Back in 1984, the mighty nation of Yugoslavia hosted the winter Olympic Games in Sarajevo. It was the first winter game held in a socialist and Slavic speaking country. It was also the first Olympics held in the Balkan region and by a Muslim-majority city. Some of the venues are abandoned and open for visitors to explore. In Sarajevo we explored the bobsleigh and luge track and the Igman Olympic Hotel.
Source: Wikipedia, "Break-up of Yugoslavia"
The two shades of grey for Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) outline the territorial divide between ethnic groups living in BiH. Now united after the Bosnian war, the capital city of Sarajevo allows adventure seekers to safely explore what remains of the Olympic venues.
After about an hour we caught the first sight of the track. It had been abandoned for so long there's moss growing over it. It made for a good graffiti wall too. We took heaps of photos together and made our way back down. Still not taking the gondola of course!
Our little bikes parked below
The place was a wreck. No way would this be opened to the public in New Zealand. Debris and bricks were all over the floor, the only cleared pathway was the stairs. It was quiet but well lit as every floor had big window openings. They removed all the windows so the only broken glass there came from drink bottles. The ground floor had been repurposed to a paintball arena and it looks pretty fun!Real bullet holes from the war
Next we took the stairs up to checkout the views. Every floor had the same layout except the top which had a big space for the restaurant or hall. We eventually got up to the rooftop to see the views the Olympians once had. Some self seeded trees are growing on the roof and getting big! Let's hope the structure is strong enough to hold a forest in a decade's time.We camped near the hotel. There was plenty of grass space around and it was quiet and peaceful. There were campervans around but they were parked on the other side at the carpark so we had our side all to ourselves. We lit a campfire at night but it got very cold so we slipped into our tent and sleeping bags early and watched some TV shows.
This was one of the side trips we did whilst in BiH. We didn't anticipate the visa process to take so long trapping us to a country for over four weeks. Very soon we'll get the passport back and be on our way to see Croatia and Slovenia.
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