„Don’t panic I am Islamic“ was reading a t-shirt sold in the Turkish quarter of Sarajevo. Despite ongoing political tensions I did not panic but rather enjoyed the atmosphere. In 2008 I was visiting a friend in Sarajevo, and amid the delicious smell of succulent Cevapcici, tolerance was in the air. Women clad with fashionable headscarves were sharing ice cream with women donning ultra-short mini skirts and high heels. Just being in Sarajevo felt special, as I was remembering at the same time about my childhood when I had been constantly sitting in front of my parents’ tv watching the ski jumpers at the 1984 Olympic Winter games. Less than ten years later Yugoslavia was history and I was watching reports about gun snipers around the very same ski jump killing innocent people down in the streets of Sarajevo. 

On my way to Dubrovnik and Croatia I stopped at the beautiful town of Mostar and immediately went to the iconic Start Most bridge. Built almost 500 years ago at a time when the Balkans were ruled by the Ottoman Empire, it was destroyed in 1993 in the civil war between Croatian and Bosnian forces. Fully reconstructed just 4 years before, it was enchanting to see people boldly jumping full of hope from the bridge into the beautiful green waters 24 meters below, just for fun. Will enlightenment and the idea of tolerance finally be back in the Balkans for good?