A BRIDGE TOO FAR – BOSNIA IN A DAY

October 2023. Bosnia & Herzegovina.

Despite this latest Balkan adventure being notionally a “holiday” every day started with a 7am alarm, and Saturday saw us standing outside the Balkan tourist office at 8 after a lightning breakfast;

Good to know : those shredded wheat pastries are not a patch on the One True Way that is baklava.

Also good to know is that the tour guide/minibus driver taking us to see southern Bosnia is a great man concerned for your bladder who will co-ordinate loo stops to fit in with his smoking breaks.

Oddly, I took fewer loo stops than the other half-dozen passengers on this beer-free trip, which shows what a fatal combination ale and coffee are.

You’ll know my views on buses, but this was a comfortable trip (a Viator booking), all six hours of it. They may only have one fast (toll) road but it’s a cracker.

The scenery south of Sarajevo is stunning in a central Wales style, our route punctuated by stops at Konjic,

and Jablanica, home of possibly Bosnia’s only train,

where Cafe Bar Narona served the darkest espresso imaginable for 65p.

On the route out our Bosnian guide told us the condensed history of his country, concluding with the tales of his time as a 17 year old being fired on by snipers in 1994, leading to an audible hush which made me reconsider my wish to ask him what he thought of U2’s classic “Miss Sarajevo” and the nascent craft beer scene.

There’s a lot of bridges in Bosnia, but the one you’ll know is Stari Most, the Ottoman one rebuilt after the conflict in Mostar.

The walk to Staro Most takes you past approximately 1,239 pavement cafes, none of which we’d have time to stop at for a Staropramen.

This ISN’T it,

but this is.

Despite being the slippiest bridge in the world, it’s also one of the best.

As are the waterfalls, but we’ll come to those next.

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Published by retiredmartin

Retired NHS, doing long walks around UK and the world to record the great bits. Focused on Good Beer Guide pubs and live music.

7 thoughts on “A BRIDGE TOO FAR – BOSNIA IN A DAY”

  3. My wife was pickpocketed in. Mosta yeserdayrand lost bank card and 100 Bosnian marks Thankgod for Internet Banking that she could transfer money to.my current card as due to us only being away for few days I had not bought most of my cards with other money on them We had not been abroad since before Covid and forgot that you need to have emergency funds on you for
    when this sort of thing happens
    Also.the 8PM bus back to Sarajevo stopper in a different place not opposite where it had dropped us and the stop where we thought it would be was ocupoed by a Gypsy woman withsmall children who on reflection must have that place as her pitch toask confused tourists for money in return for directions but luckily we got there in time to find the right stop At nearly 60 I’m feeling a little too old for this level.of excitement but we got safely back to.our apartement in Sarajevo and did at least walk the bridge and climb a Minaret in Mostar

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  4. No real harm done apart from to our self image as intrepid senior backpackers and the Gypsy Lady to be fair did point us in the general direction of our bus albeit she disappeared when we gave her children some coins. People generally have been either brusque or very welcoming but that is the case in service indudtries worldwide Tomorrow are going to. Zlatna Ribica no 1 on this year’s European bar guide From the photos I am imaging it as a. Bslkan version of Margates Fez but no.Gadds I presume

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