This country is rich in culture and hope. It went through a traumatic war and managed to come out of it with love and hope for the future. I was quite impressed with the resilience of the country.
Sarajevo
I arrived in Sarajevo and immediately checked into my hostel ‘The Doctor’s House‘. This place was good with really friendly staff and nice facilities. I immediately found a wonderful bar called ‘ The Goldfish’, although that was a translation. This place was so cute. The inside was decorated entirely like an antique shop. The staff were great and the drinks were cheap. I spent a few nights here. It is between the eternal flame and the cathedral just off the tram street.
Walking Tours
There are some great things to do in Sarajevo. There are two free walking tours that you can do. One in the morning at 10.30, starting from the Opera House, which talks about the history of the country, and the second one is at 15.30 and covers the stories about the war. They were both extremely interesting talks and completely free unless you care to give a donation. One of the most interesting things that was mentioned on the tour was about the Sarajevo Rose. These are markings which are painted on the ground to immortalise the people who died during the shelling.
Old Town
The old city is a reminiscent of the Ottoman Empire. Everywhere you look you see examples of Turkey, even down to the food and Bosnian coffee (Turkish coffee). The only difference is the famous Cevapi. I found an amazing place in the old town called Cevabdzinica Zeljo 2 which served amazing Cevapi at a cheap price with cheesy kaymak. This is a not to be missed place!
If you are a fan of Falafel then there is also a lovely Falafel place in the old town called, surprisingly, ‘Falafel‘. It is quite good; I have had better in the middle east, but if you are like me and rarely get a chance to eat falafel these days then here’s the place.
Mostar
The journey from Sarajevo to Mostar is a long one, but it is a beautiful one. I didn’t realise just how beautiful this country was until this journey. You have snow tipped mountains sloping down to rich green forests and tranquil rivers.
In Mostar, I stayed in Hostel Majdas which is a small family run hostel. Majda who runs the place is really friendly and welcoming and her brother does an amazing tour. It cost 25 euro and is well worth it. He takes you everywhere. It’s a long tour of about 12-13 hours but Batas really keeps you going. He’s a little extreme though! To start the tour Majda shows you some videos so that you can get an idea of what has happened in this area. Once the tour has started, Batas takes us around the city and tells us about the buildings and what they were used for in the past. He also told us about his experiences during the war and the many remarkable people who risked a lot to get him out of the area. It reminded me a lot about stories of people hiding Jews during the second world war. This time they were hiding Muslims. Before leaving the town, we visited a restaurant where we were able to visit the kitchen to see how they made borek.
After leaving town we visited Pocitelj, Kravica waterfalls and the Dervish’s house, although the last one was in the dark. These places are amazing although it was too cold to swim in the waterfall but we did have the advantage of it not being too crowded. At Pocitelj we visited a lady’s house and had some of her home-made syrups and home-grown fruits. Delicious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Mostar and would have loved to have stayed longer but unfortunately had to depart early the next day to go to Montenegro. I managed to get up very early the next day to get some pictures of the famous Mostar bridge and the wonderful old town.
Please be aware that the internet may say there are many busses to Montenegro from Mostar but there is only one at 7 a.m., and you are expected to pay an additional 1 mark if you are putting a bag in the baggage hold.
janescrazyworldtravels.com 