Bosnia & Herzegovina

I only got to spend one day in Bosnia & Herzegovina, but I think it was a good first taste of the country (and I definitely intend to return for a longer stay).

While in the Balkans, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to check out Bosnia & Herzegovina, so I booked a trip! There is a tour company called Viator that provides transportation and knowledgeable tour leaders to various cities and countries from Dubrovnik, so I booked through them and had a great experience.

What I remember most from that day was that it was ungodly hot and humid. I’m used to hot–I live in Texas. But the humidity is something I’ve learned to live without (growing up in Pennsylvania, I was accustomed to it, but not ready to experience it again).

It was an early-morning pickup, but it was a relatively short drive to Bosnia & Herzegovina. First, we stopped off in Neum to grab some goodies and take a look around before heading through the beautiful Neretva River Valley.

Next up, we stopped in Počitelj, which is believed to have been built in 1383. As an American, it always blows my mind to see things that were established long before my country was even an idea. The architecture is incredibly fascinating: it’s a mixture of medieval and Ottoman, and I’d certainly never seen anything like it.

It probably wasn’t until we got to Mostar that I realized we were actually in Bosnia & Herzegovina. I hadn’t seen much evidence of the war up to this point, but when we exited the bus and began walking towards the town, there were buildings riddled with bullet holes, and mortar dents in the ground.

In Mostar, we toured an old Mosque and a Turkish house, and saw the Stari Most (Old Bridge), which was destroyed during the war, but was reconstructed in 2004 to look exactly as it did when it was created in the 16th century. We also got to spend some time in the Old Bazaar (where I picked up some jewelry and scarves for friends and family), and ate some authentic food.

I was quite surprised by how taken I was with the country. It’s beautiful, full of history, and vastly different than any place I visited prior to it (or since then, really). I’d really like to go back and explore more of the country (and stay for a longer visit).