لماذا سراييفو؟

Ottoman bazaar lanes give way to Austro-Hungarian façades in a few steps. A line on the pavement of Ferhadija marks where one city becomes the other.

The call to prayer carries across the valley, halal food is the everyday norm and mosques stand in almost every quarter.

Bosnian coffee arrives in a copper džezva with a sugar cube and a piece of rahat lokum. It is meant to be slow.

The city sits in a narrow valley. Fortress walls, cemeteries and the cable car give you the view within minutes of the centre.

October paints Trebević, Igman and the slopes above Vratnik in amber and red. It is the best month for walks.

From the Latin Bridge of 1914 to the siege tunnel of the 1990s, the twentieth century is close and told with care.

Meals, taxis and museum tickets cost far less than in most European capitals.

Gulf visitors are familiar and welcome here; many hotels, menus and drivers cater to Arabic-speaking families.