We continued our trip through Bosnia-Herzegovina towards Mostar, a city, neither of us have heard of before, but apparently, it is a very touristy place and it was recommended to us to visit by many people in Trebinje. The temperatures were all right so we decided to spend the night on a camping site just outside of the city. We found Camping Neretva that looked nice and drove there to park the Defender. We couldn’t find the owner but he came shortly after we arrived, he was down by the river trying to catch some fish. He told us that it was already the end of the season and he wanted to close the camp but he let us stay for 30 marks (=15 Euros). We parked the Defender and walked to the city where we found a very different picture to Trebinje. Mostar had a much more eastern touch, the streets and little stores reminded me a lot of Istanbul, also the goods which were sold were the same I have found on the Bazars in Turkey. The scars of the war were very visible in this small town, a lot of buildings showed bullet wholes, others were already renovated. The old town and the famous bridge Stari Most are built of stones and present a very nice picture to look at. Unfortunately, people who live(d) there told us that Mostar still faces a lot of issues resulting from the war. Mostar was confronted with two wars in the nineties, the first one was Serb forces versus Bosniak and Croatian forces, after which most Serbs fled the city. Then a second war happened where Croatians fought against Bosniaks. This war is the reason why the city still today is physically divided into a Croat-majority west bank and a Bosniak-majority old city and east bank with the Neretva River as a border. We were told that people who live here, even younger ones who were born after the war, don’t really mingle with people from the other side of the city…
We found a nice little restaurant in the old town where we ate dinner and returned to the camping site. It was quite cold after the sun went down, that’s why we went straight to bed and got up early again the next day to drive to Sarajevo. However, when we wanted to leave at around 8.30 am the gate of the camping site was closed and locked and there was no sight of the owner. Luckily, he arrived just a few minutes later and let us out and we could start our trip towards the capital.
In Sarajevo we stayed in a nice hotel, Isa Begov, with an islamic architecture. There was also a Hamam which we could use. To start with, we went straight into the old town to try a Bosnian coffee (we were taught later that we drank it completely wrong though) and signed up for another free walking tour, which, in our opinion, is an amazing way to get to know a new city. Adis, our tourguide, was a local and did a great job in telling us interesting facts about the city and its history. Of course, we talked about the war as well, since this is a big part of Sarajevo’s history - in fact, probably a lot of people have only heard of Sarajevo from the news during the 44 months from 1992 to 1996 when it was besieged by the Serbs. The city has a lot more to offer though than its history of the war. Adis showed us historical buildings, which were built in many different architectural styles due to the fact that the Ottomans as well as the Austrian-Hungarians have ruled here. There is one point in the city where you look to your right and it looks like you’re in Istanbul and when you look to your left it looks just like Vienna! Sarajevo is also the place where Franz Ferdinand was shot, which was the straw that broke the camels back in order for World War I to start. After the tour, we enjoyed some more delicious coffe and cake in the sun, strolled through the Bazar and went to the War Childhood Museum. Jasminko Halilović, the founder of the museum, grew up in Sarajevo during the war. He wanted to find out about the experience of others who’s childhood had been affected by war and therefore launched a call for people to send their short answers to the question: “What was the war childhood for you?”. He received many answers which he published in a book, and later the museum was opened where you can see objects of children and their memories attached to them. The collection of the museum changes regularly and it also shows objects of children from other war regions, for example Syria. We talked about the exhibition afterwards and we both were very touched - I remember seing a magic wand which I used to have as well as a child and reading the memories of that child and having my own just showed me how lucky I was that I could grow up in a safe place withouth any fear - a truly impressive and touching exhibition!
For dinner, we were looking for a restaurant that did not only serve Civapcicis and fries, because we were really craving something different. And Sarajevo had a lot to offer. We decided to go to Mala Kuhinja, a fusion cuisine restaurant. It was deliiiicious! Even though they do have a menu card they prefer to discuss the menu with you without looking into the menu. The waitress asked us what we liked and what we didn’t like and suggested a dish and it was definitely worth the try!
The next day we had a nice turkish breakfast in our hotel and then headed out again. We signed up for another walking tour that focused on the war. Neno, our tourguide, grew up in Sarajevo and was only 7 years old when the war started. He shared his memories with us - spending most of the years during the war in the basement where he lived with his family and other families from the building, because it was too dangerous outside, but also about how people tried to have a “normal” life, how his mother dressed up and went to work, how teachers would gather children in one basement and teach them, how everyone was supporting each other and how people did not lose hope. During the 44 months when Sarajevo was besieged, on average 329 bombs a day exploded in the city, 11,000 people were killed (Serbs, Croats and Bosniaks), thereof 10% were children. Some buildings still showed the scars of the war but most of them have been renovated. When Neno showed us some pictures of buildings during the war time, we barely could recognize some of them! 70% of the city were completely destroyed! In Sarajevo and Bosnia generally, people are trying to move on but not forget, you can read this phrase many times, so for us as well, it was impressive to learn about everything that happened but we also found it important to look on the brighter side and enjoy the many other things this city has to offer.
We spent some time in the Hamam (not together, because the hours for men and women are strictly separated) and went for a drink at a bar which was recommended to us by friends - definitely a must-go-to-place if you'‘re ever in Sarajevo: Zlatna Ribica (thank you Sena and Diz! :) ). At the bar, we met a couple from England we already saw at the restaurant the night before. We started chatting and they joined us for a drink. They were actually roadtripping as well in their van. We decided to go for dinner all together and had a lot of fun and a delicious dinner at The Four Rooms of Mrs. Safija, another restaurant with a special menu card we can highly recommend!
The next day it was time to leave Sarajevo. Our next stop was Montenegro, but before we left, we wanted to visit the Tunel of Hope. This tunel was built in order to connect the besieged Sarajevo with the rest of Bosnian territory - another impressive piece of history.
We then drove towards Montenegro, where our first stop was Zabljak, a town rigth next to Durmitor National Park. Our visit to Sarajevo has brought us away from the coast, and we figured, since we were here already, we’ll also pass by the famous national park in Montenegro, which was, according to the internet, a place you must visit when there - of course this probably was addressed to tourists who visit Montenegro in summer or at least not staying in a rooftent. For us, it meant some more cold days, actually, the weather forecast for Durmitor National Park was very sunny but temperatures dropped below zero during the night, so we once again treated ourselves to another shelter other than our Defender, and we found Casa di Pino, which was an adorable little hotel with the friendliest staff ever! We really felt like home the second we stepped through the door. It was absolutely worth it, but not just because of the hotel. The drive from Sarajevo to Montenegro was nothing but spectacular either. We drove through the most colorful forests in Bosnia, we really got all the fall vibes and autumn colors you can imagine, it was like driving through fall wonderland until we got stopped by a police car. Tom was driving, so he handed the papers to the officer who asked him to step outside of the car. They were talking for a few minutes and when Tom came back he told me that the police officer wanted 40 Euros because we did not have the “CH”-sign for Switzerland on the car. Tom told them that it fell off and that we didn’t have any local cash left, since we were just about to leave Bosnia (which in fact was true, we spent our last Bosnian marks on diesel) so the policeman let us drive on. After this little incident we were both very curious about the border crossing to Montenegro, since we were in the middle of nowhere in the mountains. At the border, everyone was super friendly, we did have to show our passports, papers for the car as well as the Covid-certificate, but other than that, they let us pass and were really friendly. And we were stunned the further we drove into this beautiful country. First, we were driving into a gorge beside a river and then the road went up the mountains and up and up. And when we reached the top, there was another beautiful and stunning landscape in front of us. We really couldn’t believe our eyes - what a beautiful beautiful country. The drive went on like this just until we reached Zabljak and Casa di Pino. We took some drone shots on the way, therefore, it was just getting dark when we arrived there. We walked to a close-by restaurant for a small dinner and already decided there that we wanted to extend our stay for another night in order to enjoy more of Durmitor National Park. After a delicious breakfast we chatted to one of the staff at the hotel and she really took a lot of time to explain the different trails and possibilities for hikes. We put on our hiking shoes and drove to the Black Lake (Crno Jezero), the most famous glacier lake of Durmitor National Park. From there, we had the option of many different trails and we aimed fo climb Medjed, the mountain right behind the lake. It is not the highest mountain of the Durmitor massive but from the summit you can enjoy one of the best views - we were told. Since the hike was very exposed at some parts, I really really wished we would have settlted for an easier trail, but we still made it and the view was spectacular. However, I was more than happy when we were back down on safe grounds! Since we were hungry and it was already getting dark, we went straight for dinner at the restaurant of Hotel Soa, another nice place to eat (and stay) in Zabljak. Afterwards, we returned to our nice Casa di Pino and the sauna was already preheated for us. It was the perfect ending to a spectacular day in Durmitor National Park.
The next day we enjoyed another delicious brekky and then hit the road. Our first stop was Tara Bridge, a beautiful arch bridge close to Zabljak. After taking some drone shots, we headed towards Ostrog Monastery, a Serbian orthodox monastery built in a rock high up in the mountains. The location was indeed very spectacular and luckily there were not many tourists. We could tell by the amount of parking lots how many people usually visit this place during high season. We first wanted to stay at a hotel again close by (since it is still high up in the mountains and it gets cold at night), but it wasn’t that late so we decided to drive down to the coast and find a camping site, because the weather at the sea side was suppose to be nice. We drove to the Bay of Kotor and found a super nice spot on a private camping site just before it got dark. The owner of Camping Zlokovic was very friendly and the price of 15 Euros for a night was very ok as well for a beach front location. We liked it a lot so we stayed for 3 nights. In the morning, we enjoyed our coffee at the beach, put up our hammocks and had time for some Yoga. Also, the cutest little cats lived there, they were very cuddly and always followed us around the camp site, I really wanted to adopt them all :) We cooked nice dinners and one day we walked to Herceg Novi and enjoyed a dinner at a little restaurant. We had some very relaxing days.
