The emotional roller-coaster of Sarajevo: A city shaped by war and resilience

Walking down Sarajevo's former bobsled track, a ribbon of concrete that snakes through a pine forest near the summit of Mount Trebevic, is a sobering experience. Now battle-scarred and covered in graffiti, it's a reminder of one of the city's most illustrious moments, the successful hosting of the 1984 Winter Olympics, but also of one of its darkest, when Serbian troops used this hillside base to bombard the city for almost four years during the 1990s Balkan War, the longest siege in modern warfare history.

You'll be constantly confronted by this emotional roller-coaster during a visit to the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina. How is it that a city that was once one of the most prosperous and tolerant in the Ottoman Empire, a place where you can still find a mosque, a synagogue and a church within a few blocks of each other, ended up being the stage for one of the 20th century's most brutal ethnic cleansings?

Of course, this paradox is one of the many factors that make Sarajevo one of Europe's most intriguing cities, a place where one minute you're walking through a labyrinthine 16th-century Ottoman market and the next you're admiring a grand 19th-century Viennese-style city hall constructed by the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Turn a corner and you'll find a house still riddled with bullet holes from the Bosnian War; turn another and you'll stumble across Europe's oldest full-time electric tram system. It's both bewildering and beguiling, an open-air museum that showcases the very best and worst of humanity.

Getting your head around the region's convoluted history is no easy task, but thankfully there are museums to help. The vast National Museum provides an exhaustive account of the country's ancient and natural history while the much smaller Gazi Husrev-beg Museum provides an insight into the colourful life and legacy of Bosnia's second Ottoman governor, who oversaw the city's meteoric rise to prominence in the 16th century.

Understanding the country's recent past is a more confronting experience. The Museum of Crimes Against Humanity and Genocide presents harrowing evidence of the atrocities that took place during the 1990s war. Equally affecting is Gallery 11/07/95, which is lined with haunting photographs of the Srebrenica massacre, where more than 8000 men and boys were killed in a town that was supposedly under UN protection. The least graphic (but in some ways most moving) tribute is the War Childhood Museum, which displays an intimate collection of letters, stories and personal items from children who grew up during the war.

Walking around this vibrant, energetic city today, it's hard to believe that more than 35,000 buildings were destroyed during the siege. Start with a stroll through the wonderfully atmospheric Old Town, a tangle of 15th-century alleyways lined with cafes, souvenir stores and traditional wooden inns. Particularly evocative is Kazandziluk Street, a narrow passageway of coppersmiths, where you can still see craftsmen creating decorative plates and ornate coffee sets. Around the corner in Bascarsija Square is the famous Sebilj Fountain, a striking gazebo-shaped obelisk whose waters are said to harbour magical powers - drink from it and legend says that you'll be compelled to return.

Continue along the narrow pedestrianised Saraci Street, past soaring minarets, medieval stone markets and the 16th-century Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque (the country's largest), and eventually you'll notice an abrupt architectural change - suddenly you're in a typical European-style boulevard, lined with modern shops, colourful awnings and handsome pastel-coloured facades. It's as if you've crossed into a different continent, a fact emphasised by the "Sarajevo Meeting of Cultures" sign, a symbolic compass on the pavement showing that this is where the East meets the West.

This cultural cauldron is also reflected in the cuisine. Alongside European eateries are restaurants selling traditional Bosnian dishes such as cevapi (grilled minced beef sausages served in a flatbread with salad), sarma (pickled cabbage leaves stuffed with ground beef, rice and vegetables) and Bosnian pot (a hearty stew of beef, lamb, veggies and garlic). Be sure to try a cup of toe-curling-ly strong Bosnian coffee and, if you're really brave, a shot of rakia, a 40 per cent fruit brandy that's like being punched in the chest (in a good way).

The city is particularly appealing at night, when the mosques and churches are lit up and the narrow bar-lined alleys hum with animated conversation, clinking glasses and shisha smoke. It's also the best time to visit another of the city's historical hotspots, the Latin Bridge where Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife were assassinated in 1914 (the event that precipitated World War I) - as well as grab a selfie in front of the large illuminated "#sarajevo" sign with the splendidly imposing city hall in the background.

I'm visiting as part of a 10-day Intrepid Travel hiking trip through the Dinaric Alps, a spectacular mountain range that runs from Italy along the Balkan peninsula to Albania. Sarajevo sits among its foothills, hidden in a valley carved by the Miljacka River.

During the nine-minute cable car journey up Mount Trebevic, I'm struck both by the area's scenic splendour, with its snaking valley and mountainous surrounds, but also by the city's vulnerability, a fact that was mercilessly exploited by Serbian forces during the war.

A visit here is like that - a constant emotional see-saw between beauty and heartache. But at the same time it's also strangely affirming, a reminder of humankind's resolve, resilience and capacity to forgive.

Getting there: Emirates Airline flies from Sydney and Melbourne to Sarajevo via Dubai. From London, Ryanair flies there direct, a 3.5-hour flight.

Staying there: Hotel Europe in Sarajevo Old Town has double rooms from about $280 a night. hoteleuropegroup.ba

Touring there: Intrepid Travel's 10-day Hiking the Balkans trip from Split to Tirana tackles some of the most spectacular sections of the Via Dinarica hiking trail in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Albania. Maximum group size is 12. From $4060 a person, twin share. See intrepidtravel.com

Explore more: visitsarajevo.ba

The writer travelled as a guest of Intrepid Travel.