One of the highlights of my trip to Bosnia was a hike that allowed you to walk inside the bobsleigh and luge track that’s situated on Trebević mountain overlooking the City of Sarajevo, built for the 1984 Winter Olympics.
The track was about a mile long, had about a 10% grade incline, and 13 turns. It cost about $8,500,000 USD (563,209,000 YUD) to construct in 1981 and took a little over one year to complete. It’s still mostly in tact today, even after the Yugoslav and Bosnian Wars, and has become an incredible relic and spectacle for modern day explorers.
Today, it’s filled with overgrowth and graffiti and provides a fascinating backdrop for hikers that contrasts beautiful green natural scenery with massive concrete track slabs that are filled with colorful and vibrantly sprayed artistic expressions and images.
As I was walking down the massive track, feeling the quality of the concrete under my feet, imagining the effort that went into the track’s development, visualizing the incredible experience thousands of people had as a result of its realization… I couldn’t help but wonder, what else could we have created by now if we didn’t spend so much time, energy, effort, and money trying to destroy, conquer, and steal…