-Europe.Croatia.Bosnia-
I woke up before the alarm rang: it was a combination of excitement to start our next leg as well as apprehension that things would go smoothly on our transit to Bosnia. SM and I were pretty good in taking our turns to prepare and our use of the bathroom. Before long we were done with our packing and decided to scout nearby for coffee. I swear by Google maps , it always comes through when I put in “Coffee places open now near me” . With that we started our day.
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Table of Contents
First Coffee .. then conquer the world..
Travelling during winter, you have to spare a little more time to put on the layers before heading out. We opened the door to daylight in Zagreb, which gave us a little bit of opportunity to see Zagreb in natural light. There were not many people about , we crossed the flower market which was in the midst of being setup.
*Tip: Get my winter packing guide here
Our ride to Bosnia
Our ride is arriving at 8am but I received a message from the driver ( I will call him D) that he is unable to pick us up from our apartment directly as previously agreed as we were in the pedestrian zone and asked us to meet at the tram station instead. He said he will send us a picture of his car and license plate and also that he will message us when he arrives so that we can come out from our apartment. He mentioned that he might run late as he is driving from Sarajevo to pick us up!
Finally our driver came, it was good that I had my phone still on, as he could not pick us up from the agreed spot and we had to go to the cathedral instead. A few days before when I checked with the company to confirm our pickup , I got informed that we were the only 2 people that will be picked up and were asked to upgrade to the private trip instead of group rate. I was not too happy about it – as it was not on us that they did not have other people to transfer. In the end I agreed to pay more after discussing with SM, but made sure I conveyed my annoyance to them. (this is important later)
*Tip: I use eSim for my travels. It is very convenient to turn on and switch as I cross different country borders.
Onward and forward...
We were now on the way , and the driver told us we have our first stop before crossing the border. The stop is at a World War II holocaust memorial to walk around to read a little bit of the rich history of the region.
Honestly it is a pretty hard read about what the concentration camp is but interesting nonetheless. We walked to the back to admire the Stone Flower Monument. But we were eager to be on our way- so we continued our journey.
Crossing the border to Bosnia
D requested that one of us sit in front when we cross the border. Understandable for the optics for the border controls – It was an easy time for first the exit controls in Croatia but it took a bit longer for the Bosnian entry. However we were soon in Bosnia!
We drove for 2 more hours , crossing some impressive landscapes but getting a lot of information about Bosnia from D. All this made the time fly by. We discussed about our lunch stop as we had no Bosnian marks with us , so I asked if he could bring us to a restaurant which accepts credit card.
Exploring Jajce...
We arrived to the town of Jajce with its fortress. I started to think about the short daylight time we have in winter. So I asked about our stops – we were to go up to the Jajce fortress, the watermills at Pliva Lake , have lunch then move on to Travnik. Keeping about how much light in the day we have , we decided to prioritize the watermills to see. So D brought us to Mlinčići water mills directly – and it was a good thing because the place around was just beautiful. Best of all, we had the place practically to ourselves.
Visit to the Mlinčići water mills
The very first view of the watermills was surreal — I thought I might have just stepped onto hobbitland in a watermill.
After taking countless photos of the mills we decided to walk around to the bridge to get across. We were greeted by the ducks : they are probably used to be fed by people but we did not have any suitable food with us.
We moved on to walk across the bridge on to the other side and headed for the mills itself which had a wooden boardwalk. The sound of the water flow showed how much water there was. We again took many lovely photos – before realizing we spent too much time there and went back to the car.
Lunch at Motel Plaza Restaurant
Finally , a lunch stop : a nice place by the lake. The views are amazing but I caught myself wondering how much lunch would cost as it seems to be touristy. There were just two other tables with guests and D talked to the waiter , who brought us the menu. SM and I decided on sharing a pizza. D did the ordering and then left SM and I to lunch while he had a rest in the car.
The pizza arrived and it was really delicious but I was glad to have shared the pizza as I never could finish one all by myself. We finished our lunch quickly – and used the restrooms before paying. Only after I checked my payment, did I realize that the meal was in Bosnian Mark which is roughly 2 BMs to 1 Euro. Our meal costed about 6,50 Euros. Stomachs full ; we were ready to continue on our journey.
Jajce Fortress and Waterfall
D drove us to a car park where nearby was the beautiful waterfall of Jajce. We were at the top at the viewpoint looking down. It was already getting a bit dark and we had a decision to make, if we wanted to go up the Jajce fortress. SM and I briefly discussed and she asked the driver if he could bring us to a viewpoint of the fortress and we would just take some photos before moving on and he did as per our request for a quick few minute stop for us to take a view of the majestic fortress.
Journey on to Travnik..
Our journey continued on for 1 hour and 20 minutes – the sun was setting very fast and we arrived at Travnik fortress. It was unusually quiet – the parking lot was empty which was the first sign. When we headed up to the fortress we found that it was locked!
As the day was so short : we asked D earlier if the Travnik fortress or the one in Jajce was better to visit and D said Travnik due to there are more things to see inside. So it was disappointing to see that it was locked.
We could see the fog moving in while the sun sets. It was a mystical scene.
Final Leg to Sarajevo
We headed on our final leg to our destination Sarajevo – As we have seen the fog it got thicker and thicker as we drove, slowing down the journey considerably as the visibility was really poor. We trusted D as the driver as he was familiar with the roads. The drive was about 2 hours and there was no mistaking that we have reached a major city.
We drove by big modern shopping malls that I was completely surprised to see. In the night light we saw big impressive buildings with its silhouette promising great sights to visit – we also passed the famous Latin Bridge.
During our stop I had provided D with our apartment address. He dropped us directly at the place and we gave him the fare and bid farewell.
As you can imagine , we were pretty happy to finally arrive. The instructions were clear and we got our key : we were on the top floor. Glad to finally able to place our bags and freshen up. We decided to go for a walk about of the Sarajevo old town and look for dinner.
First look at Sarajevo Old Town
Our host had sent over a list of places where we can get breakfast and dinner. We were eager to check out the options. The building we were staying at is about 160 m away from the old town. Therefore pretty nearby : we went to check out the shops at the bazaar.
An unpleasant encounter
That was when I had my first unpleasant encounter: a child about 5 or 6 approached me and tried to hit me. I looked around and called out to SM that she was aware. I was worried about the distraction: I had my camera around my neck which I immediately held with my hand while fending off the annoying child. We walked on but he followed. He always reached into his pocket and I was thinking that maybe he even had a knife with him. People passed by without stopping but luckily in the end we managed to leave him behind.
Christmas lights
I was surprised to see the old town adorned with some Christmas lights , and somehow did not expect it but seemed to make the place warmer even though it was not crowded at all. We found a supermarket to get some bottled water from.
Searching for dinner
Since we had Korean food the night before , I wanted to find some local food especially for SM to try. We passed a few restaurants that had not so many people inside. We used it as a signal of how good a restaurant is.
We finally wandered on to an alley which had 2 restaurants with more people inside. We picked one and it turned out pretty good. SM ordered Cevapi while I ordered the hearty chicken soup and grilled vegetable. Washing it all down with an alcohol-free beer. I was happy with my choice.
We dallied over dinner talking and catching up and enjoying the warmth and being out of the cold. Finally we paid the bill and walked home and prepared to sleep away our full day of travel.
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