My Adventure in the Balkans – Croatia/Bosnia

I spent 6+ weeks from late June until early August the Balkan region traveling through multiple countries, cultures, foods and languages. What was even cooler that the trip was one hundred percent spontaneous! I landed in Croatia from Spain as I had exhausted my time in Western Europe with my Schnegen visa.

This will be part one in a series of multiple posts in which I cover my time more specifically in the countries I visited: Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Serbia, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Albania and Montenegro.

Croatia
I landed in Dubrovnik first. Dubrovnik is a southern port city on the Croatian coast, which hugs the Adriatic sea. The area is with high cliffs that border clear blue beaches. It is one of Croatia’s most visited cities and with that one of the most expensive. Their claim to fame is their walled fortress city, which dates back to the medieval times. The wall was never penetrated or damaged until modern times when Croatia was at war with Bosnia and Serbia. The city also has multiple rocky beaches and even a hilltop view at the highest spot in the city.

When arriving in Dubrovnik, I was excited to be there but I was disappointed. Dubrovnik had a super “touristy” feel, a lack of culture and was incredibly expensive (more than Greece!). At the point I had no further plans, so I had to decide if I wanted to see more of Croatia or explore nearby countries. From talking to other travelers in Dubrovnik, I made the swift decision to head to Bosnia the next day after my check-out.

Bosnia & Herzegovina
Before departing for Bosnia, I did research on the country and some online reports had me nervous. There was talks of being undeveloped from the 1990’s war, landmines and general poverty. I’m glad I talked to other travelers who went there and also talked about the beautiful landscapes, unspoiled cultures and local cuisines. I decided to head to Mostar that next morning.

I’m glad I made that decision. Bosnia is incredibly beautiful with green mountain landscapes, trees galore with large forests. It is a mostly landlocked country, however Croatia gave it about 10 kilometers of coastline after the Bosnian-Croatian War in the 1990’s. I will be talking more about the war later in this post. When I arrived in Mostar, there was definitely a difference from Croatia. Bosnia unfortunately has not recovered from the 90’s war as many buildings are abandoned and/or still destroyed with rubble. There is trash in the streets and in some buildings you will find bomb shrapnel and bullet holes. Croatia was part of this war, but has since been cleaned up and restored.

Mostar is amazing though. Let’s start out with the city. The city is on the Neretva River and along it is the Iconic Stari Most Bridge (translated to “Old Bridge”). The bridge is the symbol of the city has a beautiful arch high in the air. You have to climb up the bridge on slick stone to get to the other side. It’s so high that even divers brave enough will jump off it at times. Also one of the things you will notice is the different religions in the area. The area is dominated by both Orthodox Christian and Muslim religions. The river literally divides the religions as there are mosques on one side and churches on the other. What’s really unique in this city and the rest of Bosnia, is these two religions live simultaneously together in peace.

One of the coolest things I was able to do in Mostar was the climb a building aptly named “the Sniper tower” or more locally known as the former bank building. Besides it gory past, it is abandoned and had many local artists paint on it graffiti. When you get to the top you get an astounding view of Bosnia and the local area. I was lucky enough to climb this with a girl I met that day from Canada so I had some to enjoy the view with.

The cuisine of Bosnia is top notch and cheap! I experienced this first hand in Mostar, having some local delicacies: cevapi (kebab-meat pieces), burek (like a meat or spinach in dough, filled with cheese) and sarma (meat and rice in cabbage). The meal sizes were large and again very budget friendly! Also, try their local specialty of alcohol, raquia! It is a plum based Brandy.

The other city I visited was the country’s capital, Sarajevo. I wasn’t as impressed with the city as Mostar, but after spending a few days it grew on me. The city has been around since Medieval times and has gone through multiple rule. The assassination of Franz Ferdinand which started World War I happened there and most recently was the hot spot of the Bosnian War in 1990’s. If you ever are in the city, I would highly recommend taking the free (tip-based) walking tours. There are two I did, in which I met locals who experienced the war. Sarajevo was a city that was under heavy siege for nearly 4 years under the Serbian Army. All daily necessities were cut off: food, water and telecommunications. Citizens were forced to hide out in their homes and had to risk their lives to get water and food as there were constant attack of bombs and snipers.

As a child, I remember hearing on the news of the war in Bosnia, it was surreal to be where it actually happened. Like Mostar, Sarajevo had many remnants of the war (again, bomb shrapnel and bullet holes in buildings). If the war interests you, please search for the “Yugoslavian War – 1990’s;” I would encourage you to do your research on it as I’m no expert. Long story short though, the nation of Yugoslavia split into 6 different separate nations in the early 1990’s.

One of the coolest parts of my Sarajevo experience however was visiting the abandoned bobsled tracks north of the city in the hills. In 1984, Sarajevo hosted the Winter Olympics and bobsledding was an event held up there. Since that year the track has been long since forgotten, at least until now. These days local artists have painted graffiti on it and made it super colorful. I had fun running down it, attempting handstands and taking photos on it.

This is the first post in a series of my experiences in the Balkan Region. Stay tuned for more posts with the next one being my time in Serbia. Stay tuned!