Bosnia and Hercegovina

Visited: July 2021

Duration of visit: 7 days

Capital city: Sarajevo

Population: 3.3 million (2021)

Estimated reading time: 10 minutes

• Remains of destroyed houses in heavily bombarded city of Bihac.
• Una National Park – lunch in a boat, while navigating the river to beautiful waterfalls.
• Old bazar district of Baščaršija in Sarajevo – restaurants, ice creams, coffee shops and burek.
• Half empty historic town and the renovated old bridge of Mostar.
• Apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary since 24^th June 1981 in Medjugorje.
• Refreshing swimming under Kravice waterfall.

Bosnia and Hercegovina is only four hours’ drive from my hometown, but it is one of the last countries in Europe that I visited in 2021. In spite of the short distance and easy access from my hometown, I never gave it the right attention due to the low position on my bucket list. During the Balkans family trip, I decided to include it on our schedule and after visiting it, I was very happy.

Bosnia is internationally probably best known for the war that started after the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1992, when the ex-republic of Bosnia and Hercegovina proclaimed independence, and culminated in 1995 with the Dayton Agreement.

The new born country was ripped apart to three main ethnic groups: Bosnians in the center, Croatians in the south and Serbians in the north.

The country is largely decentralized and comprises two autonomous entities: The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska.

When driving through the country, the borders of these entities are clearly visible and the differences are very obvious. For an external visitor it is difficult to understand and verify how this system of one country – two republics actually works in practice. Through numerous conversations with local residents, many problems, misunderstandings and lack of cooperation, which have been inhibiting development of the country, have been highlighted.

The first city that I visited was Bihac, located on the banks of river Una, near the border with Croatia. The city was besieged and attacked for three years by Republika Srpska during the Bosnian war. On some buildings, remains of shooting and mine explosions are still visible and probably left on purpose to never forget the atrocities of the early 1990s.

However, the area of Bihac seems in much better shape than the Croatian side of the border, where the original population never returned completely to their homes, which looked abandoned. After the war, a lot of refugees returned to Bosnia, built and renewed houses, but they are staying empty now.

The new problem that areas like Bihac have been facing recently, is the next exodus of younger population that doesn’t see long-term growth and stability in Bosnia. Low local salaries, lack of job opportunities and wide options to study or work in EU member states are the main reasons why younger generations are moving to Austria, Germany or Slovenia.

I booked an apartment through Airbnb, but didn’t have data roaming when arriving to the destination. I walked to the nearby police station, where a young police officer helped me to contact the landlady. She informed me that the water system was damaged and somebody else would be taking me to another apartment.

I was in bad mood, when finally, twenty minutes later a mid-age woman showed up and started to explain that she was going to guide me to another area, 5 minutes outside of city center (by car), where we could spend the night. It turned out that the alternative flat was much better, located in an upscale area, where new apartment buildings were under construction.

Strolling around the city, savoring delicious ice cream in arguably one of the best gelaterias in this area, drinking coffee and people watching, were the top activities in Bihac.

I also visited the monument dedicated to the victims of fascism during the Second World War – Garavice Memorial Park.

Sarajevo is not an ordinary capital, but a city that has historically called attention with special events and destiny:

• first full-time electric tram network in Europe,
• assassination of Franz Ferdinand that sparked World War I,
• host of the 1984 Winter Olympics and
• the longest siege of a capital city in the history of modern warfare, during the Bosnian War and the breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

A melting pot of different nationalities and religions in times of old Yugoslavia, today, Sarajevo is a divided city: Jews disappeared, most of the Orthodox Christians live in East Sarajevo on the Republika Srpska side; Muslims are still affected by war atrocities.

The city is marked by Kovači cemetery, dedicated to soldiers from the Bosnian Army who were killed during the aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina (April 1992 – December 1995) by the Army of Republika Srpska. The Siege of Sarajevo was the longest siege of any capital city in the modern history.

The heart of old Sarajevo is Baščaršija – the main market or bazaar in Turkish.

It is lined with restaurants, stalls, mosques, coppersmiths’ alleys and coffee shops. Bosnian (Turkish) coffee, saleb, čevapčiči and burek are some specialties that are served in specialized restaurants and coffee shops.

It is obvious on every step that locals are easy going, not pushing at all to sell or offer their products. Nowadays, many of the old artisan shops have been converted to souvenir shops and cafes, which seem to be more profitable due to the growth of tourism sector.

The only attraction in Sarajevo that I visited was The Tunnel Museum.

The 800-meters-long corridor is a little over a meter wide and has an average height of 1.5 meters. Thanks to the tunnel, the surrounded city regained access to telephone lines, oil supplies, food and electric energy. The tunnel was most famously used to transport the former Bosnian president Alija Izetbegović in his wheelchair, which was run on the railway of the tunnel.

Una National Park is Bosnia and Herzegovina’s largest national park, not far from Bihac. Una river runs through Bihac as well, but the further away you get from the city, the better it gets. We made the first stop at River Dock restaurant in the village of Ripac. We ordered food, took it on a boat and enjoyed while cruising along the river to the nearby waterfalls.

Una National Park is much smaller and less visited than Plitvice National Park in nearby Croatia (only 40 kilometers away), but the waterfalls were quite exciting.

The most beautiful waterfall is the Milancev buk (54 meters high) and it is surrounded by several pools. With its location in a dense forest, it is one of the most scenic and popular waterfalls in Una National Park and only a short walk from the parking space.

The city of Mostar is famous for its 16^th century emblematic, Ottoman stone bridge (Stari most) and extensively restored old town around it.

The Old Bridge stood for 427 years, until it was destroyed on 9^th November 1993 by Croat paramilitary forces during the Croat–Bosnian War.

After being restored in 2004, it became one of the most important tourist attractions in Bosnia.

However, in the beginning of the summer 2021 the city was half empty, since recent Covid-19 restrictions scared tourist from all over the world to travel. It was rather a sad scenery in the evenings, seeing half of the restaurants along the river closed and the other half, empty. I decided to leave the kids in the guesthouse and celebrate with my partner a new business contract with a glass of wine and spectacular view of the bridge.

Half an hour drive from Mostar, one of the most popular sites of Catholic pilgrimage is located – Medjugorje. In 1981 an alleged series of apparitions of the Virgin Mary to six local children put it on the map. The kids were walking, playing and secretly smoking in the bush above the village, when the Virgin presented to them with the words: Most Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of Peace and Mother of God. Word has it that the Virgin still appears to them, although they are grown-ups now.

Every year, more than a million devotees climb through sharp rocky paths to the top of the hill, where a small virgin statue was erected. Interesting enough, on the day of our visit; just two days after the 40^th anniversary of the first apparition, only a dozen of other pilgrims was walking uphill during the strong afternoon heat wave.

Besides being stricken by the immense heat, unfortunately I didn’t feel any special energy that day.

An invigorating swim under Kravica waterfalls in the karstic heartland of Hercegovina was refreshing and rewarding bonus in the late afternoon. Popular swimming and picnic areas were full of tourists that day, but the atmosphere was still great. 25 meters high waterfalls with revitalizing water were dropping from the cliffs on the western side of the lake.

Bars, restaurants and wooden walking paths around the lake are well placed in the area, offering cold drinks snacks and some local food. Mostly locals come here to cool down and relax on hot summer days.

Bosnia and Hercegovina has been struggling to survive since the breakup of former Yugoslavia.  It transformed from a republic, where different nationalities and religions were a trademark, to a place, where some of the worst atrocities occurred in Europe after the World War II.

Today, most of the young population wants to leave the country in search for better opportunities in Western Europe, while the older generation have been somehow sustaining themselves in the economy that collapsed in the early 1990s and has not recovered since then.

Friendly people, inexpensive traveling, some natural beauties, delicious local food and an easy-going spirit of Bosnians will definitely attract more visitors to this divided country.

The host of Olympics in 1984, the first place with trams in Europe and the longest sieged capital – Sarajevo – initially gained popularity through famous film festival, which opened the door for other activities.

Torn between the interests of European Union, reach Gulf countries and local traditions, Bosnian politicians will need to decide which way to go in the near future, before most of the young population will emigrate and bind the country futureless.