A treasure in my yard

Someone could say that travelling to a neighbouring country is no big deal, but believe me it can be. To make matters worse, it is a country where my grandparents are from,the country where they have lived for the first eighteen years of their lives before they had to move in search for job and better life. Bosnia and Herzegovina was once part of the same country as my country Croatia was. Yet it turns out I didn't know the country at all.
Prices in Sarajevo are half of the prices in Croatia and the rest of BiH is even cheaper. Living standard is poor, jobs are few and political situation is a mess, with three different entities (Bosnians, Croatians and Serbs) and three different religions (Islam, Roman Catholic and Orthodox) living in the same space. Despite of all the problems, or maybe because of them, BiH and especially Sarajevo is a place where multiculturalism existed and was cherished while in the West it was only an idea in its infancy. You can see it in the streets, in the architecture, in churches and mosques. You can hear it from people and feel it in the air and the food.
Yes, the food. I started by describing what a shock can be to go somewhere so close to where I have spent my whole life, yet so distant and ancient, as removed from my everyday life as only a fairytale might be. And it is a fairy tale, a mixture of east and the west, Vienna and Istanbul. Ah, the food! Cevapcici, burek, potato pie, whole variety of soups, lamb! And the cakes, so sweet as they are made from sugar only, but so delicious. My favourite is Bosnian coffee, served in dezva (a ornamented Turkish-type pot where it is prepared), with little ornamented cup (fildan) in which you yourself have to pour, lump of sugar, and obligatory Turkish delight, and in some places even – a cigarette laid on the same plate near the cup. In Italy you could say dolce vita, but here it is even better, it's simply – merak!