Central Europe: Bosnia and Herzegovina - Around Mostar

We took a day tour out of Mostar organised by Hostel Miran. The tour covered Blagaj, Pocitelj, Krevice and Hum Hill and cost 60KM per head. It was a small scale tour, transport was a van and a car, both blasting with loud local music. We were divided into van or car based on the question "Are you a couple?" as they tried not to separate couples. K and I were sent to the van, drove by Miran himself.

Blagaj

Our first stop was Blagaj, and it started to rain just as the vehicles pulling into the car park. Luckily the first thing on itinerary was breakfast/brunch! We had burek with two types of filling - cheese and meat, and I had my does of Bosnian coffee again :)

My first thought when I got off the car was this stone mountain looked so unreal. It felt like something you see in a movie set. The view towards the cafe was beautiful, but we were near Tekija which was built at the far end of pretty Blagaj village.

After meal, we walked to the half-timbered Tekija (Dervish monastery). The tekija was built at the source of the river Buna when the Ottomans arrived in the 1500s. Both males and females are required to cover their knees (or technically wear long pants or long skirts) to enter the monastery. Females are also required to cover their head. Both long skirts and scarves were provided at the monastery.

Our guide also let us had a sip of water from Buna river. There's a metal cup chained to the building, at the steps of tekija. After visiting the building itself, we were brought to walk around to the opposite side for photographs shots. If you look close enough at the photo below, zooming in on the steps, that's where the chained metal cup can be found.

The tekija looks more picturesque from this angle

As we left Blagaj, it started to rain again all the way till we reached Pocitelj, unfortunately.

Pocitelj

Our initial plan before the start of our of Central Europe trip was to do a trip out of Mostar and the two destination selection was Blagaj or Kravice. So I was clueless of Pocitelj till after this tour. Pocitelj is an Ottoman settlement, previously an art colony. This fortress village was damaged in the 1990s conflicts but mostly restored as of now. The mosque seen is Dadzi-Alija Mosque, initially constructed in 1563 while the silo-shaped fort is the Sahat Kula. It was used to guard against possible invasion from the Neretva Valley.

Kravice

Kravice is a waterfall on the Trebizat River and stood 25 meters tall. When we were there, it was a fairly hot day with occasional rain. However we were rather lucky that the rain stopped once we reached Kravice. I unfortunately still hardly considered know how to swim. K and I basically walked about, dipped at shallow ends and climbed the rocks. We had our lunch at the nearby cafe, lunch was not provided as part of the tour. We were served a spread of grilled meats and salads at the cost of 11.50KM per person.

Hill around Mostar

I am not entirely sure but I think this hill is called Hum Hill. The hill overlooks Mostar and we sat around while Miran told the story of Mostar during the Yugoslavia era. There are still a few bunkers on the hill from the war used by snipers, also noted of some shell casing.

My last meal in BiH was a home-mixed meal consisted of pilau rice, small sausage, Bosnian cookie, fried green paprika and sour cream. Bosnian cookie is made of ground meat, eggs, onion, parsley and garlic. K opted to have a beer but I wanted to try another dessert and picked a Hurmasica, which is a soft cookie log in syrup. (Total 11KM)

Side note: Amitābha...