"My time in Pale" Pale by vincent_c

During my four days spent in Sarajevo one of the places that I wanted to visit was Pale, the self-styled former capital of Republika Srpska during the early nineties. Access to Pale from the centre of Sarajevo by public transport was somewhat complex with there being no direct services. Apparently if I wanted to I could get a bus from one of the Serbian districts on the outskirts of Sarajevo.

Eventually I decided to make arrangements to travel by car with two Bosnian Muslim guys. Pale is about a fifteen minute drive to the east of Sarajevo. The journey took us from the centre of Sarajevo along a winding mountain road through several tunnels. About five minutes before we reached Pale, we saw the sign “Welcome to Republika Srpska”. I’d seen so many photos of that sign and now I was actually there. Beautiful scenery, “Pansions”, roadside stalls selling fruit and veg. It was completely different or should I say a far cry from how I imagined it to be when I heard about it during the early nineties.

Welome to Pale

We drove through Pale’s main street and after a few more minutes we turned right down a winding country lane. A large white house with a high perimeter fence was there. This was Radovan Karadzic’s house during the early nineties. The house is now unoccupied and Radovan Karadzic has been in hiding since being indicted for war crimes. His wife and daughter have apparently moved into property in or around Pale.

One of the guys I was with said that this was the eleventh time he had been here and every time he had felt nervous. I also felt a little nervous being here but nothing untoward happened. We got back in the car and drove back to the centre of Pale.

A Pale market

We parked just off the main street and had a coffee at one of the many pavement café bars there. We then went to the local market where I bought a Pale postcard. This was apparently was the only type of postcard featuring Pale that was available. We then visited a Serb Orthodox Souvenir Shop and Ethno-Gallery that was run by a Serb Orthodox priest. The priest knew that the two guys that I was with were Muslims but the welcome that we all received was friendly and hospitable. If only everyone would respect each other’s political and religious differences, the world would be a better place.

Before we departed, the priest invited us all to join him for a glass of locally-made plum brandy. He also gave me a brochure should I wish to purchase anything by post in the future.

We headed out of Pale to drive up to the surrounding hills into what were the Serb-controlled areas during the early nineties. These areas form part of what is now referred to as Republika Srpska and thus populated by the majority of Sarajevan Serbs.