Drinks at Tesla's and a Peek at an Old Caravanserai

No, we didn’t go to Nikola Tesla’s house nor visited a museum dedicated to him. We didn’t ride a Tesla car either (this was 2019).

Instead, we went to the Tesla Pub, obviously named after the famous inventor and engineer. And if anyone had doubts, the life-sized sculpture of Nikola greeting you by the pub’s door would obliterate it.

The Tesla statue sits there, in a “thinking” pose with a light bulb placed on his lap. It was as if he was pondering on his next invention. On the awnings were the pub’s logo, which of course, included Tesla’s headshot.

The Tesla statue was made by sculptor master Damir Sabic at the request of the pub owner, and it has become an iconic fixture in Sarajevo’s Stari Grad (Old Town) that even passerby take photos with him.

Inside, we secured a couple of tables to fit all of us. Some of my tour mates headed directly to the bar to get their drinks, and while I was contemplating on what to get, the older American lady, who already had a cocktail on hand, asked if I wanted to take a sip of hers. She said it’s a cocktail with rakija as base. It was good, but very strong, with a significant amount of rakija for sure. I decided to order something light and fruity. My American pal downed hers and said she was going to get another one.

Our Tour Director said that he regularly hangs out at this pub, whenever he is in Sarajevo. Beer is good there, according to him, and on some nights, they have live music, which is also good. And he likes the pub’s name and décor…because he’s a fan of Nikola Tesla. “Did you know that he is Serbian?” he asked.

Tesla was born in a village called Lika that is now part of Croatia, but his parents were both Serbs. And since Serbs are spread out all over the Balkans, all these countries claim his as theirs. Here in Bosnia, they have this popular pub. In Serbia, there is the Museum of Nikola Tesla in Belgrade, where his remains are also buried. In Croatia, they have a memorial centre dedicated to him.

He led a nomadic life during his youth, traveling and taking classes across Eastern Europe. He graduated from a technical school in Graz, Austria, and first worked as a draftsman for a local engineering firm in Maribor, Slovenia, before moving to the Czech Republic and becoming an electrical engineer for a telegraph company in Hungary. He traveled all over Europe, ended in Paris, and got the chance to move to America. He spent most of his time in the United States, where life had not been smooth sailing.

For a short while in 1884, he worked in Thomas Edison’s laboratory in New York. His relationship with Edison was complicated, to say the least (and our Tour Director said that Edison took advantage of him and sort of scammed him, but that’s for another story). Eventually, he founded his own company, but he struggled financially. In January of 1943, he died penniless and in relative obscurity despite his brilliance.

It was said that Tesla had always been remarkable in theoretical work, often visualizing his inventions in 3D first, and thinking things through before creating them. And he had always desired to share his findings for the benefit of humanity, with the hope of making energy free and accessible for all. Edison, on the other hand, was a hands-on experimenter, a persistent worker, and an expert at commercializing inventions and securing funding.

One was a humanitarian visionary, and the other one, a risk-taker with strong business acumen. One stayed poor, and the other one became a billionaire.

The heavy rains were reduced to a medium drizzle by the time we finished our cocktails, so we left the pub. Some of my tour mates wanted to go shopping. The rest of us stayed with our Tour Director until we bumped into some of my other tour mates who followed the local guide earlier (they were soaking wet). They informed us that the tour had ended and the local guide had left.

Our Tour Director said that if we were up to it, he could show us the two places we didn’t get to see – the Tašlihan and the Latin Bridge. He knew as much of Bosnia as the local guide, but since he is not a licensed guide in Bosnia, he could not give the “official” walking tour. We were fine with that, we told him.

And so, while our soaked tour mates headed to the bazaar to dry off and get some hot drinks, we walked with our Tour Director for an “unofficial” presentation of the Tašlihan and the Latin Bridge.

The Tašlihan was a stone caravanserai built by the Ottoman governor in the 16^th century. A caravanserai is a large fort-like structure that can accommodate an entire caravan, with all of the pack horses and merchants, sort of like a huge hostel in the desert, if you think of it in modern terms.

It was one of three caravanserais in Sarajevo (along with Morića Han and Kolobara Han) which served both travelers and horses and was the largest of its kind in those days. Built by master craftsmen from Dubrovnik, the same ones who built the adjacent mosque named after the same governor, the architecture was of the same style. As such, it was outfitted with cupolas made of lead, just like the mosque, a feature not usually found in regular inns.

The Tašlihan burnt down on several occasions and the last fire in 1879 totally destroyed it. The remains were removed in 1912, except for the walls adjacent to the mosque. Later, Sarajevo’s Europe Hotel was erected, and its summer garden was built on top of its ruins. But while undergoing renovation and expansion, sections of the caravanserai’s foundation were unearthed in the garden. Today, it stays preserved after being declared a national monument in 2004.

This is one of Sarajevo’s most popular tourist attractions. The ruins give visitors a glimpse into the city’s rich history and stand as a reminder of its former glory.

As our Tour Director explained Tašlihan’s role in those days, I realized that the Sarajevo's golden age was rooted in an ancient commercial system that was brilliantly organized and perfectly supported the trading routes. These hans (or caravanserais) were spaced exactly one day’s journey apart across the Ottoman Empire, creating reliable networks from the Black Sea to the Adriatic. Sarajevo’s strategic location made it indispensable for Balkan commercial routes.

And it was not only a place to rest for the night. It also functioned as an active marketplace where merchants from all over the Ottoman Empire conducted business. The wealth generated from these trades funded the mosques, schools, and other public structures that defined Ottoman Sarajevo.

While touring the ruins, I couldn’t help but play Loreena McKennit’s Caravanserai song from her album, Ancient Muse in my head. For those not familiar, Loreena is a Canadian singer -songwriter-multi-instrumentalist (piano, harp, accordion) known for her refined soprano vocals and alternative folk music with Celtic and Middle Eastern influences. I love all her albums! And her lyrics are very poetic and deep. Her words and music take you to another world.

Caravanserai was inspired by her travels in Turkey and Mongolia, as well as Susan Whitfield’s book, Life Along The Silk Road. The song “reflects on the concept of home, the nomadic impulse and our relationship to nature, the land… our collective histories merging into something new. Is it happening too quickly in our contemporary times?”

My visit to Sarajevo certainly changed my perspective on traveling. When you visit a place, you just don’t see it, you just don't learn about it, but you feel its energy…and this changes how you see the world and how you feel about the world.