SARAJEVO - In Your Pocket

A night out in Sarajevo comes no better than an elongated
wander through the city’s bar scene, where you will find
people drinking coffee, beers, brandies, cocktails, wine,
juices…or just mineral water. Sarajevo is very see-and-beseen,
busy, and the city’s notoriously beautiful womenfolk
dress accordingly. A handy rule-of-thumb is to assume
that a waiter will find you almost as soon as you arrive
in an establishment: do not order your drinks at the bar.
Prices are almost the same everywhere, so think of
paying about €2 for a large half-litre of beer, about €3-5
for a cocktail, and somewhere in between for wine. It’s
well worth trying the local brandies, made from plums
(slivovitz), grapes(rakiya), walnuts (orahovaca), cherries
(visnavaca,) and apricots (kajsija).
Bosnia has a healthy drinking culture, and loud, affable,
friendly behaviour is the norm. Particularly since the war,
this is a city that has been it, seen it and done it, so there
is nothing you can do that has not been done or seen
before.
Symbol key
P Air conditioning A Credit cards accepted
E Live music S Take away
T Child friendly U Facilities for the disabled
R Internet L Guarded parking
O Casino J Old Town location
6 Animal friendly W Wi-Fi
B Outside seating V Home delivery
Bars
Baghdad B-4, Bazardzani 4, tel. (+387) 33 53 72
18/(+387) 33 44 19 18, info@placetobe.ba, www.
placetobe.ba. With its tasselled cushions, ornatelydecorated
hanging glass lamps, blue and white tiles and
conspicuously Moorish feel, this backstreet cocktail bar in
Baščaršija has become very much in with Sarajevo’s twentysomething
models, designers and party people. Extremely
comfortable. QOpen 08:00 - 01:00. JBXW
Barhana B-4, Djulagina Cikma 8, tel. (+387) 33 36
54 08/(+387) 33 44 77 27, info@barhana.ba, www.
barhana.ba. Set in a cobbled street in Baščaršija, this
is one of the top five bars in the whole city. The key to its
success: good music, good-looking and cool customers,
mainly Bosnian, easily-affordable drinks, friendly service
and the best of eighties music. It suffices to say that
Jasmina Mameledzija, Sarajevo’s uber-cool and glamorous
original female DJ, names it as one of her favourite bars.
Go along to see why. QOpen 10:00 - 24:00. Closed Sun.
TJABKX
Barka B-4, Kundurdžiluk 10, tel. (+387) 33 537 273,
www.clubbarka.ba. Walk in to Barka and you’d think the
Dalmatian coast had just washed up in downtown Sarajevo.
The bar is made from part of an old fishing-boat, nautical
and maritime impedimenta hang from the ceilings and walls,
and there’s a faint feeling of being on a permanent holiday.
Efficient staff zip between the busy downstairs and the
quieter snogging lounge upstairs. A garden in summer draws
in the Bosnian diaspora crowd home on holiday. QOpen
08:00 - 03:00. JBX
sarajevo.inyourpocket.com
Rock that fiddle!
nightlife
Central Café B-4, Strosmajerova 1, tel. (+387) 33 20
04 42, www.centralcafe.co.ba. If you’re young, Bosnian,
female, probably beautiful and have got a few marks in the
pocket of your hotpants or in your faux-designer handbag,
on a Thursday, Friday or Saturday night you WILL be seen
at Central Café. You’ll be drinking Nescafe, cherry-juice or
possibly Bambus, which is Coca-Cola mixed with red wine.
You’ll be texting your friends, dancing and catching the
eye of a lot of hair-gelled, metrosexually-dressed Bosnian
males. If, however, you are a visitor to Sarajevo it’s simply
great fun to go along and watch the action. QOpen 08:00
- 03:00. JABX
Delikatesna Radnja B-4, Obala Kulina Bana 10,
tel. (+387) 33 20 88 55, www.delikatesnaradnja.
ba. On the edge of the Miljacka, this popular café boasts
good wireless internet, nice sandwiches, draft beer and
a selection of teas and coffees. At weekends, or any time
when it’s sunny, the outside seating area is packed with a
more affluent-looking, stylish crowd, cars double parked,
Sarajevo’s svelte twenty-something women drinking coffee
and mingling in the sun. QOpen 08:00 - 24:00, Sun 10:30
- 24:00. PTJABKXW
Hacienda B-4, Bazardzani 3, tel. (+387) 33 44 19
18, info@placetobe.ba, www.placetobe.ba. Sarajevo’s
original cocktail bar, this lavish Mexican-themed enterprise
in the centre of Baščaršija is a visual and relaxing retreat
reminiscent of Seville or Guadalajara. Great cocktails such
as Caipirinhas and Margaritas start at €4, as nocturnal
Sarajevo descends to listen to Latin Jazz, Salsa and Cuban
funk, see and be seen, dance and drink. QOpen 10:00
- 04:00. JAEBKXW
Havana B-4, Kundurdžiluk 12, tel. (+387) 33 44 70 00.
With its charming staff, high tile-topped tables with wroughtiron
stools, and the floor-length glass windows open wide,
this is a perfect place to watch Sarajevo pass by while you
sip a beer or an espresso. There’s a bar in every town in the
world that is themed on that hackneyed old cliché, Cuba, and
this is it. But done better than most. Intriguing internal décor,
including a fake wall that is actually a large mirror. QOpen
09:00 - 01:30. JBX
Jež Club B-4, Zelenih Beretki 14, tel. (+387) 33
650 312, info@jez.ba, www.jez.ba. Jež is a club, bar,
restaurant and summer garden all in one. Come here to enjoy
traditional live music ‘tamburasi’ (a band playing tamburas - a
small stringed guitar) or ‘trubaci’ (a band playing trumpets)
and for the ladies there are free cocktails available on
Saturdays. QOpen 17:00 - 24:00.
Autumn 2009
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