russia: chechnya: grozny and argun

My first weekend in November was a holiday weekend, so I got an extra day to go somewhere. I chose to visit Grozny, the capital of Chechnya. And before you ask, no, I wasn't scared to go to Chechnya.

The Chechen Republic is old. Very very very old. Wikipedia tells me there is evidence of habitation in the area that dates back to 40,000BC. Chechnya is one of several regions where locals call themselves Caucasian because of the nearby Caucasus Mountains. In the west the word caucasian has come to mean white, but in Russia it means something completely different. 

This area of the world has a long and complicated history.

Russia started getting involved in Chechnya in the 16^th century when a local leader sent emissaries to Moscow to ask Ivan the Terrible for help against another local leader. Ivan the Terrible then married the daughter of the first guy, and from then on, Russia was involved, if not completely ruling the area.

The Caucasian War lasted about 50 years, in the 19^th century, when Russian forces invaded the Caucasus, and annexed the northern region.

Obviously, locals weren't a big fan of all this, resulting in fighting that went on for years and years.

Grozny is a growing city of around 275,000 residents, though just before the fall of the Soviet Union there were almost 400,000.

The modern city of Grozny is relatively young in terms of Russian history, as it was originally founded as a fortress for the Russian military on the Sunzha River in 1818. The fort of Groznaya became obselete after a while, and the city of Grozny was granted official town status in 1870.

Just after the end of the October Revolution, a group of Bolsheviks took control of Grozny. Then the White Army came back and took over, until the Caucasus front of the Red Army arrived and pushed back the White Army. From this point on, Russia is the official ruler, though locals didn't always acknowledge or accept that fact.

Toward the end of WW2 the entire population of Chechens were deported or killed on the spot, the death toll was at least 170,000. All the traces of them having lived were destroyed by the NKVD, including books and graveyards. 

After the deportation the USSR moved Russians into the city, making it completely ethnically Russian.

Chechens were allowed to return in 1957, which of course caused massive disruptions in economic, social, and political systems. The returnees didn't think the Russians should be there, and the Russians didn't think the Chechens should be there. Fighting ensued, to the surprise of no one. It went on and on, even when there wasn't anything official happening. 

After the fall of the Soviet Union, Chechnya wanted to be completely independent. At the time, heaps of Russians left the area, as they did many other areas of the former Soviet Union, heading to Russia itself.

The first Chechen War took place from 1994-1996, at the end of which the Russian Army captured Grozny. Though they were officially in charge at that point, there wasn't much of a city to be in charge of. The Russian Air Force had basically bombed the city into smithereens.

Also, even though the Russian Army had officially claimed victory, the Chechens continued fighting, and everything ended in a cease fire. At this point the city was renamed Djohar, and nearly all remaining Russians fled.

There were a couple years of 'normal life' before the second Chechen War broke out, with a Russian seige of the city. In 1999 the Russian military sent missiles into a city market and a maternity ward, killing at least 140 people and officially starting more fighting. 

After a while, Russia closed in, and offered safe passage to the 'militants,' who saw no other option so they accepted.

The Russian military mined the 'safe passage' out of the city, leading to the death of the mayor of Grozny and the local military commander, as well as other 'militants.' At that point, Russia basically snuck in and raised the Russian flag in the city, then continued destroying what little was left. Wikipedia tells me the UN said that Grozny was the most destroyed city on earth in 2003.

Since 2003, pretty much the entire city of Grozny has been rebuilt, with none of the destroyed buildings remaining. The rebuild included the infrastructures of utilities and roads, as well as commercial and residential buildings.

This new city is what I saw, and as a result, I didn't feel like I got to see much of the 'real' Chechnya.

Getting to Grozny didn't go as I expected, I think it was because of weather. Not too long before we were supposed to land in Grozny the pilot on the airplane made an announcement, and I heard the name Mahachkala. 

There was no announcement in English, but as soon as we landed I looked at the map on my phone and it said we were in Mahachkala, not Grozny. Sigh.

Everyone deplaned, then hung out at the gate in the airport, I don't think we were allowed to leave. From what I could tell, the airline was trying to figure out how to get everyone to Grozny, since that was the whole point of the flight. I heard talk about buses, but after a little while they got us queued up again and got back on the plane.

All this to say we landed in Grozny several hours later than planned. Since the original flight was supposed to land at 0500 or so, the delay wasn't a big deal to me. The weather I saw as soon as I walked out of the airport was a huge surprise, it was dumping snow, and quite windy.

I was not wearing waterproof shoes, which I immediately regretted, but oh well, lesson learned for next time. (Later on people told me this snowstorm was NOT typical early November weather, but that didn't make me feel any better.) 

Finding the spot to hop on the bus into the city meant walking through some snow and slush, not fun.

I got off the bus and started walking, feeling pretty comfortable with where I was going. That comfort didn't last long, as my feet got wet and cold pretty quickly. I tried to follow pavements, but they weren't always clear, since the snow covered everything. The map on my phone didn't always have me on streets with pavements, making it even more fun.

The adventure continued when my phone died because it was cold. I tried connecting my external battery, but moisture somehow got into the connection, so that didn't work. I was able to turn the phone on for a few seconds at a time, and eventually got to my accomodation. At that point I was grateful I had spent some time looking at the map ahead of time, so when the phone died I knew I didn't have too much further to go.

I checked in, took off my socks and shoes, put them on the radiator to dry out, and took a nap.

I don't normally do that straightaway, but I needed it. (I also charged my phone and external battery, of course.)

After a while I went back out into the city. Even though I'd dried everything, that didn't last for long after I stepped outside. Instead of walking into the city center I took a marshrutka, which thankfully stopped about a block away from my room. The ride into the city center went as expected, which was a comfort at that point.

My first and only main sight for the day was a huge mosque. 

The Akhmat Kadyrov Mosque (officially known as the Heart of Chechnya,) opened in October of 2008, after four years of construction. It is named for the first president of the Republic of Chechnya, who commissioned the building.

Big mosque. Big big mosque. According to 'them,' it is one of the biggest mosques in Europe.

The Heart of Chechnya architecture was based on classic Ottoman style. The central hall of the mosque is covered by a 32 meter high, 16 meter diameter dome. The minarets are 62 meters tall.

The mosque is supposed to be able to hold 10,000 people, though I always wonder how that number is calculated.

To go in this particular mosque, women have to have a head scarf, and a full body dress. There are headscarves and these coverings to borrow, they even fit over coats. Every woman wearing one basically looked like a female version of the Michelin man. Since you're there to see a religious building, not to have glamour photos, I didn't care. (That being said, some women inside were definitely trying for glamour shots, sigh.)

The inside of the mosque is beautiful, but women don't get to have all the views. Women have to go up to the women's section, which should be a balcony stretching around three sides of the main hall. When I was there, half of this space was blocked off, so women had even less space.

As I was going down the stairs to leave, a group of three men were going up the stairs, which irritated me to no end. It should've been obvious to them that they were the only men on the stairs, but they missed it. I don't speak much Russian, but I stopped in front of them, and told them the area they were going to was the women's area, not for them. It took them a while to understand what I was saying, but eventually they turned around.

There are a number of chandeliers in the main hall, really plush carpet, marble walls and columns with inlays, etc... There were multiple smaller cupolas in addition to the main rotunda. It is designed to be stunning, and it is. 

I just wish I could've seen the entire thing, like men are able to do.

By the time I walked out of the mosque, it was the beginning of dusk. The night lights on the mosque were coming on, and the nearby business district of Grozny City was starting to light up as well. I watched those for a while, then walked along one of the main streets, looking for a place to find dinner food. 

I ended up eating at Makovskiy, a direct copy of McDonald's in everything but name. The decoration was the same, the menu was the same – except for the item names, etc... The slogan was "I need it," which also sounded pretty familiar.

The next morning I took a looong time to get going, whoops. Despite the crazy snow of the day before, much of the sidewalk and street was already dry, which made me feel a lot better. I hopped off the marshrutka at what I thought was the closest point to Lenin park, as it was labeled on the map on my phone.

I walked the rest of the way, which wasn't as short as I wanted it to be, but oh well. At least I thought I walked all the way to the park, but when I got to the boundaries I did not see anything related to a park. Maybe I didn't go far enough, but I didn't see a park. Argh.

I walked up another main street to what was called Journalists Square, which I think was supposed to honour those who had given their lives in honour of that profession. There was a statue in the middle of the area, but not much else. On one corner was a place called Star Cafe, another copyright infringement in a city full of them.

Star Cafe was a copy of Starbucks, down to the same colours of everything. I'm not going to lie, my hot chocolate was cheaper and tastier from Star Cafe than I've ever had from Starbucks, hee hee.

My next stop was labeled as Heroe's Alley on the map. It wasn't an alley, but there were a number of monuments in the area. The middle of the area is a museum dedicated to Kadyrov, they take the man REALLY seriously in Grozny. There is a straight line of smooth stones in front of the entrance to the museum, I found out the hard way that you're not supposed to step on this part of the pavement. 

Its essentially a permanent red carpet for the guy.

On top of the museum is a tall gold obelisk. I wanted to get closer, but the walkway around the rotunda was blocked off. I imagine that was because of the weather, as walking around there would've been super slippery and dangerous as such.

In another area were busts of various military heroes, (both Chechen and Russian I think,) as well as a couple tanks and a statue of a guy on a horse. This section wasn't particularly interesting, I didn't stay long.

Heading back into the city center, I passed a souvenir shop and stepped in. Grozny doesn't get a lot of tourists, I knew I wouldn't have many chances for things like postcards or magnets. While I was in the shop one of the 5 times daily prayer times started, and an employee rolled out a prayer rug in the direction of Mecca and started his prayers.

My next official sight was the National Museum of the Republic of Chechnya. I think the building was purposely built, and it's unique to say the least. After I walked in I had to sit and wait for a few minutes before buying tickets, I never did learn why. 

For all I know, they wanted a woman to deal with me instead of a man, who knows. I wish I spoke enough Russian to ask why, and understand the answer.

The museum was pretty good, though somewhat confusing in how to go through. You start in the basement, and end up on the 2^nd floor, but in the meanwhile there are side halls and a main atrium. I liked each section, it just didn't flow together very well.

I splurged on dinner that night, eating steak because I didn't want more fast food.

The next day I packed up and checked out, and took the now familiar marshrutka into the city center. This was November 4^th, the official observation of Unity Day. After getting off the marshrutka I followed the streams of people walking to the big platz across from the big mosque. Heaps and heaps of people were walking, some were carrying flags (both Chechnya and Russia,) others placards with photos of the current Chechen president, the first Chechen president, or Vladimir Putin. There were so many people walking, I've never seen anything like it.

I didn't follow the crowds though, as my destination for the day was a totally different place. I walked to the central bus station and caught the next marshrutka to a nearby city called Argun.

Along the way I stopped in Flower Park, which didn't really have any flowers at the time. It seemed like the entire park was designed to create a whole bunch of Instagram backgrounds, I imagined they all looked better in late spring, summer, and early fall. 

There was even a section with 'safari animals' covered in fake green grass or something along those lines.

I went to Argun because I wanted to see another huge mosque. The Aimani Kadyrova Heart of Mother Mosque is named for the wife of the first president of the Chechen Republic.

This mosque is quite new, it only opened in 2014, after 3 years of construction. The dome is bigger than the one in Grozny, at 23 meters, but the minarets are 'only' 55 meters. This mosque is supposed to be able to hold 15,000 people, so I guess that makes it bigger than the one in Grozny. 

The city of Argun has just ~30,000 people, so I don't know where all those people would come from.

To go inside the mosque I had to borrow another full body covering robe, but this time I was the only visitor, which was nice. It was completely quiet inside, which I loved. More plush carpet, more chandeliers, and more delicate decoration everywhere.

The women's section was again a balcony overlooking the main floor, but it was quite big, and felt closer to being equal than the area in Grozny. All in all, another mosque designed to impress, and it succeeded.

The mosque is the only thing to see in Argun and I couldn't find a bus stop nearby, so I ended up calling a taxi to get back to Grozny. I got out not too far from the bus station and started walking back in the direction of the city center.

I'd found a park and mosque on the map, but when I got to that spot I discovered they were behind security gates, and seemed to be part of the property of the President's House. Darnit.

At that point I was getting tired of wandering around. Grozny isn't a picturesque city, I didn't feel like I was seeing much of anything worth remembering. 

I walked back to the big platz that had been filled with people in the morning, there were none of them left by the time I got there.

I noticed a very familiar monument on the side of the platz, a stelae designating Grozny as a city of military glory. Given all the fighting that has taken place here, that seemed only right. There was also another war memorial nearby, but I didn't figure out which war that one was dedicated to, if just one war in particular.

From there I went to my third copyright infringement meal, at a place called Crispy. Dead on copy of KFC, with everything identical except the names of the menu items. 

I stayed there for a while, then walked back to Star Cafe for another hot chocolate.

After that I made my way back to the airport, catching bus #111 to get there. Thankfully my flight back to Moscow went as planned, and I only had to wait an hour for the next train back into Moscow to get home.

I would love to return to Chechnya and explore the countryside. There are plenty of villages in the mountains, beautiful lakes, visible culture, etc... The city of Grozny though, I think I've seen all of it that I want to see. 

bosnia: travnik and the last day in sarajevo

After leaving Mostar we drove straight to the airport in Sarajevo, to drop Bo off. It was sad to say goodbye, but we both knew we'd travel together again, we just didn't know when. I was sad to realize that my Bosnian adventure was almost over, my holidays always go by too quickly.

From there I drove another 90 minutes or so to a town called Travnik. When I'd been looking for places to go for my last night or two in Bosnia, I didn't want to go super far away from Sarajevo, and Travnik seemed to fit that bill perfectly.

Travnik is a town of nearly 20,000 people, with a long long history. Wikipedia tells me there is evidence of human habitation in the area going all the way back to the Bronze Age, but most people consider Travnik's history as really starting in the first few centuries A.D. There are plenty of pieces remaining from Roman rule, including coins, forts, graves, etc...

Like a lot of other areas in what is now Bosnia, Travnik was a fortified town. The remains of that fortification are easily the most visited spot in the modern town.

During Ottoman rule, most of the locals converted to Islam, and from what I saw, this hasn't changed, despite the Austrians being in charge for a while. During Ottoman times Travnik became so powerful that both France and Austria-Hungary established consulates there.

A fire at the beginning of the 20^th century destroyed most of the town, so what you can now see of Travnik is just over 100 years old. Apparently the basic industries of the city haven't changed much over the years, the economy still relies on farming and herding. There are a few factories, one of which makes matches, another makes furniture.

Travnik is built in a valley, with some of the town on the hill. My hostel was on that hill, I was rather terrified when I parked the car as it was a steep downhill. My hostel was awesome, I wish I'd had more time in the town to enjoy it.

After resting up for a while after arriving, I went to visit the main sight: the old fortress. It's often called Stari Grad, meaning old city, but I didn't feel like there was a city there, just the ruins of some walls of the old fortress. There was a small museum in one area, but it didn't have a lot to see.

Hands down the best reason to visit this fortress is for the views it offers over the whole area. I got to see a glorious rainbow of fall colour on the surrounding hills, it was beautiful. If I'd had more water and snacks with me I would've gone for a mini hike right then, as it was just gorgeous.

After taking in every possible view from the fortress I walked into town. I walked past a clock tower, which still looked very nice. It was tucked into a courtyard of sorts, I wasn't able to get close. I couldn't tell if visitors could go up into the tower, but someone must be able to in order to keep the clock working properly.

Wikipedia tells me Travnik is the only city in the country that has two clock towers, but I don't remember seeing another one. Obviously I missed the other one, as they wouldn't make that statement if it wasn't true.

My next stop was a mosque, the main mosque in the city. I've seen it called the Painted Mosque or the Decorated Mosque or the Ornamented Mosque, but I don't know which one is the official name. I was thrilled to find an unlocked door and an empty interior. Despite no one else being around, I put on a headscarf, because that's the right thing to do in a mosque.

I loved the windows, I loved the colours, I loved the thick carpets, I loved everything about this mosque. From what I've read since, this mosque is different from most mosques of the era in that there is no obvious exterior dome. 

I walked a little bit on the main floor, which is probably the men's section. I also went up to the women's section, which is a balcony that goes around three sides of the worship area, it was quite nice.

After the mosque I walked through town, but didn't see anything else in particular. There isn't much of note in Travnik, but the atmosphere is quiet and peaceful. I did find a bust of Tito in a small park, which surprised me, considering how 'well' he treated the people when he was in power.

The next morning I went for a hike. There is a very small chapel on a plateau area on one of the mountains, it seemed like a good idea to hike up there. Google maps told me it would only take 52 minutes to walk up there, but I knew that was going to be completely wrong, and it was. Going up took me 90 minutes, going down took about 40.

It was a steady climb to go up the mountain, with a number of switchbacks on the trail. I stopped a few times to catch my breath and just take in the views, because the entire valley was open for me to see. It was neat to get up close to all the trees with beautiful leaves, and see the colours of all the buildings in the town..

I might or might not have fallen a few times on the way down, because my legs were not at all in shape for descending, and the trail had a lot of scree. I didn't care though, the hike was worth it.

After showering, packing up and checking out, I put my pack in the car, then walked into the town center, as there was one more place I wanted to see.

As I did this walk I saw a city sign, the first one I'd seen outside Sarajevo. Yay for city signs!

My next sight was a house museum, the birthplace of writer Ivo Andric. 

He wasn't just any writer, he was a Nobel laureate, having won the prize in 1961. His writing focused on novels, poems, and short stories, mostly about life in Bosnia under Ottoman rule.

The home wasn't very exciting, to be honest. Since I'd already seen a couple traditional homes in Bosnia I was looking for something new, but that didn't happen. The museum had a room completely filled with his books and other writings, and a room with a traditional oven/heating system. It's probably worth taking a tour, so at least you get some information while walking around this museum.

After that I walked back up to the car and drove a little way out of town. I only went a little way because I wanted to see another spomenik. The closest one was in the suburb of Novi Travnik, on the edge of town.

The spomenik I saw honours the victims of fascism and communism. Like so many other spomeniks, the design of this one is unique. I'd almost describe it as a series of faces in the middle of a field. They're all quite large, though they don't initially appear that way. I didn't realize they're all bigger than me until I got up close. They're out in the middle of a field, I just hoped I wasn't trespassing on anyone's property.

From there I drove back to Sarajevo, and dropped off the car first thing. The guy in the rental office was surprised that I was a few hours, but I figured that was the best plan for me because I would've had to deal with city parking in order to keep it those last few hours.

Back in the city center I checked into my room, and relaxed for a while. At some point I went for a walk, just enjoying the city sounds. I got lucky with the timing of sunset, as my photo while standing on a bridge turned out really well. Sarajevo isn't stunning, but it is beautiful in its own way.

The next morning I did my usual pack up and check out, taking my bag with me. I was determined to finally see the history museum, so I made a beeline in that direction.

The musem was impressive, mostly because it is huge. Parts of it were under renovation, but there was still plenty for me to see. Since Bosnia has had people living here for millenia, the history on display had a loooong timeline. There were religious items, daily life items, and information. That was just the main building though, there were a couple other buildings too.

I also visited the zoology building, to see all the fauna from this area. From what I could tell, the entire fauna history of Bosnia was on display in this building. I enjoy the history of people more than that of animals, but this was still impressive. There was also a section on geology, so I got to see small bits and pieces of gems and minerals.

By the time I left the museum I was a bit museumed out. I guess that means it was a good, and comprehensive museum?

Back in the city center I headed straight for a convenience store to pick up snacks for my trip back home, then a bakery to have dessert before hopping on the bus to the airport.

I'll definitely be back to Sarajevo and Bosnia.

bosnia: blagaj, pocitelj, and kravica waterfall

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 17^th 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 15^th 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!