This trip was actually our third crossing into Bosnia & Herzegovina, but our first time actually stopping! Previously we have only crossed into Bosnia to get from northern Croatia to Dubrovnik, and from Dubrovnik to Serbia. The main reason for this was, at least according to Park4Night, there are VERY few campsites open in the winter.
Bosnia & Herzegovina has a very interesting history, as with many of the Balkan countries, as it has been ruled by many different empires over the last several hundred years. We felt like we really learnt a lot about this country in the 2 weeks we spent there, but we definitely cannot claim to be experts in it's history. To us, Bosnia feels like a very divided country which is still feeling the affects of the harrowing war that took place from 1992-95. However, the locals that we met were some of the kindest people that we have met on our travels so far.
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Geography & History
Before we start telling you about our route, we thought we'd share a little about what we learned. Please remember that we are not historians and we are simply repeating information that we learned from talking to locals and from museums (and a little bit from google as our memory is terrible!). If any of the information here is incorrect or simply untrue, we welcome any comments and we will update our post.
Bosnia is beautiful. It's sandwiched between Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia and Montenegro in the Balkan peninsular. It's an incredibly green country which is full of amazing wildlife. What the country lacks in coastline, it makes up for in stunning rivers and waterfalls. On the surface it feels like a very multicultural country, but the more we looked, the more it felt like this actually causes a divide between it's people.
Bosnia and Herzegovina has been ruled by the Ottoman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Yugoslavia and it finally became independent after the Bosnian war. The influences of these different eras can be felt all over Bosnia, and make it a really interesting country to visit. The Bosnian population seems to be divided into three groups; Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs, with a president for each group (although all three collectively serve, only one is a chairperson at any given time). You can only vote for a president that belongs to your ethnic group, and this all leads to one of the most complicated political systems in the world. Our tour guide in Sarajevo was a politics student at university and gave us some great information on this, but it is still a political system we certainly do not understand.
The Bosnian war started when Bosnia & Herzegovina decided it wanted to become independent from Yugoslavia. The Bosnian Serbs weren't too happy about this and started an attack on Sarajevo. What ensued was horrific fighting for several years which finally ended with a peace deal in 1995. In this deal, Bosnia was split into the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republika SRPSKA. The country is still dealing with the after affects of the war, with many buildings still damaged and the population still hurting.
In Bosnia the currency is the Bosnia-Herzegovina Convertible Mark, or KM. At the time we visited, 1KM was approximately £0.44, or €0.51. Euros are widely accepted in Bosnia, in fact, you will often be given a price in Euros before you are given it in Marks, particularly in the tourist areas. When paying in Euros, Bosnians will usually use the conversion 1KM = €0.50 so you actually end up paying slightly less.
Banja Luka
Our first stop in Bosnia was Banja Luka. Banja Luka is the second largest city in the country and the largest city of Republika SRPSKA. The city is situated on the Vrbas River which runs through the centre. Some of the attractions we visited included: Cathedral of Saint Bonaventure, Orthodox Cathedral, Gradska Trznica (large indoor market), Kastel Fortress and the Graffiti Dinosaur (which has sadly been vandalised over the years).
In our opinion Banja Luka was not amazing, but a good starting point for the rest of Bosnia, if coming into the country from the northern border with Croatia. If you do stop we would recommend the café Milky for a great brunch to kick start your day.
Following Banja Luka, we made our way to a campsite just outside the city which was close to a couple of waterfalls and an ethnographic museum we wanted to visit. This campsite was also where we saw our first snake! The first waterfall we visited, Svrakave Waterfall, turned out to be a bit of a waste of time. It took us a while to find it, both by road and foot, and it wasn't that great. However, the second, Krupa Waterfall, was much more interesting. This is not a wide, or tall waterfall, but it is very picturesque and the locals still use the water to run their mills. We also visited the nearby Orthodox church a short walk up from falls. On our way to Krupa Waterfalls we stopped at the Ethnographic Museum. This is an outdoor exhibition of traditional buildings, showcasing how Bosnians once lived. The inside of the museum was slightly strange as it contained a mish-mash of exhibits from sewing machines, coins, traditional clothing, weapons, books, crystals and everything in between. All of this with no explanations!!
Jajce
Our next stop on the Bosnian adventure was a small town called Jajce. This town is famous for the Pliva waterfalls which are located at the point where the river Pliva meets the Vrbas. It once stood at 30m tall, however following an earthquake, and attacks on a power plant during the Bosnian war, the area flooded and the waterfall now stands at only 22m. This is also the spot where locals hold a diving competition from the centre of the falls. The waterfall is definitely a must see if you are passing nearby Jajce.
As well as the waterfall, Jajce has a lovely old town where you can climb to the top of an old fort for an amazing view of the valley. You can also wander around a small underground church and visit numerous museums in town. We would highly recommend the restaurant Kod Asima. We both went for the Balkan speciality Ćevapi (meatballs), which comes with ajvar (vegetable spread), raw white onion and bread. At this restaurant it was only 12KM for 20 Ćevapi!!
A short drive from Jajce is the Milincici waterfalls. This is a stunning spot with lots of old watermill huts located on the falls. You can walk along the old wooden walkways through the huts and over the falls. Certainly a great photo opportunity, if nothing else. There is also a large lake, complete with diving boards, and a small climbing course (think tree-top adventure course, but only 1m off the ground. Definitely for kids, but that didn't stop us!)
Visoko
Visoko is only really known for one thing, the Bosnian valley of the Pyramids, supposedly the largest man made pyramids on earth. We say supposedly, as the validity of this claim is up for debate. We'll leave it up to you to decide!
The pyramids are concrete structures covered in vegetation and soil and were discovered in 2005 by Dr. Semir Osmanagic. It is believed that the pyramids are man-made and date back 34,000 years, also making them the oldest pyramids on earth. Osmanagic and his team have sent numerous samples of concrete to labs all over the world, where he claims it has been confirmed that the concrete is man made. However, it is widely believed, outside of the local Visoko population and the archaeologists involved, that this is all a hoax to lure tourists to the area.
We have to admit that the guide on the tour of the pyramid of the sun, and the subsequent tour we went on in the Ravne Tunnel, do tell a very convincing argument, but it is hard to believe some of the claims. The most unbelievable claim was that there is an energy beam coming from the centre of the pyramid which has a frequency of 47kHz, making it suitable for levitation!! All in all, the tour of the Pyramid of the Sun was pretty cheap and, if nothing else, gave us a good view of the Visoko valley.
The Ravne tunnels are a short drive away from the Pyramid of the Sun and are much more of a tourist trap. There is a small village of tourist shops surrounding the tunnel entrance, trying to sell various experiences and souvenirs. We decided to do the tour of the tunnels and were shown around by a very pleasant tour guide. She claimed that the air in the tunnels contain a much higher concentration of negative ions than normal air, making it clean of viruses and bacteria. Another claim was that the water found in the tunnels was some of the purest in the world, bringing a range of health benefits to anyone who drinks it. You can buy a small bottle of this water from the souvenir shop outside. Of course, Roxy got sucked in bought some!
Whether or not this is all a hoax, all for the purposes of making an American businessman rich from tourists, it is an interesting experience. For us, the best thing in Visoko was actually the family of stray dogs that we found in the car park where we stayed. They were so friendly and slept under our van for the night. In total we counted 17 dogs, 8 that came and went regularly, and 9 that spent the whole day on the car park. There were a few puppies as well!!
Sarajevo
Having spent a few days wild camping on our way to Sarajevo, it was a very nice change for us to spend a a couple of nights at a campsite. We managed to find a space at one of the only campsites in the city, which was high up on the hill with a fantastic view over the city. This did mean a long, steep, downhill walk to get to the centre, and a taxi ride back, but well worth the effort.
Sarajevo is the capital of Bosnia and is located on the Miljacka River, surrounded by the Dinaric Alps on almost all sides. The majority of the Sarajevo population is Muslim, and subsequently the city retains a lot of Muslim character.
Sarajevo was heavily bombed during the Bosnia war in the 90's and a lot of evidence of the war still remains. You can walk around the city looking for bullet holes in the buildings and 'Sarajevo roses'; these are holes in the ground that were created by explosions and later filled with red resin.
One of our first stops was the Museum of Crimes Against Humanity and Genocide. As the name of this museum suggests, it is quite a harrowing experience. It contains a lot of personal belongings and stories stories of individuals that lost their lives, locals who risked their lives, the UN involvement and the battles that the city had to endure, as well as a detailed information on the history of Yugoslavia and the subsequent breakup leading to the war. We are not too keen on writing too much about the war as we are by no means experts. But what we will say, is that the Bosnian population is still very much affected by the war. Lots of people we spoke to while there either did not want to dwell too much on the war, or, when they did open up, were clearly still very much emotionally impacted by its affects.
Aside from the Bosnian war, the city has a rich history having been the capital through both Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian rule. This means that there is a varied architecture throughout the city demonstrating both ruling periods. You will find Ottoman built mosques, next to orthodox churches, and only a short distance from a Jewish synagogue. One particularly interesting area to visit is the Baščaršija market. This market dates back to the 1400's and has a plethora of shops and market stalls to spend an afternoon browsing, as well as many places to eat and drink. A particular favourite of ours was the Copper street, where all the handmade copper and metallic ornaments are created and sold.
Whilst we were in Sarajevo we joined a free walking tour which, over nearly three hours, guided us through many of the historical landmarks, including the spot at which the assassin stood who killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand, his wife, and unborn child, and subsequently lead to the first world war. We had both heard of Franz Ferdinand and both knew he was assassinated, sparking the start of the war, but we never knew that Bosnia & Herzegovina was where this all happened. Clearly we didn't listen very closely in our history lessons at school!
Sarajevo is also home to an abandoned Olympic bobsleigh track that was designed and built by the Yugoslavian empire for the 1984 Winter Olympics. Having done some additional reading on these Olympic games, it turns out that Sarajevo was a shock choice to host the event, however, it proved very successful for a number of reasons, the most important being that it was the first event that small nations started to compete in. The Olympic committee at the time offered to fund one male and one female athlete from each of these nations. The track starts up at the very top of the Trebević mountain. Thankfully, there is a cable car that takes you to the top of the mountain, otherwise it would have been a very warm 3 hour walk to the top. The cable car itself gives spectacular views of the valley and takes almost 15 minutes; well worth a ride. The bobsleigh track is open to the public and you are able to climb on at the start and walk down the track, round the corners, admiring the graffiti on the way. If we had more time in Sarajevo we would have loved to jump on our bikes and cycle down the track to its end.
A short drive from Sarajevo is the Skakavac walking trail and waterfall. There is a very narrow and steep road up to the start of the walking trail, which then leads you to the top of the waterfall. Unfortunately for us a storm rolled in when we were there and so we were unable to really appreciate the waterfall and see it from the bottom, however if you get the chance to visit the trail, it is a lovely, easy walk, through the woodland on the side of the mountain.
Konjic
Around 60km south of Sarajevo, on the main road between Sarajevo and Mostar is a town called Konjic. This road is probably one of the most scenic routes we have taken on our whole trip, as it follows the Nereta river through the lush green mountains of central Bosnia.
The town was built on the shores of the Nereta River and grew predominantly due to the Austro-Hungarian munition factories close to the town. Originally, we weren't going to stop here, however, we drove past a sign for a cold war bunker that had been turned into a museum that looked like it could be worth a visit. We were not wrong!
When trying to find the entrance, Google maps had taken us to the wrong side of the bunker and we ended up at the entrance to one of the munition factories. Thankfully we weren't the only ones to make this mistake, and we met a Polish man who had walked from Konjic to visit the bunker, only to find he was in the wrong place and would have to walk nearly 2 hours to get to the actual bunker entrance. We offered him a lift, which for Roxy has ticked off 'picking up a hitchhiker' from her travel bucket list. Perhaps not entirely true, but pretty close. We just about managed to make it to the bunker in time for the midday tour.
The bunker is nicknamed Tito's bunker, and is a former nuclear bunker and military command centre. It was built between 1953 and 1979 inside a hill at the foot of the Zlatar Mountain, to protect Yugoslav President Josip Broz Tito and up to 350 members of his inner circle in the event of an atomic conflict. The bunker was kept a secret from the world, and even from the local residents of Konjic, up until 1992 and the break up of Yugoslavia. It was only at this point that a military detachment refused to follow orders to destroy the bunker, and instead handed it over to the Bosnia & Herzegovina government. During the building of the bunker the construction workers were carefully selected and vetted, as well as being blindfolded before being taken to the building site. It cost a total of $4.6billion and 26 years to complete.
The bunker is designed in a horseshoe shape and is made up of residential areas, conference rooms, offices, strategic planning rooms and operational rooms. It was designed to house the president and others with enough food for 6 months. At the time, it had some of the most advanced military and engineering technology in the world. It now serves as a museum and art exhibition. Definitely worth a visit if you are passing by.
Mostar
If you haven't heard of Mostar, you will almost certainly have seen images of its most famous attraction, Stari Most (Old Bridge). The bridge had stood for close to 450 years, having been commissioned by Suleiman the Magnificent in 1557, before it was destroyed during the Bosnian war in 1993. It is believed that the bridge was targeted (with no more than 60 shells) due to the symbolic significance it served in connecting diverse communities on either side of the river Nereta. At the time of completion it was the largest manmade arch in the world, measuring 4 metres (13 ft 1 in) wide, 30 metres (98 ft 5 in) long, and with a height from the river of 24 m (78 ft 9 in).
From the shore of the river, just under the bridge, it is possible to take a 10 minute boat tour up and down the river giving you, in our opinion, one of the best views of the bridge. The bridge is famous for its use in diving competitions. Whilst there are not always diving competitions to enjoy, there are a few locals that will jump from the centre of the bridge, once they have collected enough change from tourists, of course. Quite a fun experience to see, if only brief, and clearly very much a tourist trap.
Aside from Stari Most, Mostar has a beautiful old town. Although it is incredibly touristy, it is lovely to walk through the narrow streets. Just outside the Old Town there are many buildings that still show signs of the Bosnian war. The most interesting of which is known as Snipers Tower. This is now an abandoned building that has been taken over by street artists showcasing some very interesting artwork. The building is fenced off as it is clearly not very safe, however we have read online that it is possible to get into the building and explore different levels.
Other highlights of Mostar include the Franciscan Church Bell Tower (a couple of euros to go to the top for a great view of Mostar, and if you time it right you can see/hear the bells ring), Hadzi-Kurt Mosque, and the Crooked Bridge (an early trial for Stari Most). There are also many great restaurants that overlook the river and the bridge. So, even if you're not looking to eat, it is worth enjoying a Bosnian coffee to try and catch a local jumping off.
Blagaj
Only 20 minutes south of Mostar there is a small village called Blagaj. There is not much to say about the village itself, or at least we don't have much to say, as we were only there to visit the Dervish House.
The Dervish House is a Sufi monastery built on the cliffs by the source of the Buna river. This is one of the most photographed places in all of Bosnia (presumably after Stari Most), and you can see why when you go there. The monastery houses a mausoleum and an old Turkish bath. If you want to go inside you must cover up, but if you're not wearing the right attire, they will provide scarves for you to wear. The best view of the Dervish House is from the other side of the river, over the footbridge just before you reach the entrance to the monastery grounds.
Stolac
Our final stop in Bosnia was a town called Stolac. We chose to stop here because there was a campsite that was situated on the river, it had a bar/café on site, and a free washing machine (every van lifer's dream!). The plan was to stay here for only 2 nights, to get our washing done, however due to ending up in hospital with Charlie needed a stitch in his leg and an IV drip, we ended up staying for 4 nights. More on that in a future post!
Stolac has a lovely set of mini waterfalls leading from the north of the town and through the centre. It also has an old town (walled fortress) on top of the hill. This is where we stumbled across a medieval festival with locals dressed in English Knight costumes and having sword fights. A very surreal experience!
The manager of the campsite kindly gave us a brief tour around the town and surrounding areas, which included a stop at the Jewish grave site of rabbi Moshe Danon, where for nearly two centuries, pilgrimages have been made to visit and lay a stone on the tomb. We also visited the ancient town walls of Daorsan believed to be the administrative centre for the Daors tribe between 300 and 50 BC.
On our way to Stolac we also stopped at the Kravica Waterfalls. One of our favourite places in Bosnia! This is a stunning place with a small beach and crystal clear (but VERY cold) water to swim in. It was quite busy when we went, and we have heard from other travellers that it can get even busier, so we would recommend going early in the morning if you want to enjoy a bit of peace.
If you have limited time, give Stolac a miss as there are definitely more interesting places to visit. However, if you do have time and want somewhere nice to stay; Camp Heaven in Nature was one of the best places we stayed in Bosnia. It is perfectly located on the river and the managers are amazing. They are friendly, helpful, and even cooked us a delicious fish supper one evening.
Bosnia has definitely become one of our favourite countries on this trip so far. It has an interesting history, some incredible scenery, amazing friendly and helpful people, and is also pretty cheap to visit.
One last thing to mention...
When you're in Bosnia you need to pay a tourist tax for each day that you are there. This has to be done within 72 hours of your arrival and can be done at a police station or a tourist information office. We didn't realise this until we were trying to leave Bosnia and the border police were trying to fine us! Another thing to note, if you are driving into Bosnia, is that you will need a green card from your insurance company. Oftentimes, this is not asked for or checked when you enter the country, but they will check for this on the way out (presumably to try and catch people out and issue more fines). Luckily, we already had our green card otherwise we could have been in even more trouble! Not the best end to our time in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but it certainly didn't tarnish our view of the country as a whole.
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