Sarajevo’s Abandoned Olympic Luge Track

As you may know, Sarajevo hosted with Winter Olympics in 1984. It was the first time the games were ever held in a communist country, and remains a great source of pride for the city.

In preparation for the Games, Sarajevo constructed lots of new sports sites, including an 8.5 million dollar bobsleigh and luge track. Unfortunately the track was seriously damaged during the Bosnian War, when it was used as an artillery base by the Army of Republika Srpska. Today, the abandoned track is basically an incredibly expensive street art canvas. And a bicycle route, if you’re daring enough.

The track is situated on Mount Trebević. You can visit it and walk around on it for free.

We were dropped off on Mount Trebević at the end of a guided tour about the war. We spent a fair amount of time wandering around, taking photos of the track and the art.

We were going to get back to the city by taking the cable car that runs to Old Town. But, the cable car was stalled due to wind. So we hiked it instead.

We were rewarded with beautiful views, abandoned buildings, and zero other people on the trail.

I’m starting to think there’s some sort of rule in the Balkans that all hikers must be escorted by a dog.

Eventually, our luck did run out weather-wise. That’s fine! Doing it for the plot!