This trip to Bosnia was pretty random I have to admit. I looked up for cheap flights from Stockholm and Bosnia was a cheap destination and I thought “When does the possibility emerge to go to Bosnia in the future?” Probably never haha! So I decided to spend some days away from school by going to Bosnia. For this trip I didn't have any expectations again at all. Nowadays I tell that myself every time to not get disappointed haha. My flight landed in Banja Luka. After taking a small mini-van to the city I walked a bit around. Banja Luka was small, cute, but probably I would have died from boringness after 2 days. To get to know about the country I decided to try using Couchsurfing again and luckily someone accepted me in Banja Luka. His name was Dorde and he welcomed me in the evening. He was super nice and friendly and had a lot to tell! We got some drinks next to the river and at home his wife was waiting for us. They had so many great stories to tell, I was a bit overwhelmed haha but I really enjoyed having them as companions. They talked about their fancy marriage, about the beauty of the country, their small business selling self-made racks and all the travels they made through Europe when Dorde was also studying abroad. Really thankful for that experience and even though behind Couchsurfing is a shitty company now, the network has still so many cool people.
On the next day I started my way to Sarajevo. Finding the bus stop was a challenge but with the help of Dorde I managed to get to the bus terminal by bus with having BAM bills and coins, the local currency the first time. The bus ride to Sarajevo took me about 5 hours and to my bad luck it stopped outside of the city haha. With the tram it was easy to get to the city though. After checking in I was lucky to meet Augusto at the hostel, who works as a professional photographer and was currently traveling around as well. While he shared some knowledge about photography with me, we explored the city together. And what can I say? Sarajevo offers such a vibe. From the Baščaršija to the streets within around the Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque to the Pyjama Markale market. Sarajevo's old town is small but is a place that is well remembered. For food I definitely can recommend these places. Sač for Burek and Ćevabdžinica Petica Ferhatović for Cevapi, two must tries in Bosnia. If you are into pistaccio don't miss out on Baklava as well. I had mine at Fistikzade which was great. Besides that I had time to check out the sunset at Žuta Tabija, the yellow fortress, which offers a lovely view over the city. On the way don't forget to try the different tea booths, like this one: Čajdžinica Džirlo. Sarajevo definitely surprised me but probably is only worth one or two days of visit.
The third day I joined Augusto for the sunrise since his opinion is that the morning is the best time to take photos without any crowd. Sadly it was cloudy all morning but I am grateful to him for all the tips and tricks he showed me. In the afternoon our ways separated and I took the train to Mostar which is supposed to be one of the most beautiful train rides around the world. The windows of the trains are not though haha. They were dirty which made it difficult to get a natural view but I spent literally two hours watching outside of the window to grab some nice shots. In Mostar I made my way to explore the city during the evening dawn. The highlight is of course the Mostar Old Bridge. It is quite crowded literally all the time but the next day I managed to wake up early and was able to see the bridge during sunrise without any people around. It is truly magical and even though it took the sun a while to come out it was definitely worth it to wake up that early :). That day the weather was amazing and since there is not that much to do in Mostar I decided to make a short trip to Blagaj to visit the Verso Bune, a beautiful spring flowing with a monastery next to it. And coincidentally Augusto arrived that morning so he joined me for the trip. Blagaj was a real gem for photos and videos and it amazed me how blue/greenish the water was. Arriving back in Mostar already in the afternoon I decided to explore the city once more to see how it looks like when it is more crowded and to my bad, in the city which is known to be dry almost all year long, it started to rain heavily. So heavily that Dorde assured me that unluckiness had hit me. I was waiting the rain to stop but it continued and continued. About an hour went by and I was under time pressure to take my train back to Sarajevo. I bought an umbrella, rushed back to the hostel to pick up my stuff, ran to the train station and arrived soggy and drenched despite the umbrella. The train ride warmed me well but it is definitely not beneficial not having changing pants and shoes 😬.
The next day it was already time to fly back to Stockholm and it could enjoy Sarajevo a last time in the morning. Drinking my tea at the same place as the days before and buying some provisions for the adventure back home. Why adventure you are asking? My flight was from Tuzla airport and there is no option to get there without booking a spot in a private van which cost around 25€. It took like about 2 hours and I was surrounded by Bosnian people talking Bosnian. I asked the driver to stop by a good shop that offers some food which he assured me to do. He did not. The ride was mainly through rural roads including, rain, sun, fog. The Tuzla airport is in the middle of the forest and is next to a village. Since I expected the driver to forget my request I spotted a small store, called Pitolino selling Burek at that village. So running from the airport to that store, using my last 10 BAMs, and then back, I was happy to be able to taste Burek a last time. The airport is so small and it was the shadiest one i have ever been to. You are required to pay 2 BAMs for the security control and I couldn't believe it. I was so lucky to had 2 BAMs left but I mean how is that legal? Anyway, I just wanted to be back. Arriving in Stockholm I had another problem. I arrived in Skavsta, which also has no direct connection the city. Being forced to spent another 20€ for the bus ride I arrived after around 9 hours of travel 🥲. It was a shitty day but in retrospect it was worth it. Bosnia surprised me positively and it was a pleasure to be able to visit this country. Also, I would have never imagined myself to travel to Bosnia this year. Therefore heads up to myself and hvala to all the people I met on this trip! 🙏🏽
