Bosnia and Herzegovina!

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My next country in the Balkans is Bosnia and Herzegovina!!!

I was actually really excited about visiting this country and I knew just a little bit of its history from blog posts that I had read. As I was riding the bus and approaching the city of Mostar I started noticing cemeteries, tons of destroyed buildings and many of them still standing but with bullet holes all around.

Bosnia and Herzegovina, former part of Yugoslavia, had a cold war not too long ago and has been independent only for 25 years. The cold war was basically Serbia and Croatia fighting to make the Bosnian territory theirs.

As you walk around town you feel kind of weird because you can still see the effects of the war on the town, they haven’t reconstructed everything and in a way it shocks you to see it. Many of the houses have their original gates with bullet holes in them.

On my first day I walked around the charming old town, walked along the cobble stone streets, and checked out its iconic Old Bridge.

Mosque before entering the old town

I see the bridge!

View from the Bridge

Hostel's entrance

On the second day the owner of the hostel I was staying at, Miran, took some of the guest on a tour around Mostar.

The first stop was… an errand for Miran’s new AirBnB project so we all waited patiently as he dealt with his business at the lumberjack or something like that. After a 15-20 min wait we were on our way to our official first stop… A military base!

During the time of war in B&H Miran was in the military and took us to the military base.

Miran's photo from his military times

He tells the story that one day him and his teammates were brought to the opposite site of the airport and they looked at each puzzled because they had no idea what was going on or what they were doing there. What they didn’t realize is that just behind them was a secret military base where they would be spending their time.

We entered the tunnel and realized that the base was gigantic, Miran said that they could fit up to 15 airplanes inside it. The tunnel was completely dark and we had to get our phones out to light up the way. The coolest thing about this part of the tour is that we were getting Miran’s story with it, not facts about the war, not things that can be read in wikipedia, but the way he felt and how the war impacted his life, his family’s life, and the whole country.

We are ready!

The yellow line that help lead the airplanes in.

Getting out of it.

From the military base Miran drove us to our second stop… the Blagaj Tekke, or Dervish Monastery. We actually didn’t enter the monastery but instead went to the other side to the natural spring of the Buna River and drank some fresh and tasty water from the river!

Trying to get some water

Drinking some fresh water!

We then drove to Pocitelj, a little village with stone houses that overlooks the Neretva River and the beautiful scenery of B&H. While Miran went to the mosque to do his prayers we walked up along the walls of the city to take in some of the beautiful sights.

Awesome view from high up!

The next stop was the famous and very beautiful Kravica Waterfalls. The falls are 120meters wide and the panoramic view as we walked down was spectacular. I think I have had enough of waterfalls but thought this one was actually pretty cool! People can swim in the waterfalls but the water was freezing so I wasn’t brave enough to give it a try.

Bosnia and Herzegovina is famous for Medjugorje, where apparently the virgin appeared so we stopped by but it wasn’t all that special. I was kind of impressed by all the confession rooms and all the many languages that are offered for confession.

confession rooms... more like going to an office.

The final stop for the day was on a hill overlooking the whole of Mostar and it was from there that Miran shared a lot about the war and how it impacted his life. It was crazy to be standing on top of the hill and listening to Miran telling us how Serbian and Croatian military took over the hills surrounding Mostar and attacked them from up top.

Overall it was an enjoyable and eye opening tour that taught me a lot about the country and its history.

The last day I spent it walking around the non touristy part of town, walking by people’s houses, schools, and wandering around parks.

There are many many cemeteries all around Mostar

Beautiful sunset-y colors

Bruce Lee statue, because he never uses weapons to fight.

This is a school, they separate students by ethnicities, Serbians and Bosnians! Crazy!

This is actually a concentration camp, still under investigation!

Bullets, bullets, bullets holes everywhere!

Atotally destroyed building next to a restaurant.

Now off to Sarajevo, B&H’s capital city!

About Post Author

Andrea

Hi! It's me... Andrea! In 2016 I decided to drop everything and take a year to enrich my life and travel around the world. It turns out the world is just too big for 12 months! Still on the road and sharing my experience as a solo female traveler around the globe!