Several years ago I
went to Israel and Palestine for my New Year's holidays. While there,
I met a Polish blogger, we've followed each other on social media
ever since. When Bo and I were trying to figure out where we should
go in Bosnia we ended up reading several blog posts written by Kami,
and ended up choosing to visit several of the locations she had
written about. So many options!
This post is about
the day we did a road trip around Mostar, using the car to drive to
three different places.
As expected, the
hardest part of the day was simply in figuring out how to get out of
Mostar. Bo doesn't like listening to the voice on google maps, he
wanted to read the map himself. This was all well and good until I
had to make fast turns or lane changes. I much prefer having plenty
of notice, so I know what I'm looking for, and don't risk life and
limb to get to where we want to go.
Our first stop was
a small place called Blagaj. Wikipedia tells me the name Blagaj
probably came from the Bosnian word blaga, which means mild.
Apparently Blagaj has very mild weather; it was fantastic weather
while we were there.
Not surprisingly, the original name wasn't
Blagaj, the first written name was Bona, (which is Latin for good,
fine,) going all the way back to the Byzantine Empire.
The town has never
been big, as the location simply hasn't attracted a trade route which
is what often caused town growth back in the day. There is a fort up
on the ridge overlooking the area, the fort has been there since the
very beginning. You can hike up to the fort, but we chose not to do
so, though I'm not sure why. Maybe I'll go back?
The main thing we
wanted to see is sometimes called the Dervish House. It's the prayer
house at the mouth of a spring that comes out of the bottom of the
mountain. If I understand correcly, the house goes all the way back
to the mid 17th century, without any major renovation.
There was an
entrance fee, of course. Sigh. As the house is still an active Muslim
prayer area, women are required to wear a head covering, and they
wanted me to wear a wraparound skirt as well. There were separate
prayer rooms for men and women, the women's room was a bit smaller,
but not too much.
There was a room
where you can wash your hands and feet, in order to pray properly.
This room had a small skylight of sorts, pretty impressive.
The best part of
the house was its setting. You can hear the constant flow of water,
and nothing but the occasional sounds of people talking. It's a
really quiet, peaceful place. Unfortunately, it has become a place
tourist buses come, because the walkway close to the entrance is
lined with tourist stalls, and the other side of the water is lined
with cafes. Argh.
After our quick
walk around we walked back up the walkway, turning down a random road
just because we could. There was an abandoned building, with a gate
that wasn't completely locked. I wanted to go in, and convinced Bo we
could open the gate and walk right in.
As we walked
through, we didn't know what we were seeing, but I did appreciate how
old it was, and we did make sure to avoid the holes in the floor that
opened to the water flowing underneath the building. We took a peek
out the other side of the buiding, it was just open land.
As we were about to
leave a couple came into the building, looking at us in surprise.
I was nervous we were going to get into trouble for going into an abandoned building, but it didn't happen.
I
tried speaking a little Russian, it didn't work. Bo figured out the
lady spoke some German, which was a relief. It turned out the
building we were in was an abandoned mill, over 300 years old. This
couple owned the mill and the land it was on, because her husband's
family had owned it back when this area was part of the Ottoman
Empire. They were essentially using the mill as a gate to their property, until deciding to do something else with it.
The lady indicated
that we should follow her, so we did. She showed us to a house she
and her husband were renovating in the style of the Ottoman Empire.
It was GORGEOUS. The main 'living room' had a natural system of air
conditioning, as there was a door in the floor that could be opened
to let the breeze in, which came from the water flowing under the
house.
The house had
plenty of intricate wood carving, and coffee sets, and lounging
areas. I would've happily spent the rest of our day there, if I'd had
a book. It was just one of those places that was incredibly
comfortable. When this couple opens the house for business I'd love
to stay there for a couple days to relax.
After that
unintended tour, we went back to the car and drove to our next spot,
a town called Pocitelj. Getting there was tough, as Bo wanted to use
the GPS on his tablet, which seemed to keep directing us onto
nonexistent roads. I finally turned on my phone, which got us where
we wanted to go.
Pocitelj has
written history going back to the 15th century, but
probably predates that time. It's a walled city, it must've been
quite the feat to build the walls around the city. As the city was
built during Ottoman rule, the houses are still mostly in that style.
Since Bo and I had visited the judge's house in Mostar, we didn't
feel the need to visit any homes in Pocitelj.
Pocitelj is built
on the steep side of a hill, visiting it means you're getting a step
workout whether you want one or not. We parked in a big platz at the
bottom, I assume this is where tour buses park. It was free, so I
didn't care.
Our walk through
the town involved a few breaks so I could catch my breath.
Neverending steps and heat did not make me feel good, hee hee. The
views from all over were amazing. We found a crumbling tower at one
corner of the walls, and were even able to climb up to the top.
Looking out over the whole area was incredible.
We visited one of
the mosques in Pocitelj, thankfully it wasn't prayer time.
The
builders had found a way to put small pieces of coloured glass in the
walls, so the interior was really colourful and really light, I loved
it. The women's section was a balcony on a level overlooking the main
floor, not nearly equal to the men's section in size.
Pocitelj isn't big,
so it didn't take all that long for us to wander all over. We didn't
find main roads going through, so I'm not sure we saw everything.
Instead we were climbing up various stairs between buildings, then on
narrow streets for a short while, then more stairs. Half the fun was
figuring out how to get back down the hill to our car!
I should mention
that Bo was basically over being in photos by the time we left
Pocitelj. I love taking 'team' photos when I travel, you have to be
okay with those for us to travel well together. I don't blame Bo,
since I'd probably asked for at least 6 by that point in the day, hee
hee.
It was easy to get
to our last sight for the day, the roads weren't too confusing, and
the signage was really obvious. Kravica waterfall isn't just one
waterfall, it's a series of them.
We probably
should've visited the waterfalls first, since the sun was
backlighting everything by the time we arrived, argh. It's a
beautiful area, really easy to reach from the parkplatz where both a
parking fee and entry fee are assessed.
The walk to the
waterfalls from the parkplatz is only five minutes, down a specially
constructed pavement. If you can walk with a railing, then you need
no other physical skills to visit this waterfall. There were lots of
groups taking photos, I didn't blame them but I did get impatient
after waiting through a couple amateur photo shoots.
There is a rope
blocking off the pool at the bottom of the falls, but you can get
into that area by hiring a small boat for a quick tour that gets you
up close to the falls. The water wasn't warm since we were there near
the end of October, but I bet its a great place to have a swim in the
middle of summer. There also looked to be a camping area nearby,
which would also be awesome in summer, depending on how many people
are there with you.
After a while we
decided we'd had enough, and drove back to Mostar. There are so many
small but amazing places to visit in Bosnia!
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