Sarajevo
The city I have chosen to do is Sarajevno which is 560 years old and is the capital of the relativel new country of Bosnia and Heregovina which formed in 1992. It's population according to Wikipedia is 310605. I chose this image to introduce Sarajevo as it gives a sense of how historiacal the city is and shows its religious demographics with many mosques, orthodox churches and synogogues.
Sarajevo geography situates it in between several mountains with the Miljacka river flowing through it as seen in this image. Sarajevo is 500m above sea level and has an average temperature of 9.5C year round.
Sarevo's position in a valley means it is very compact with few highways. The streets are usually very narrow and primarily used by pedestrians. Sarajevo has a tram system (seen above) that has been operating since 1885 as well as numerous bus routes. The cities transportation infrastructure is currently having major upgrades.
Sarajevo was besieged from 1992 to 1995 during the Bosnian war. During this time the city was witness to huge amounts of destruction and large population shifts. The above is a picture of the Bosnian parliment after being hit by Serbian tank fire. During the war the city lost almost 100,000 from its population. The surrounding hills are still covered in mines and unexpolded munitions.
Sarajevo is now almost fully recovered from the war and is fast becoming a tourist destination for its culture and attrations such as this the Avaz Twist Tower. The skie slopes near Sarajevo have recently been cleared of all explosive ordnances. It is one of the richest cities in the region and is a highly recommended travel location by Lonely Planet. The average GDP in Sarajevo is 133% the Yugoslav average.
