Hello, dear Hive friends! Today, I'm wrapping up my short blog series about Bosnia & Herzegovina which I visited in October. Hope you enjoy!
I’ve been to Bosnia & Herzegovina once before: my family took a detour on our holidays in Croatia and we visited the beautiful Kravica waterfalls. But, to be completely honest, it didn’t feel any different than in Croatia: it was a hot, summer day, the nature was very similar, just the waterfalls were something I haven’t seen before. But to see more than just a tiny bit of Bosnia, you have to go a little further…
My friends and I spent 4 days in total exploring mostly (but not only) the surroundings of Sarajevo. In the very short time we had, I feel like we saw sneak a peek of everything that Bosnia is. Here is what we did.
Day 1: Mostar
It will probably come as no surprise: Mostar is the most popular place in Bosnia among tourists. We just HAD to see it. And although it is not that far from Sarajevo, it took us around 2 hours to get there as there aren’t many highways yet and the whole country is mountainous.
We started the day in Blagaj, by the source of the Buna river. Springing in a cave and flowing out from under an impressive cliff, it seems like the river is trying to compensate for its length by being special from spring to estuary. The latter isn’t what you might expect: instead of two rivers joining peacefully, the Buna river flows into the Neretva river as a series of waterfalls. Never seen anything like it.
After coffee by the spring and a short stop by the canals of Neretva, where the rivers connect, we drove towards Fortica Park above the city of Mostar. I’m not sure why exactly it is called a park but it for sure is a beautiful place. On the top of the mountain, there is a café/restaurant, you can sit outside and admire the beautiful views of the city of Mostar and the surrounding Dinara Alps. For a better view, you can walk on the skywalk for free, and if you’re looking for some adrenaline, for 25€ you can zip down the longest zipline in the country.
We couldn’t resist the adrenaline calling so we booked the zipline and it was amazing. Although I wish I could do it once more to properly take everything in as the first zip was a little stressful. After this, we finally went to see the Mostar downtown and the famous bridge after which the city is called (Most = bridge in most Slavic languages). And I totally get the hype about the city: it is magical. Little cobbled streets, cozy restaurants by the river, and the famous, UNESCO bridge. We bought ourselves a pint of local beer called Mostarsko, sat on the street, and admired the bridge in the autumn, setting sun.
Day 2: Skakavac waterfall
On day 2, we stayed close to Sarajevo and did a nice hike around the Natural Reserve of Skakavac (Spomenik prirode Skakavac). Part of the park even falls within the city’s borders and it feels quite funny to drive out of the capital and instantly feel like you’re somewhere in a village deep in the mountains. To get to the waterfall, we had to wait for a little in the middle of the road until the sheep there let us pass but then the journey was without further complications.
It was still quite chilly when we got out of the car: it was mid-October and quite early in the morning. On top of things, the journey led through the side of the mountain that was away from the sun, so we had to walk fast not to freeze. But the waterfall was so much worth it! The whole cascade measures around a hundred meters and is really impressive and stunning. From there, we had to climb a rather steep forest staircase to get to a viewpoint above the waterfall but again, the views were worth all the trouble. We could see the top of the waterfall from there, and the surrounding mountains colored in golden and red and bathing in the sun.
Then, we were supposed to get back to our car but we came upon a sign pointing out toward the peak of Borovik, the highest mountain around. And as it was still quite early, we thought: why not? And started climbing towards the peak. Suddenly, we found ourselves in the middle of the forest: beautiful, but also kinda creepy and we were the only ones in there. Plus we remembered the sign we saw close to the waterfall that was showing what animals lived in the area… and we really didn’t want to meet a bear or a wolf on our way. And since we started coming across big loads of poop in the forest, I was getting a little nervous (but I think it was horses – I’ll get there in the story).
Fortunately, we made it without encountering any wildlife and walked out on a beautiful meadow just below the peak of Borovik, with two chalets and many people around them. It was already warm and pleasant, and we all craved some beer, so we got some in one of the chalets and chilled on the grass. Then we climbed the peak and as we were walking down towards our car on the other side, we encountered four or five black horses on the road. First, we thought we saw bears – you know, a bunch of big, dark animal mass on the road. But then we saw it was horses, maybe wild, maybe not, and we figured the poop might be their doing.
Shortly, we got back to our car and drove back to Sarajevo to have a short tour and eat something. We parked by the beautiful Emperor’s mosque and took a walk around the brewery and to the city hall that used to be the National library before the Serbs burned it down during the Balkan war in the 90s (you can read more about the war in Sarajevo in my blog HERE).
From there, we continued to the old town that was already in the shade from the buildings but you could still see the sun through the smoke coming out of the countless restaurants grilling and cooking food that smelled amazing. The old town felt really oriental with many mosques and tiny, pretty shops selling tiny Alladin’s lamps and typical coffee pots (you can read more about that in my previous blog, too). But what we were interested in the most was Ćevapi: the typical grilled ground meat served with a pita-like bread and onion, typical food for Bosnia & Herzegovina (and Balkan in general). It was really good and a perfect end of the day.
Day 3: More Sarajevo and a mountain adventure
The next day, we started with a proper tour of downtown Sarajevo (as the previous day we were mainly focused on the food and didn’t really explore). We started by the bridge where Franz Ferdinand d’Este was assassinated in 1914 (which marks the beginning of WWI) and saw the „footprints“ of the attacker and a model of a car in which Franz Ferdinand was driving through the city. Then we dove into the tiny streets of the old town, taking a look at a mosque’s square and an old Muslim school. Then we went through the main square in the old town, commonly known as „the pigeon square“ and to the cutest café in Sarajevo.
It was located on a small street going uphill from downtown, and the café was super cozy and cute. We sat down for coffee & breakfast – that is, after the owner came from a shop with some supplies, which is something that would probably never happen in Central Europe (you know, the café being officially open but the owner shopping for groceries and locking the door for a few minutes).
When we were caffeinated enough, we went to see the old market and then magically crossed into a whole new world: at some point the old, oriental architecture just switches into the Austro-Hungarian type of houses that you can see in most Central-European countries. There, we bought a small bottle of fresh pomegranate juice (it was delicious!) and watches elderly gentlemen play a huge game of chess in the park nearby. Then, we also visited the Markale market – the location of the deadliest incidents of the Siege of Sarajevo. To learn more about the war, we stopped by the Museum of War Crimes and Genocide (I mention that in my blog post about Sarajevo, but this one is the most intense museum I’ve ever visited. I highly recommend visiting it to learn but also want to warn you: it’s brutal).
After the intensive museum experience, we needed something to unwind and also to fill our stomachs on the way to the mountains that was ahead of us. So we stopped by a bakery to get some Burek: the typical Balkan baked roll filled with meat. And then we drove towards the adventure in Lukomir: a tiny village at the end of the world, where you have to hike for hours, and where we were to spend the night. You can read about our Lukomir experience in detail in my blog post HERE.
Day 4: More mountains, a little Sarajevo & saying goodbye
I don’t want to get into too much detail about our mountain adventure, as it was too much to fit into one blg - that's why I made another blog post. But to put it into words in short: we spent a night in the wild mountains and then hiked back to our car for half the day.
On our way back to Sarajevo, we took a detour to the mountain of Trebević that raises above the city. There is a cable car going from the center to the top, and a restaurant, and in general, it is a nice place with beautiful views of the city and the surrounding mountains. It was also the place where the bobsled track was built for the Olympics in 1984 and then left to deteriorate, especially after the war.
That was the last place we saw in Bosnia before getting some lunch and spending the evening having wine and beers and talking until late.
I did expect this trip to be awesome. But I never dreamt about it being SO AMAZING. I had great company but the country itself just got me under its spell and now I need to visit it again.
PS: if you'd like to see more pictures and short clips from these locations, I invite you to follow me on Liketu and Instagram.
