Bosnia

Bosnia was always going to tricky as for some reason the sat nav does not recognise the entire country, we knew little about it and we did not have great road maps but we both wanted to visited it so we took the chance.

At the border we had to pay 20 euroes for the car insurance for the week (what a con) and then we were in.

Krevice waterfalls

Bosnia only has 1km of coastline so the Bosnians make most of these waterfalls for a swim. The waterfalls where beautiful but very busy and as we had no local money on us we decided to head for a town to get some cash (The Bosnian Mark).

Medugorje

What a random town this was apparently years ago 6 teenagers thought they saw the virgin mary now the town is huge on tourism and shops with millions of virgin marys so we left and quickly and headed back to the waterfalls for a nice cool of swim.

There was a field right next to the waterfalls and so we decided to wild camp the night right by the falls so you could hear them all night (amazing) and would you believe it we met 2 Australians travelling on a motorbike who decided to wild camp there to which was great.

Poctelj

Next day we drove up country towards Mostar and stopped off in Poctelj a town which has been built inside an old castle wall and we climbed to the top of the wall, very beautiful.

Mostar

Old town Mostar was lovely to see although many buildings still bare the scars from the 1990s conflict and you can see lots of bullet holes.

Route from Mostar was then through Konjic (where they don't have speed humps just speed trenches) then Blasjuska and down to a tiny village in the middle of the mountains and near to nothing called Umoljani

Umoljani

Umoljani was a highlight for us we had not seen another car for an hour of driving down these tiny rounds through the hills. Arriving at Umoljani there was nothing but a dead end and a small village with a tiny café so we decided its only polite to support local businesses and called in.

No one spoke any English and so Jonny ordered what he thought was a homemade beer but got 2 small shot glasses of a homemade extreamly strong spirit and after 4 sips could no longer feel his face. He then felt he needed 2 beers to wash it down and with an amazing view lovely sunshine and comfortable couches we settled in for an hour.

Llidiza

We decided to drive from Umoljani even though it was tempting to stay the night up to Sarejevo (Bosnias capital) and found a campsite in a small town called Ildiza just a 20 minute tram ride from Sarejevo center. It has been a long day driving and while trying to locate the campsite I managed to drive the wrong way down a street meeting an oncoming car but luckily he was very pleasant about it.

That evening at camp

Just so everyone knows in Bosnia the blue tap is hot water I found this out after 20 minutes of an extreamly cold shower with the red tap on full. I then came out of the shower to find out what I thought was communal showers was actually the mens and gave a poor old man a fright.

Sarejevo

We were up and caught the tram into Sarejevo early and spent 4 hours walking round the town, seeing the old town, looking at the markets, the eternal flame, childrens memorial ground, got lost, had packed lunch and then got the tram back to camp. We are glad we went and saw it but still very much apparent but the bullet holes in all the buildings from the war and it's a poor city and many cemeteries so prop wont rush back.

Butmir (small town near the campsite)

Tunnel museum where they built the 800m tunnel under the runway to get supplies in Sarejevo during the 3 years Serbian siege in 1992. The tunnel was hand built and so we thought we should see it (very impressive).

Decided to leave the capital and head south to the national park and find somehwhere to stay (this was at 3pm in the afternoon). A few hours in during daylight I was pulled over by the Bosnian police for not having my headlights on.

I was annoyed as from Slovenia, Croatia and now Bosnia it is the law to drive with your headlights on all the time (totally stupid I know) but I knew this and had just forgotten as it was daylight. However none of the Police speak English and so it cost me 16 euro fine.

A short while later I was following a logging truck through the national park when it blew a tire. There was a loud bang and bits flying every where. I pulled over to check everyone was ok but wow what a fright.

I had now had enough of driving even though Bosnia is such a stunning country so much of the land is untouched and just incredible. Jonny took over and we decided to keep going for a bit.

An hour down the road and Jonny was pulled over by the police for speeding 70km on a 50km road apparently (what a joke it was an open road) but 27 euros later we were now pissed off and fed up so we decided to head for the Bosnian/ Croatian border and get out.

We loved out time in Bosnia its just not easy to travel in and Police are everywhere but we are glad we went.