We didn’t plan to come to Bosnia, but here we are - and we love it! Bosnia, being a Balkan country, has many similarities to Albania and Montenegro. For starters, the language sounds very similar. “Thank you” changes very subtly as you cross borders. We spoke with a Slovenian mother who said that, while for some reason her kids couldn’t understand Bosnian, it is easy for her and her husband to converse with Bosnians while speaking Slovenian. The cuisine in Bosnia is very similar to that of Albania: stuffed peppers, ćevapi, yogurt sauce, pita, etc. While Bosnian food mirrors that of Albania in many ways, Sam and I still think Albanian food is better. Like Albania, Bosnia has a majority Muslim population. The adhan, which is the Islamic call to prayer, is projected from a loudspeaker attached to mosques. It is really lovely to be back in a predominately Muslim country for many reasons, one being this beautiful adhan played five times throughout cities. Also like Albania, Bosnia is a reasonably priced country, making it a great spot for travelers. We found Montenegro to be on the more expensive side, but that is partially because Montenegro uses the Euro and the U.S. Dollar has lost its value in recent months (in Spain, where we also used the Euro back in January and February, the conversion was nearly 1:1 for Euro to Dollar. Now it’s 1:14). Unfortunately, another similarity between Bosnia and all the other Balkan countries is the experience with recent conflict. Like Albania, who faced a violent communist regime in recent memory, Bosnia endured its own tragedies in the period between 1992 and 1995. Starting in April 1992, Bosnian Serbs set out to “ethnically cleanse” Bosnian territory by systematically removing all Bosnian Muslims, known as Bosniaks. Many Bosniaks were driven into concentration camps where horrific atrocities occurred, including torture and murder. Thankfully, Bosnian people seem adamant about not letting visitors or locals alike forget this genocide. A sign in the Genocide Museum of Mostar we visited reading: “without this learning we are prone to allow it to happen again and again…” My experience in Poland reminded me to not take for granted a community's willingness to acknowledge its dark history.

Bosnia is a beautiful country, both naturally and human-made. The mountains, lush greenery, rivers, and other incredible natural phenomena, make this country one of the more beautiful countries I’ve seen. The stone roads, Ottoman-style architecture, stone bridges, and old castles make it one of the most interesting. One of the days where we really got to see the range of the beauty Bosnia has to offer is a trip we went on from Mostar with Taso’s Hostel. While Taso’s Hostel was all full, the owner let us come on the hostel trip even without staying at the hostel. This trip was just Sam, myself, Maia (a lovely Latvian young woman who was volunteering at Taso’s, meaning she was working at the hostel for a few weeks in exchange for a free stay), and of course, Taso. Taso is a thirty-something man raised in Mostar (during the Genocide) who decided to open his own hostel about ten years ago. His story about deciding to open a hostel is quite funny: he was DJing at a local bar and some travelers came in and were talking to him about how Mostar needs hostels. He said he had to Google what a hostel was. Soon after, he opened a hostel in the house his dad and uncle grew up in. Now, Taso’s Hostel is one of the highest rated hostels in Bosnia and has had over 20,000 travelers stay there. His enthusiasm for Mostar is contagious and his knowledge about Bosnian history is very impressive. He drove us to all the beautiful spots in his car, explaining the historical significance of places and answering all of our questions about Bosnia today. We started by visiting a mosque on the water called Vrelo Bune. While we didn’t go inside the mosque, the views from the outside were stunning. The greenish river that emerged from a cave (pictured below) seemed to attract many visitors, with people lining up to take pictures. There were shops and restaurants and coffee shops along the river as well. Next, we went to Capljina, a city located on a hill and on a riverbank. Here, we climbed up the cobblestone streets to get to a castle, and another castle. The view was stunning and well worth it. We even bought fresh pomegranate juice to enjoy along the way. The last stop was the Ljubuski Waterfall. We stayed here for a couple of hours, relaxing on the beach along with many other travelers, and enjoyed a few cold plunges into the waters. It was beautiful, and a really nice way to end the day.

Of the two cities we went to, Mostar and Sarajevo, Mostar was my favorite. It was smaller and less like an international city than Sarajevo, so it had a more local feel. It was from Mostar that we got to visit all the beautiful natural places pictured above, and we could do day hikes right from our hostel (Hostel Deny, great place). If you compare Mostar and Sarajevo based solely on their Old Towns, I would say they’re pretty comparable, with Sarajevo’s being bigger and less expensive to eat in. Sarajevo does have a better set up for running though, with a river that runs through town with a nice path along both sides of the river. Running in Mostar required some creativity, as the Old Town was way too hard to run through with its uneven cobblestones. We got to go to a futbol match in Sarajevo which was a lot of fun. There clearly is a huge fanbase for the team we went to, Željezničar, which is one of the two footy teams in the city of Sarajevo. Whether you go to Mostar or Sarajevo or both, I would recommend going to a footy match. If you’re planning a visit to Bosnia, I would try to visit both Sarajevo and Mostar, as they are special for different reasons. A week’s time is probably enough to spend in these two cities. We’ve spent eight days now in Mostar and Sarajevo and feel content with moving on to our next spot.

Our original plan was to make it to Trebinje, another Bosnian city which was recommended for us to see in Bosnia. Unfortunately, there is no direct way to get from Trebinje to Dubrovnik, and we have to be in Dubrovnik by Friday because Sam’s parents and sister are meeting us for the last two weeks of our trip (!) While I am really heartbroken to be nearing the end of this trip, I’m so excited to see them and close out with trip together. Last time we saw them was in Chile, very close to the beginning of this whole journey. Anyway, people were correct in saying Bosnia is much better with a rental car. This appears to be true, as we are finding the bus and train system are very limited here in Bosnia.

I am so happy we added Bosnia onto our trip and would definitely recommend it to anyone traveling around the Balkans or looking for a less expensive and historically-rich country to visit!

Mostar Restaurant Recommendations

Tima-Irma: a must-go. The meat and peppers tray is pictured above.

Food House: traditional Bosnian food

Teco: good smoothie spot about 2km outside of Old Town. Bonus: you get to see the local scene AND it’s much less expensive than Old Town

Gelateria 5: best gelato in town (according to us, and to locals we talked to)

Sarajevo Recommendations

Bosnian Cuisine Hadzibajric: best food we had. Great classic Bosnian food and a local scene.

FitBar: outside of Old Town. Good smoothies and healthy food options

Sac: best Burek in town (according to our hostel)

Zeljo 3: also a great local restaurant with inexpensive platters of meat (including my favorite, ćevapi)

Dzirlo: cozy tea and coffee spot on the outskirts of Old Town

Hostel Kucha: best hostel we’ve stayed at in a while

Yellow Fortress: great spot to watch the sunset