Introducing Bosnia and Herzegovina
Time seems to move slowly in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This is evident in the regular stroll, called a korzo, which takes place in Sarajevo and numerous other towns and villages each evening. Families and friends stroll at a casual pace, pausing to greet people they know. Laughter and storytelling mix with background music. Coffee and food shops tempt the senses and line the streets where the korzo takes place. Teens taking the korzo look for friends or perhaps, for that special young man or woman they would like to know better. The korzo is a nightly social event, without parallel in the West. It is something special, something to be remembered and celebrated. Even the rolling hills of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s beautiful countryside seem to reflect the slower pace of time in this region. This pace of life can be deceiving though, as change has often come too rapidly to this new, small, and often troubled country. On a nondescript bridge in Sarajevo, for example, the flames igniting World War I were kindled. It was on this bridge that Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, were assassinated on an ill-fated day in 1914. This event, in the seemingly calm Sarajevo, triggered the chain of events that resulted in World War I.
