Old Town Baščaršija

Baščaršija is not a museum but a living city within a city, a pulse Sarajevo has never lost. Built in the 15th century when Isa-beg Ishaković established the first inn and lined up shops around it, this old bazaar survived fires, conquests, epidemics, destruction and wars, and each time rose stronger.

In its golden age, it had 12,000 shops and 80 types of crafts organized into guilds, and its products were exported throughout the Balkans and Europe. Walking today through Kazandžiluk, Sarača and Kovača, you walk the same cobblestones once trodden by Dubrovnik merchants, Ottoman pashas and the famous travel writer Evliya Çelebi. The smell of fresh coffee mixes with the sound of a hammer striking copper, while the Sebilj in the middle of the square quietly keeps an old legend alive — whoever drinks its water once can never leave Sarajevo. Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque, the old bezistans and the narrow streets of the old bazaar speak louder than any guide. Baščaršija is not something you visit — it is something you experience.