The Venue and Events
We'll be staying at hotel Italia. Address of the hotel is Pofalićka 7, 71000 Sarajevo, and the website is www.hotelitalia.ba.
This is a nice three star hotel with quite spacious rooms and very nice staff. We'll have every breakfast at the hotel, as well as Friday dinner.
There are several ways to find this hotel. If you are coming to Sarajevo by bus or train, you will arrive to the same place, where both train and bus stations are situated. Then it's best to walk through the Put života street, and then turn to the right to Hamdije Čemerlića, and then to the left to Drinska street. It will take around 15 minutes and map can be found here.
If you're coming from the Sarajevo Airport, then it's a bit more complicated. We don't recommend services from the taxi company at the airport, because usually they would take your skin off and charge you at least 30 KM (15€) for this distance. We advise you to call the company called "Žuti Taxi" (+38733663555) or find other companies here and take their services, it won't cost more than 15 KM.
There is also a bus transport, but not directly from the airport. In that case you would have to walk around 15 minutes to Kunovska street (map here), and then take the so-called "commercial bus" (komercijala), which costs only 1,80 KM. That trip takes around 10-15 minutes to reach the station Pofalići, and then you would walk to the hotel around 10 minutes (map here). There are also trolley buses from the same station like buses, but it takes longer and we don't recommend them.
Hotel
The Sarajevo Brewery (Sarajevska Pivara) opened in 1864 as the first local industry and shortly became one of leading producers in Bosnia, with considerable amounts exported to Montenegro, Dalmatia and Albania. Just before World War I, Sarajevska Pivara was producing 116,000 hectoliters per year, and in 1916 it passed the limit of 150,000 hl. Today’s President of the Steering Board was appointed to a position of Sarajevska pivara d.d. General Director on 1 August 1983. Since that period, Sarajevska Pivara had steady production growth that had growth from 299,000 hectoliters in 1984 to 784,000 hectoliters in 1991. With these results, Sarajevska Pivara became one of the four leading companies in the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
Brewery
Pastry Factory
Klas Factory is founded in 1902 and it existed through the whole period since then. Quality policy and environmental management system policy constitute an integral part of strategic policy of KLAS d.d. Sarajevo. All employees are committed and obliged to observe the strategic policy that enables the progress, based on the following principles:Successful business, Customer satisfaction, Satisfaction of the employees, owner, suppliers, and social environment, Leadership in food production at domestic market, with increasing of the presence at foreign market, Recognisable by the quality, health, and sanitary safety of its products, and by environment-friendly processes, The use of cutting-edge technology in production and control of food, Competence and high level of motivation of its employees, Compliance with relevant standards and regulations (ISO 9001:2000, HACCP, ISO 14001:2005, HALAL) Application of environment-friendly processes, including the identification and supervision of their environmental impact.
Between May 1992 and November 1995, during the Siege of Sarajevo and in the midst of the Bosnian War the Sarajevo Tunnel was constructed by the Bosnian Army in order to link the city of Sarajevo, which was entirely cut-off by Serbian forces, with the Bosnian-held territory on the other side of the Sarajevo Airport, an area controlled by the United Nations. The tunnel linked the Sarajevo neighbourhoods of Dobrinja and Butmir, allowing food, war supplies, and humanitarian aid to come into the city, and people to get out. The tunnel was one of the major ways of bypassing the international arms embargo and providing the city defenders with weaponry.
After the war, The Sarajevo Tunnel Museum was built onto the a historic private house whose cellar served as the entrance to Sarajevo Tunnel. Now visitors can still walk down a small length of the tunnel (approximately 20 meters). The "house" museum exhibits archival materials including an 18-minute long movie movie, war photographs, military equipment, flags, military uniforms, flotsam and jetsam. Local planning authorities are seeking funding for a "full reconstruction of the tunnel" and the "construction of museum buildings at its entrance and exit points". Regarding the museum's purpose, Vladimir Zubic, deputy of the City Council of Sarajevo, notes that the museum is "a reminder of everyone, so that a thing like this tunnel, that provided the people of this city with the minimum subsistence, will never have to be used again. It will be a place where younger people will be able to study a part of our recent past and it will be proof that this part of our history will never be forgotten". The house and the land around Sarajevo Tunnel's entrance is owned by Bajro Kolar, a local man who is now running this private museum. In a documentary about tbe Sarajevo War Tunnel, he talked about his reasons for turning the house into war facility. He said, "whatever we have, we gave for the defense and liberation of Sarajevo." Having existed for 15 years without any governmental financial support, this museum is becoming one of the most visited sites of the Bosnian capital, experiencing hundreds of daily visitors. Many guided tours operated in Sarajevo now include the Tunnel Museum as one of the war sites most worth visiting in the city.The museum is open to visitors every working day from 9 am to 4 pm.
