A Balkan Dream: Bosnia and Herzegovina

I chose to visit Bosnia and Herzegovina last summer mainly because of its proximity to Croatia. My best friend and I wanted to see more than just Croatia, so we chose to spend some time in Mostar. I had previously heard of the beautiful Kravice Falls in Bosnia, read about Archduke Franz Ferdinand’s assassination in Sarajevo which spurred the beginning of World War I, and studied the Bosnian genocide, so these factors definitely helped me decide on visiting the country.

I was coming in from Budapest, so I took an overnight bus (hello, 14-hour journey) because Flixbus tickets were less than £30, and I was on a student budget. Flights from the UK to Bosnia and Herzegovina are surprisingly pricy, so people often take an EasyJet flight to Dubrovnik, Croatia for around £100, and then take a FlixBus to Mostar. I arrived at Mostar around 8 AM, and my accommodation allowed me to check-in really early. I stayed at Guesthouse Lun for around £40 a night. After checking in, I quickly got ready and started my journey to Sarajevo to pick up my best friend (who was flying in from Rome to Sarajevo). The scenic journey was around 3 hours long, and was only £6 pounds from getbybus.com.

view between Mostar and Sarajevo

view between Mostar and Sarajevo

In Sarajevo, I first went to the Museum of Crimes Against Humanity, which I would strongly recommend to anyone who is interested in the tragic Bosnian genocide. Afterwards, I visited the Sacred Heart Cathedral and the Old Market Square. I visited the tourist spots, including a number of mosques and the Latin Bridge, which is the spot where Archduke Ferdinand was killed.

Sacred Heart Cathedral

Wall of notes at the Museum of Crimes Against Humanity

Old Market Square

I found a cute coffee shop at the corner of the square, and tried Turkish coffee for the first time. I was also on a mission to try some Bosnian staples: ćevapi and burek. Ćevapi is a dish made from grilled minced meat and it is typically served with “Somun” bread, and onion, yoghurt, and cream. Burek is a pie made with ground or chopped meat, onions, and spices, which is rolled into a thinly rolled phyllo dough, and served with yogurt.

Turkish coffee with lokum

Burek at Buregdzinica Bosna

Ćevapi at Ćevabdžinica Željo

After the day in Sarajevo, I picked up my best friend and returned to Mostar. The next day, we decided to take it easy and explore Mostar. We went to the main tourist attractions in the city, including the Koski Mehmed Paša Mosque, the Stari Most (the famous bridge in Mostar), and went to a number of shops in the old market square.

Shops in Old Bazaar

At the top of the Koski Mehmed Paša Mosque

Stari Most from the bottom

Stari Most

Beautiful Mostar

We also visited Kajtaz's House Mostar, which is a beautiful house built at the end of 16th during the Ottoman's Empire rule. It Hidden behind tall walls, Mostar's most historic old house was once the harem section of a larger homestead built for a 16th-century Turkish judge. It is full of original artifacts, it still belongs to descendants of the original family.

Kajtaz's House Mostar

Kajtaz's House Mostar

The next day, we booked a tour through TripAdvisor that would take us to Blagaj, Pocitelj, and the Kravice Falls. It cost around £40 per person, but included some of the entry fees of the sites we would visit. Our guide Emir was highly knowledgeable (and ridiculously good-looking), and made the small group tour very interesting. The first stop was at Tekija, a beautiful Dervish monastery under a cliff in outside Mostar that is nearly 600 years old. Situated at the base of a cliff, next to the source of the river Buna, it’s a unique and picturesque series of buildings that looks even better in person than it does in pictures. The Tekija (or Tekke) was first founded during the height of the Ottoman empire. Time and rock slides have led to extensive repairs and reconstruction to the buildings. Today, thanks largely to a Turkish travel agency, the Tekke looks mostly as it did in the past. Next, we visited Pocitelj, which is an open air museum and historic village in the country. There is a fortress, parts of which still stands, which was used as a lookout for attacks during the Ottoman period.

Tekija, Blagaj

Pocitelj

Pocitelj

Finally, we visited the beautiful Kravice Falls. We had the most time here, and rented a boat to row around the lake, and cooled off from the hot summer day with some Bosnian grilled meat and some rakija. The tour ended in time for us to go back to the hotel, relax, do some more shopping at the old bazaar, and grab some food/drinks later on at night.

Kravice Falls

Kravice Falls

Kravice Falls

Food in Bosnia is reasonably affordable and simultaneously delicious. They provide massive portions, and similar to other Balkan countries, they have a lot of grilled meat in their cuisine. Given their history with Ottoman leadership, a lot of the meat that is sold is halal, which is not too common in Europe. Most restaurants offer vegetarian and seafood options too, which is good for when the summer heat makes it difficult to constantly have meat!

Grilled meat platters

Tiramisu ice-cream

Traditional meat dish and pizza

It is possible to travel quite cheaply in Bosnia and Herzegovina, due to it still being quite under the radar in comparison to its neighbor Croatia. A person can easily get by for under £50 per day, including accommodation if you book early enough. However, we spent around £100-£150 each day because it was not exactly a budget trip. We saved a bit on transportation costs by booking through getbybus rather than flying to the different cities.

Bosnia and Herzegovina is definitely one of those underrated and still undiscovered gems in the Balkans. I would recommend that you put it on your travel bucket list, especially if you’re visiting Croatia or Greece! There are a lot of companies that do day trips to Mostar from Dubrovnik, but I’m glad I spent three days in this beautiful country with hospitable people.