Bosnia and Herzegovina Road Trip

The second part of our Croatia/Bosnia trip was a road trip through Bosnia and Herzegovina. Many of the Balkan countries used to be part of Yugoslavia (Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Serbia, North Macedonia, Kosovo and Montenegro). Yugoslavia collapsed with the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s. The successor states are mostly divided along ethnic and religious lines, with Croatians mostly living in Croatia, Serbians mostly in Serbia, etc. The areas where these lines were blurred often ended up in civil unrest during the Yugoslav collapse, with different ethnic groups vying for control of land. Unfortunately, Bosnia and Herzegovina saw some of the worst of that conflict with its mix of Orthodox Serbians, Catholic Croatians and Muslim Bosnians. We understood some of this history before arriving, and learned much more about it in our time in Bosnia, especially. You can still see the scars of the war and we'll point things out to highlight what we learned.

We visited a few different places in our couple days in the country and really took advantage of the ability to stop at off-the-beaten-path locales with our rental car. We used Mostar as a base, which is a super cute and historic town in the south of the country. While here we saw roman ruins, monasteries, mosques, castles, and war-torn ruins spanning from antiquity through Byzantine, Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian and more recent Yugoslavian control of the nation. Bosnia and Herzegovina is sitting on a huge amount of western civilization's history, all within a few kilometers of Mostar.

Heading into Bosnia and Herzegovina, we crossed the border from Croatia at Orah. Bosnia is not part of the European Union (yet) so there was a passport check, but it only took a few minutes and we didn't have to get out of the car. We immediately noticed a difference in infrastructure. While the roads in Bosnia are perfectly fine, they were not on par with Croatia. Still, it was easy enough to get around, and having a rental car was nice. 

Since the weather was so great, we focused on a few natural sites on our way to Mostar. Our first stop was Koćuša Waterfall, a small waterfall that was basically right along our route just over the Croatian border. There's not too much to see here - there's one main waterfall, and a restaurant with a nice outdoor terrace overlooking the falls. It was a pleasant short stop to stretch our legs, and the weather was way better than at Plitvice Falls! In this area closest to Croatia, it is very common to see people displaying Croatian, instead of Bosnian, flags. This region of the country is largely ethnically Croatian.

Next we set off for a second set of waterfalls enroute to Mostar, Kravica, which was a bigger tourist site with much more infrastructure, including an entrance fee. It was a short walk downhill to the falls. The weather was nice but unfortunately it was the exact wrong time of day, with the sun directly behind the falls, making for backlit pictures.

Kocusa Waterfall.

David at Kravica.

The sun was getting lower in the sky, so we drove on to our AirBnB in Mostar, which was less than an hour away. Google maps took us on a road that was being reconstructed, so we had a portion of the drive on a winding dirt road. It wasn't too bad, and we made it to Mostar in one piece. Our AirBnB was down a very narrow alley, which they clearly warned us about and gave us extensive instructions on how to make the turn into the alley from another narrow one-way street. We managed to get in without putting a scratch on the rental car. It was a bit funny because on the last part of our 3-point turn we weren't totally sure if we could make it, and an old man walking by assessed the situation and ensured us we were fine. He was right!

Our AirBnB had probably the best view we've ever had - a direct full view of the famous bridge of Mostar. We spent a lot of time looking out the window and viewing the scene from our yard/patio. By this time it was late afternoon, and we set out to walk around the city. Mostar was probably the busiest place on our trip. Despite being off season, there were still quite a few tourists, and the restaurants and shopping areas had a fair amount of people.

We walked across the crooked bridge and made our way across the famous "old" bridge. This bridge, which Mostar is literally named after, was originally built in the 1500s, and was destroyed in 1993 during the Bosnian War. It was rebuilt in the original materials and style and reopened in 2004. We then tried to go into a mosque but it was closed - just like in Croatia, google maps is not accurate with opening and closing times in the off season in Mostar. The center of town is car-free and full of little tourist shops and nice views of old buildings, the surrounding mountains, and the river.

We had dinner outside on the terrace of Bella Vista, then grabbed a beer at craft beer garden imaimoze, which had a resident dog laying on the carpet. It was dark and getting chilly, so we got some dessert to go from a restaurant and went back to our AirBnB around 7:30. Mostar very quickly got quiet as the shops closed and the tourists left for the day. 

Can't beat that view from our living room.

Churches and mosques. Mostar is about 50% Croatian and 50% a mix of Bosnians and other ethnic groups.

Our private patio and yard overlooking the old town.

This is the "street" we drove down to our parking spot.

The crooked bridge.

Mostar is full of adorable views.

The first floor is our AirBnB - as viewed from the old bridge.

Mostar.

The tourist shopping street leading to the bridge.

We walked across the bridge more times than we care to admit.

A Mostar beer at dinner.

Dinner with a view! The food at this restaurant was just OK; the view was the star.

Night falls on Mostar.

Of course there was ice cream.

The city got much quieter at night.

Having a beer.

The next day, Monday, was our full day in Mostar. We woke up around 9am, and walked down to the river for views. We then walked about 15 minutes north into a newer area of the city for breakfast and Bosnian coffee at Fabrika. This was a nice walk, as the touristy pedestrian street through the old city continues as a commercial pedestrian street into the newer area of town.

After breakfast, we tried to go into the Karađoz Beg Mosque, but it was closed, so we continued on to the smaller Koski Mehmed Pasha Mosque. The main attraction of this mosque is you can walk up the slender Ottoman-style minaret for excellent views of the city and river. We were the only people there, which was good because the minaret staircase is very narrow, and the space at the top is tiny. It was also quite windy at the top. We'd highly recommend making the trek up the minaret.

Tea on the terrace before we started our day.

View of the old bridge from the river, complete with a cat.

One of the adorable little streets in Mostar.

Paul had traditional Bosnian coffee with breakfast. It's warmed in hot sand.

Coffee here is a "process"

The pedestrian street in the newer part of the city.

Inside the mosque.

There were great views from the minaret.

Climbing up the narrow stairs of the minaret.

Next we went to the war and genocide museum. While that may sound like a bit of a downer on vacation, it's such an important recent part of their history that greatly impacts current culture and society, and we appreciated that this museum existed so we could see and learn more about the conflict. The museum had interesting exhibits and information, but wasn't really laid out in a logical order. There were some hard to watch videos, and a replica bunker. We stuck with the museum theme and next visited the Stari Most museum, which was specifically about the famous bridge. You're able to go up in the tower and then all the way down to see foundations. There was a lot of info on the rebuilding and reopening of the bridge in the early 2000s.

By now it was lunch time, and we went to Šadrvan. It was touristy and expensive but very nice, with decent food and a scenic location. We sat outside and enjoyed people watching and, of course, visits from neighborhood cats. We also had ajvar, a sauce made from roaster red peppers and eggplant, which is probably the best tasting regional food we tried on this trip. We had it a number of times as an accompaniment in both Croatia and Bosnia.

We then did some shopping for souvenirs, walking the length of the main tourist shopping street. While many of the stores had tourist junk, there were a few nice places with local artists. We walked back to our AirBnB to relax, stopping along the way at the Konzum grocery store, and then Bakery Dan i Noc (Day and night) with a quirky 20 year old worker. We made sure to pick up some kifla to try, sticking the Schitt's Creek "The Crows Have Eyes 3" theme.

An exhibit in the war and genocide museum.

There are a few buildings like this around town that show the scars of war.

Climbing up to the top level of the Stari Most museum.

View of the old bridge from the Stari Most musuem.

Ancient foundations below the museum.

Lunch time!

Kitty!

Paul do be photogenic!

Fancy treats at the Ottoman bakery.

And a selection of kifla at the local bakery.

After relaxing a bit, we went for walk to enjoy evening views. We walked by the unfinished Marriott hotel, and the cultural center, which had a few "Stećci" tombstones in front. We'd see more of these the next day. They're basically a type of tombstone carving from the region that was used from the 12th to 16th centuries. We then went back to our AirBnB and ate burek and kifla for dinner with beers, and watched some of the Schitt's Creek Bosnia episodes.

Mostar is very cute, and nice to walk around, but there are not too many specific things to do. Two nights is a good amount of time to spend here. A major downside to Mostar is that there were too many smokers (same as Croatia), and (unlike Croatia) people smoke in restaurants here even though it's apparently not allowed. Otherwise the atmosphere of the city is great, it's a pleasant place to just hang out, eat, shop, and listen to the call to prayer echo across the river.

Tombstone carving.

Night view of Mostar.

View from our AirBnB's living room at night.

On Tuesday we woke up early (around 7AM) and started our main road trip day. This was a very pleasant and relaxing day, making our way to several sites in the beautiful sunny fall weather. The roads and tourist sites were not busy since it was a weekday in the off season. 

Our first stop was Poĉitelj, an old city on a hillside featuring a 15th century fort/castle complex used for defense by the medieval Bosnian state and then eventually the Ottomans. To get to the fort, we drove up a small road to to the top, which was partly dirt and partly paved, but overall was not that tricky. They're building a new EU-financed highway to Mostar, and construction passed through this area so the roads were a bit wonky and there was lots of construction nearby. Most tourists park at the bottom of the town, near the river off the main road and walk up, but we thought we'd be smart/lazy and just drive to the top after we saw people do it on a Youtube video 😉. 

We wandered around the fort and hill town for maybe 20 mins. There were lots of pomegranates here and not any people to be found. This site/town only has about 100 residents and most of the buildings look abandoned. The fort's towers seemed to host some updates for tourism (glass railings/view points and some small rooms for tour groups), but most of it seems to be in disrepair or broken. We left unsure what the future of this site holds, but it was still an interesting stop with some great views over the river, valley and hills.

A gateway to Poĉitelj.

Overview of Poĉitelj.

Paul hanging out.

There were lots of pomegranates.

Next we drove to the ruins of a 4th century Roman villa, called Mogorjelo. This site is just a 15 min drive from Poĉitelj. Unlike most of our stops on this road trip day, at this site there was a group of older German tourists arriving in a bus at the same time as us. There's not a ton to see here, but David really likes Roman stuff so we made a quick stop and then had a drink and piece of cake for breakfast at the adjoining cafe.

Entryway to the villa complex.

You can see where small rooms adjoined to the villa existed.

System for water flow.

David with the Roman bricks.

Paul's cappuccino and cake.

From Mogorjelo we headed southeast to the UNESCO Radimlja site near Stolac. This site hosts a variety of medieval Bosnian tombstones. These range in age from the 12th - 16th centuries. There was a small/nice visitor center with some friendly staff and a short informational video about the site. We were the only visitors here at the time. Adjacent to the tombstone field, there was a nice little playground and picnic area with a walking path. Overall a nice little site.

From here, we drove to the nearby town of Stolac for a quick stop to look around. This town was undergoing some renovations and the central square was very quaint. A river flows through the center and there are high hills around all sides guarded by a castle on a hill. Another cute town on our road trip day.

You can see the carvings of people and medieval Bosnian Cyrillic writing.

Many of the tombstones were quite large and ornately decorated. There are several similar sites throughout Bosnia and Croatia.

Stolac city center.

River and falls in Stolac.

Up to Stolac, nothing on our road trip day was more than about 20 minutes away from any other stop. It's really amazing to think about how close all these different and interesting sites are. Bosnia, and southern Europe in general, is really sitting on layers of human history in a beautiful natural setting. The next leg of the trip towards Tvrdoš Monastery (and ultimately Dubrovnik) was a bit longer, probably closer to an hour. This stretch of the drive passed through mostly rural terrain with a mix of mountains, forests and farmland. It also saw us leaving the region of Herzegovina and entering the ethnically Serbian Republic of Srpska. This "republic" is still a part of Bosnia and Herzegovina but is governed by ethnic Serbs with a separate legislature, president, etc. If nothing else, we invite you to read up on current system of governance of Bosnia and Herzegovina if you're interested. It's really interesting and an obvious relic of the Yugoslavian and Cold War period.

Most of our drive from Stolac to the Tvrdoš Monastery looked like this. Beautiful!

A low valley surrounded by mountains/hills.

More countryside.

Tvrdoš Monastery was a nice little break on the road to Dubrovnik. There's a small vineyard attached and some nice views. Not a ton to write home about, but there're also clean bathrooms and a gift shop. Worth a stop if you're passing by.

Ample parking day or night.

Path to the monastery.

Vineyard.

Chapel building.

Super friendly kitty!

From Tvrdoš it was just a short drive to cross the border with Croatia and enter Dubrovnik. We had no delay or issues crossing back into Croatia/the EU. We ended up arriving in Dubrovnik in the late afternoon. Overall the drive was super chill and pleasant and we really enjoyed our short visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Obviously we only saw a small portion of this country and didn't even trek up to Sarajevo, but we'd recommend popping in if you're in the region and checking out the wealth of human history and natural beauty in this country.