Bosnia Herzegovina – Travel Blog

On our recent trip to the Balkans, my partner and I visited four countries in eleven days. We started in Croatia, crossed into Montenegro, then Albania, back into Montenegro, then into Bosnia and back to Croatia. So we quickly got used to crossing borders in remote mountain enclaves; I think apart from one time, ours was the only car in the queue at the border posts and a cursory check on our passports was all that was required. Imagine our shock therefore, when we crossed the border from Montenegro into Bosnia (as we thought) and were faced with a huge sign saying ‘Welcome to the Republic of Srpska,’ in other words, Serbia. Now, I have visited Serbia before and it’s quite a pleasant place but to say the least, we were confused. We both thought that we might have missed a turning some way back on the road; even though both of our phones were using Google maps, and it was saying Bosnia, the app had been misbehaving over the previous days and we had lost confidence in it.

Mountains near Ljubski.

So, where were we? Had there been yet another political shift in the Balkans that I hadn’t heard of? Had Serbia somehow gained more territory and expanded westward? Despite our confusion, we reckoned we hadn’t strayed too far so we continued; the countryside was pleasant and the day was fine and sunny. However, we stopped for lunch at the first roadhouse we saw and enquired of the landlord, ‘are we in Bosnia or Serbia?’ He replied, ‘yes, you are in both.’ A quick check on Google (we acquired wifi) solved the issue: In the Dayton Peace Agreement of 1995, which ended the brutal war that had been tearing the country apart, the Bosnian Federation was set up; while the country is known as Bosnia Herzegovina, it contains two independent republics ruled by Bosnian Serbs and Bosnian Croats, so it is effectively three countries in one. The Bosnian Serbs are seemingly very proud of their identity as within their sector, there are Serbian flags everywhere.

But enough of our confusion as this is a travel blog, not a political article. Bosnia is another travel gem and is probably largely undiscovered. I found lots of people who had visited Croatia and quite a few to Montenegro but very few had ventured to Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia or Bosnia. On this occasion, we only had two days so I will dip into my previous visit to Bosnia to complete the blog.

Sarajevo is a wonderful old town with numerous small restaurants and coffee shops. The architecture would remind you of Vienna or Budapest, which evokes memories of when Bosnia was part of the Austro Hungarian Empire. In fact, the city’s infamous Latin Bridge, where Archduke Ferdinand was assassinated still exists. Like many places which reshaped history, it is quite ordinary and just a simple river crossing.

Canyon near Mostar.

Mostar has a far more spectacular bridge which spans a deep canyon running through the city. Although I didn’t see any, it is apparently a mecca for divers. The city itself is vibrant and also full of historic sights. My overall impression though, having driven across Bosnia from the Serbian side, is of massive mountains and deep river canyons carving their way through the country. Many times I wanted to stop to photograph incredible sights but it would have been too dangerous on busy narrow roads.

The highlight of Bosnia for us this time wasn’t located in any of the canyons or mountain ranges – it was the magnificent waterfalls of Kravica. Numerous streams join together and cascade downwards to give a beautiful vista. I will let the photo tell the story.

Like all the other Balkan States that I have reviewed, the people of Bosnia Herzegovina were wonderful and welcoming and anxious for us to see the best of their country. Again, English is widely spoken but it can be hit or miss. In our hotel in Ljubski, the agent who checked us in had no English but the following morning, all the staff on duty were fluent. The restaurant we found in Ljubski was probably the best or equal best on our entire trip. It reminded me of many Russian restaurants I visited in the past; a huge menu, offering everything under the sun but specializing in locally sourced traditional dishes. Needless to say, we decided to eat the local cuisine and it was delicious. Our restaurant was called ‘Most’ which in Bosnian means bridge and it was located beside one of the main bridges in the town. We would recommend it highly. Also, here, all staff were fluent in a number of languages including English.

I’m always careful when reviewing a country to try to strike the right note; to try not to convey the ‘stupid foreigner’ impression. I’ve referred previously to travel reviews of Ireland describing ‘sleepy little villages.’ Such nonsense – they’re not sleepy; the absence of people means they are out working somewhere. So, when describing one of the cultural quirks of Bosnia, indeed of the entire Balkan Peninsula, I wanted to be very careful. Perhaps it’s best to describe the practice and let everyone decide for themselves. I’ve mentioned the number of coffee shops that dominate almost every town and village; well, in our experience, they were nearly always full of men, often elderly men, smoking and drinking coffee. In fact, the smoky atmosphere in many of them was off-putting and we usually asked for the non-smoking section.

We were fascinated by this practice so we asked and we were told that coffee is ingrained into the culture. Apparently it was brought to the Balkans during the Ottoman Empire period and has firmly taken root; not that their coffee is Turkish – far from it, as they will be quick to tell you. Having worked in Turkey and tasted that particular beverage, I can testify that Balkan coffee is nothing like it, thank God. For anyone who hasn’t experienced a Turkish coffee, think of the strongest coffee you have ever had and multiply it several times; you can almost walk on the brew.

People in the Western Balkans drink all sorts of coffee all day long, at work, outside, at home, alone or with company. All the cities are full of packed cafés where friends and family gather, discuss, debate, argue and put the world to rights. Smaller places all have smoky cafés where people come and go all day long. They read the papers, meet with friends; come to discuss the latest news. The reason why we saw so many older men having coffee and chatting, I was told, is because we went for coffee mid-morning and at that time everyone else is working and it’s only the older men who have the spare time to frequent the coffee shops. If we had visited later in the day, we were assured that we would have seen a much broader spread of the population. It was explained that it might indeed look strange to a foreigner to see people all day long in cafés and restaurants. However, coffee culture is a strong element of the social fabric of every Balkan country and we were assured it is never just about the coffee. So, rather than making judgments on cultural differences, it’s always better to ask. Needless to say, this culture fosters friendship, exchange of ideas and understanding of different views.

Foca.

Forgive me if I stray into the political arena again briefly – I know old enmities and events tend to run deep but having met really friendly and hospitable Bosnians, Herzegovinians, Serbs, Montenegrins, Croats, Albanians, Kosovans, Macedonians and Slovenians, I kept thinking what a pity it was that they had their differences which resulted in terrible wars in the 1990’s following the break-up of former Yugoslavia. Could they not have all met in the coffee shops, chatted and sorted things out? Nowadays they are all independent nations and peace has seemingly settled in throughout the Balkan States. We found no traces of bitterness and in the current generation, seemingly all races mix freely. Because of the rich history of the peninsula, the cultural differences and admixture of peoples will remain; hopefully also the kindness and generosity we encountered at every turn. Go and explore Bosnia Herzegovina or indeed any of the states in this wonderful peninsula; you will not be disappointed.

How to get there: We drove through the Balkans, originally arriving in Dubrovnik but Bosnia can be accessed from any of its Balkan neighbours or from any European capital directly. There are flights to Sarajevo from Dublin in summertime and from all major European capitals year-round.

Note: I have written a book on the Bosnian war which took place in the 1990’s. It is centred around the massacre at Srebrenica and one family’s efforts to firstly survive and then to find each other when the war ends. It is of course fictional in that I have created the characters but it is based on real events and I have no doubt it happened many times in reality. The book is called ‘No Time for Goodbye’ and you will find it on Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.

Click here to purchase.