoslav Wars of the 1992 -1995. It is a cosmopolitan European capital having a unique twist which is worth exploring. The people in this region are very friendly whether they are Croats, Bosnians, or Serb and this city ranks as one of the safest in South Eastern Europe.

The centre of Sarajevo is served by spinal tram network, making a counter clockwise loop round the central district together with a number of trolley bus and bus lines which spread out to the suburbs. Tickets need to be purchased in advance from the kiosks which have been labelled as `tisak’, on the street or from the driver.

Tickets need to be validated on boarding which are valid only for a one way trip and changing tram or bus would need a new ticket.Lonely Planet, the travel guide series, had listed Sarajevo as one of the top ten cities to visit in 2010-2011 and it has also been nominated as the only city outside the European Union, for the European Capital of Culture in 2014