Kosovo
Having ensconced ourselves in the mountains of Serbia and Montenegro for several weeks now, we noticed an approaching weather window where the temperatures were due to dip into the 20’s, so this was our chance to make a break for the lowlands!
Having visited the coastline of Montenegro previously we decided to bypass this area and instead whizz around the tiny country of Kosovo.
Kosovo was part of Serbia until it unilaterally declared its independence in 2008. This is categorically not accepted by Serbia who still treat it like a province of their country. If you enter Kosovo from a third party country you cannot cross the border into Serbia as you are deemed to have illegally entered the country. Fortunately the surrounding countries recognise Kosovo and our route in from Montenegro was fine, although the Montenegrin border was only agreed in 2018. Only 104 of the 193 United Nations countries actually recognise Kosovo as an independent nation.
The drive over the mountains from Montenegro into Kosovo is a scenic winding route through pine forests and the border crossing was quick, easy and friendly. Unlike Montenegro, buying vehicle insurance on the border here is straightforward (there is a small standalone building on the right just before you get to the border) and essential – you can’t get into the country without it.
We should have known it was all going far too smoothly. We had a night spot planned for that evening at a restaurant not far from the border, with a view to visiting the city of Peja the following day to buy sim cards. However, when we arrived at our planned spot (having driven down the steepest slope we’ve ever driven and I’m still not sure it wasn’t in fact a crazy-paved footpath, rather than a road), the place was heaving with cars and people. Having connected with a proper road at the bottom of the slope (with much relief as I don’t think we would have got back up), it was clear that this was a very popular place with the locals. As well as this, there were skips overflowing with rubbish and the smell was pretty awful so we decided to move on. Our ‘back-up’ night stop options were on the other side of Peja so we forged a new plan to drive into Peja, get our Sim cards and then find somewhere to spend the night.
What we hadn’t realised though, is that the traffic through Peja is bad, I mean really bad and by the time we had driven to and then through Peja (at 0-5mph), it was already 6.30pm with a darkening and stormy looking sky. On the plus side, it wasn’t hot and we had manged to buy a couple of Sims after 5 attempts, firstly at a petrol station and then at mobile phone shops (who by the way do not sell them).
For anyone venturing into Kosovo and in need of a local Sim, the shop you need is called Ipko and there is one handily located on the main road out of Peja. We probably would have known this if we had researched online before getting to Kosovo but things were very easy in Montenegro and we became a little lax. Lesson well and truly learned after a stressful couple of hours negotiating the chaotic city streets of Peja without any phone data or google maps!
With the night drawing in we decided to ditch wild camping and head for the nearest campsite in Junik. A small family run business that has given over its front garden to campers.
The next morning, we were keen to visit the historical town of Gjakova and, as it isn’t too far from Junik (although too far for us to cycle), we asked the campsite owner about taxis, which led to her offering us the use of her car for the day for €25. Result! And once we had got used to being in a much smaller vehicle again it was quite refreshing driving around the chaotic streets not having to worry about fitting down a road because, in true Balkan style, people have just left their cars wherever they want (I won’t flatter it by calling it parking).
Driving through Gjakova you get a sense of a modern mid-sized town, until that is, you take a couple of turns and find yourself driving on the cobbled streets of the old district.
The bazaar has a distinctly Turkish feel to it with groups of men occupying the tables and chairs of the many coffee shops lining the streets. Drinks were limited in the town however as we found out when we were told the water was off (this also meant no access to any toilets!). So maybe not so modern after all. In fact, Gjakova is said to have been populated from the prehistoric era and served as a trading route between Shkoder (Northern Albania) and Istanbul.
Other than the bazaar, the main sights are the decorative Hadumi Mosque and a Bektashi Tekke which we stumbled on purely by chance when we decided to see what was on the other side of a closed wooden door. I am still not sure we were supposed to go in but we were greeted by a lovely lady who spoke very little English but gave us a tour of the building and offered us coffee. In a separate building in the peaceful walled courtyard of the grounds, there are also the graves of seven Bektashi Fathers dating back to the 17th century.
After strolling around town and enjoying a very cheap lunch (two pizzas and bottled drinks – still no running water, for a bargain €7.40!) we retraced our steps back to the car and drove past our campsite in Junik and back through the traffic of Peja to visit the 13th century Patriarchate of Pec monastery and Rugova river canyon. Well, we wanted to get our monies worth out of the car hire!
The Patriarchate of Pec, a UNESCO world heritage site, is an impressive Serbian Orthodox monastery with three churches in one building with polished flagstone floors and high frescoed walls with domed ceilings. Outside are the ruins of a 14th century palace and 16th century monastic dormitories and a much more modern 20th century bell tower.
Interestingly, having only been in the country for one day it was already very clear that some underlying tension remains here. The road signs are all in Algerian and Serbian but it is common to see the Serbian names have been spray painted out.
The Serbian religious buildings are all protected either by police or KFOR (NATO peace-keeping force) with heavily armoured vehicles and to gain entry you need to hand over your passports. Even walking down the street in Gjakova we were passed by a group of NATO soldiers.
KFOR have had a tough job in Kosovo and in the 20 years that they have been in place over 200 soldiers have lost their lives. As recently as September 2023 KFOR troops have been reinforced to address Serbian troop mobilisations on the border so the political climate is definitely not settled yet.
The following day and back in the camper, we set off early to drive to Prizren, stopping first at another impressive UNESCO site, Decani Monastery.
Founded in the 14th century, Decani is the largest medieval church in the Balkans and is the most heavily protected of all the churches, having suffered violent unrest and attacks in the early 2000’s.
Prizren is the second largest city in Kosovo and Peja is the third largest, so we were expecting chaotic streets and crazy traffic much like Peja, but in fact there is a much greater sense of space in Prizren with a much more laid back vibe and with far more navigable streets. It is an attractive city built along the banks of Prizren river, over which spans the 16th century Old Stone Bridge, with the Sinan Pasha mosque rising against a wooded hillside, atop which, you will find Prizren Fortress.
In addition to the above, we felt that we should probably also visit the Albanian League of Prizren Museum. Built on the complex where, in 1878, the original League of Prizren was founded, this Assembly went on to establish the first Albanian government in 1881. The museum (which was destroyed in the Kosovo War but rebuilt in 2000), houses documents, objects and clothing from the time of the Assembly and with an entrance fee of only €1 we decided to take a look but unfortunately there are no explanations in English, so unless you speak the local language you don’t really learn anything from the visit.
If you continue to drive up the river valley out of town you get to the 14th century ruins of the Serbian Orthodox Monastery of the Holy Archangels, and once through the police guard we were met by the one remaining monk who lives here. He very kindly offered us cold bottled water (we must have looked a bit hot after an afternoon of cycling around town) and of course the usual offer of coffee. If only we drank coffee we would never have to buy our own, we get offered it so frequently. Balkan hospitality continues to impress us. This monastery was looted and destroyed by the Ottomans and over a century later, the materials were used to build the Sinan Pasha Mosque on the banks of Prizren river.
All in all, we really enjoyed our day in and around Prizren, although it wasn’t all smooth sailing as we managed to get two punctures while cycling around town.
After a busy day we headed North of Pristina, the capital, where we spent a free but sleepless night in the car park of Prishtina Bear Sanctuary listening to the stray dogs barking. Tired but still excited to see some bears, we started the hilly 2km route around the complex, where strangely they also house a lion?!
We had visited a very good bear sanctuary in Croatia so we were a little disappointed by this one. While their enclosures were generous with water and shady areas, much of the ground was dry dirt – although in this climate in August I guess that is normal. Despite this, the work they do is commendable. Many of the rescued brown bears were from small cages at restaurants, where until 2010 it was legal to privately own bears in Kosovo. There are currently 20 bears in their care… and one lion.
After a sweaty morning walking around the sanctuary (take a hat if you plan on visiting, there is very little shade) we drove to Gracanica where we knew of a hotel (with showers and a pool) that welcomed campers, but first, a visit to Gracanica Monastery. The monastery now serves as a convent and there are currently 24 nuns in residence. The reason we wanted to visit this monastery is because we had already visited the replica of it (or one of, there is another in Chicago) on this trip in Trebinje, Bosnia.
Gracanica is only a short drive from Pristina, our last stop in Kosovo but our short weather window had closed and the afternoons were becoming pretty unbearable for sightseeing, so we decamped to the grounds of the hotel, had a lovely cool shower and sat in the shade by the pool with a cold beer enjoying some R&R, ready to hit Pristina first thing tomorrow.
Pristina is a big city but we had no problems finding a large parking lot near the sports stadium and from there cycled around the town to all the main sights. The best of which is the view of the space-age National University Library of Kosovo building, taken from the bell tower of the Catholic Cathedral of St. Mother Teresa. It is also worth going into the library as the main atrium is quite impressive.
Of course, visiting the Great Mosque complex is also a must as well as the many monuments of independence and heroism but besides all of this, Pristina is just a nice city to explore.
After cycling across the town we had worked up an appetite so we we finally tried some local Kosovan food, before the drive back to Junik for our border crossing into Albanian the next day.
And that is how to do Kosovo in a whirlwind 5 days! We could definitely have stayed longer and would have, had the weather been cooler but it was into the Albanian Accursed Mountains for us as the temperatures soared back into the high 30’s.
More Montenegro
We left Sedlo Pass at first light the next morning to drive across Durmitor Park on the scenic P14 road. It was a good decision because it was a beautiful drive down a narrow windy road and, having left so early we were able to do it without the hassle of meeting any oncoming traffic. We took our time meandering through the mountains (so much so that we were overtaken by a bicycle), stopping to admire the scenery and watch a herd of flighty wild horses.
Once through the mountains of the National Park, the road starts to descend through some farm land and then, as you turn a corner, there is another wow moment when you first glimpse the aquamarine Piva Lake far below.
The road then descends alongside the lake through a series of tunnels cut through the rock walls of the cliff. We arrived at the lake and the small town of Pluzine where we got out for a walk around, but there isn’t a great deal here to hold your attention so it wasn’t long before we were back on the road.
However, not far from the town is Piva Monastery. Originally built in 1573 the monastery was relocated from its original location 3km away and 100m lower in 1982 when the dam was built, to prevent it being flooded. The exterior of the monastery is fairly uninspiring but the frescoes inside are much more impressive. They were originally painted between 1604 and 1639.
It is possible to spend the night at the monastery but the car park was baking hot as we were now much lower than we were in the mountains so we decided to keep going.
We actually headed in a big loop back up towards Durmitor National Park although that hadn’t been the original plan, or even the back-up plan. We were heading for a mountain lake above the town of Niksic which would have made a great place to stay the night. We turned off the main road and drove up and over a high plateau studded with wind turbines, past a remote farming village, until we reached a tiny ski resort that looked very run down and abandoned. Just past the resort there was a barrier half way across the road which then narrowed into a gravel mountain track. At this point it was early evening so we decided to abandon the idea of finding the lake, and started to look for an alternative spot for the night.
We retraced our steps and settled at the side of the road where we enjoyed a peaceful night.
In the morning we drove the rest of the way back to Durmitor and Zabljak where we restocked at the small local supermarket and then drove to the Savin Kuk ski area.
The ski lifts here are really old, slow attached lifts. There are two lifts to get to the top and the dismounts are definitely interesting as you have to hit the deck running and jump off a platform to the side to avoid being hit from behind by the lift as it comes past. If you are lucky, one of the lift attendants might grab your hand and swing you off and around but for lift attendants they weren’t all that attentive.
The peak of Savin Kuk was an easy 10 minute walk uphill from the top of the chairlift, which affords you incredible views across to Black lake in one direction, Bobotov Kuk in the other and then, away from Durmitor, you are treated to views across the rolling hills of a high altitude plateau.
We had a lovely picnic lunch at the summit, drinking in the views but, as we were finishing up, the wind started to pick up, the skies darkened and we could hear distant claps of thunder and see the rain falling across the plain. As it takes about 20 minutes on the chairlift we decided it was time to head down the mountain and back to the Beastlet.
Fortunately the rain held off until we were back at the camper but then the heavens opened and it absolutely chucked it down. From where we were parked we could see people coming down the ski lift and legging it to their cars looking particularly bedraggled. I shouldn’t say it but it provided us with some good entertainment!
We had been planning to go to a campsite for the night but the campsite was on grass and, given the terrible weather, which lasted for hours, we decided to stay put on hard-standing ground, where we had no concerns about getting stuck.
We now felt like we had spent enough time in the Durmitor area so we headed back out, on the road we had already driven three times. This time we were relocating to the East of Montenegro to another area of mountainous national parks.
However, this involved dropping down into the lowlands to get there as the main route through the mountains was closed due to a landslide. On the way, we stopped off to see a big old bridge, the Emperor’s Bridge, which was built in 1894 and used to be the main highway.
As we were passing by Niksic we decided to spend a night at the Ilijin Vir campsite that we had enjoyed so much previously with The Roverlanders. You know, the one where we tried and failed to visit Ostrog Monastery and no, we didn’t even bother to try again. After all, we’ve seen a lot of monasteries and there are many more to come! Instead, we spent a lovely day here relaxing and swimming again in the amazing river, which is definitely going down as one of the best swim spots on this trip so far.
Suitably refreshed despite the 30c+ temperatures, we moved on through the capital of Montenegro, Podgoirca (although we didn’t visit the city as the forecast was for 40c). We did however stop off to see a waterfall near the city, called Niagara Falls.
On arriving at the waterfall we discovered that, not only was it dry but the entire river didn’t have a drop of water in it!
So, a little disappointed, we headed back into the mountains. The main road from Podgorica into the mountains is now a brand new toll road but, preferring to take the scenic route, we took the old road which goes up a gorgeous canyon to the town of Kolasin.
Of course on the way up the gorge there was a monastery to stop off at, the Moraca Monastery, which was built in 1252.
This one had some interesting frescoes and I’ve no idea what the one below is meant to depict.
Kolasin is a busy little town but we managed to stop in the centre to visit the supermarket, albeit double parked in typical Balkan style. From here we drove up to Kolasin 1600, which is the biggest ski resort in Montenegro. It looks like there is a ton of investment being put into the area with the construction of a number of large hotels.
This was a great high altitude location to spend a couple of nights and, in the summer, the new, quick chairlift from 1600 (which does not bash you from behind as you get off), can be used to access the top of the mountain where you can go hiking.
One of the things that makes this a good stop over (other than the free toilets) is the bar/restaurant on site. It would of course have been remiss of us not to enjoy a local beer and try a local specialty – fried dough balls with hard cheese and honey on the side. These were not quite what we had expected (think Pizza Express garlic dough balls – yum), and I can’t say that we enjoyed them, but it was interesting to try them none the less.
We took the modern detachable chairlift (which has wifi and is even heated in the winter) to the top where there is a lovely hike to a valley behind the ski area with a picturesque lake, Pesica Lake. This is in Biogradska National Park.
When we left Kolasin we drove down to a parking area which is the main access area to Biogradska, next to Lake Biograd.
We arrived around 9am to secure a parking spot, which this was a good thing because by 10.30am the parking was completely full and complete chaos ensued.
The main attraction here, apart from some trailheads to long hikes, is the walk around Lake Biograd. After a hot summer the water level in the lake was low and the whole back section had pretty much dried out which was a shame. The forest around the lake is lovely though and is one of the oldest in Europe.
After spending the morning at the lake we decided to leave the busy car park before we got boxed in and headed to a campsite near Kolasin, owned by a young Dutch couple. It was in a lovely setting with a very pretty stream running alongside it but unfortunately it wasn’t deep enough to swim in. We did however lie down in it in an attempt to cool off! There was also a restaurant on site and the owners cooked us a really delicious dinner of local goulash.
The campsite was an easy 4km walk from a really cool cave which was the source of a river in the area. At this time of year the river was mostly dry but at the bottom of the cave was an icy pool of water. I took the opportunity for a swim but the water was definitely the coldest we have come across and I only lasted under a minute !
While we were at Camp Lipovo, our friends the Roverlanders weren’t too far away (Montenegro really is a very small country), so we arranged to met up again for a night back at Kolasin 1600. This was our last opportunity for some socialising as our paths were soon to diverge as we were heading in opposite directions. We had another great night with Jon and Donna before heading to our next and final destination in Montenegro, Prokletije National Park.
Prokletije National Park is in the Accursed Mountains and is right on the border with Albania. The Peak of the Balkans multi-country hike goes through this park and I decided to hike part of this trail which, if I kept going, would take me to Albania.
Unfortunately the hike I chose should have had the highlight of a couple of waterfalls and a finish at a mountain lake, but given the heatwave that has plagued the Balkans for the last two months both waterfalls were dry, as was the lake. The mountains however were spectacular!
We had parked up at the trail head of the hike and in the early evening it started to rain heavily for an hour or two. After the rain had finished it was fascinating to watch water begin to flow down the dry river and just after night had fallen it reached the dry waterfall by the parking lot, which then began to run. We were so glad we went out to take a look even though it was dark because by sunrise the next morning all the water had gone and the river and waterfall were dry once again.
This was to be our last stop in Montenegro and the next country was Kosovo – one of the newest countries in the world and only recognised by just over 50% of the world’s states.
The Mountains of Montenegro
Entering into Montenegro from the North means that the first place you hit is the Tara River. First though we needed to get through the border. While waiting in the queue of cars, we noticed a woman going around all the vehicles. We initially thought she was going to hassle us to buy something we didn’t want but actually she was handing out free sim cards for one of the Montenegrin mobile phone networks. This was really useful and a first for us at a border crossing, saving us a task at the first town we came across.
The border itself was really easy and we weren’t asked if we had insurance – good thing too as our insurance didn’t cover Montenegro!
From here it was a short drive to our first stop which was a rafting camp high on the Tara river Gorge’s sides. We arrived in the afternoon and arranged to go rafting the next morning.
After a short minibus ride down to the river we joined up with another company as our camp only had three passengers for our rafting trip. The river was a beautiful turquoise colour and the trip down through the gorge was very beautiful. The river was pretty placid though given the time of year so there wasn’t a great deal of white-water rapids.
We stopped a couple of times on the trip. The first stop was to see a spring-fed waterfall that ran into the main river. The second, was a small beach where we could climb some rocks and jump into the river or simply enjoy a swim. The water was definitely on the cool side but we are getting pretty used to that.
At the end of the trip the minibus ground its way up a very steep gravel road out of the gorge, getting us safely back to the camp where we were served a hearty lunch and spent the rest of the day relaxing in the sun.
The next morning we moved onwards to a campsite in Durmitor National Park, only a 10 minute walk from Black Lake which is the most visited place in the Park.
The busy campsite was a real shock to us. We hadn’t seen this many campers anywhere on our whole trip.
The location was great though, being so close to Black Lake, which has a few sandy beaches and was a lovely temperature for swimming.
There is also a lovely bar overlooking the lake where we had a couple of afternoon beers in the sunshine with a great view.
While staying at the campsite I did the popular hike up to cave Ledena Pecina. It was a reasonably hard hike with 1000m of vertical and a total distance of over 15k.
The views from the top were spectacular but the most interesting things were the ice formations in the cave. You could climb down into the cave to see them closeup but it was really slippery as you were basically walking on ice. During the winter the whole area is in deep snow and the bottom of the cave never thaws out.
When we were in Serbia we bumped into a British couple travelling in a Land Rover camper conversion, Donna and Jon from the Roverlanders (@theroverlanderadventures on instagram). We got on so well that we arranged to meet up with them in Montenegro in a few weeks.
We had agreed to meet in a campsite in a valley just to the East of Niksic in a lovely campsite called Ilijin Vir. The campsite is by a beautiful river with a swimming hole – the source of the river was nearby so the water was freezing cold which was a good thing because the campsite was out of the mountains and very hot.
We spent a couple of nights exchanging travel stories with our new friends and in typical British fashion a few bottles of wine were consumed.
High up a cliff side above the campsite is one of the most famous monasteries in Montenegro, Ostrog Monastery so we all decided to drive up there when we left the campsite.
Not unexpectedly, the road was narrow and pretty busy with traffic but we managed to make our way up to the final set of switchbacks below the monastery when we hit a queue of stationary traffic. After sitting in this barely moving queue for around 30 minutes we finally got to the front where a guy marshalling the traffic told us that we were too big for the already full car park and we needed to turn around. This was pretty frustrating but we weren’t deterred as he also told us there was a bus that would bring us up for €1 from the half way stage, where we could park the motorhome.
After a tricky U-turn on a switchback, we slowly inched our way back down the mountain past the queue of traffic on the one lane road and made it to the mid way car park where we spent around an hour trying to find a bus or taxi up to the monastery without any luck. It seems we were not meant to see this particular monastery so we decided to call it a day and head back into the mountains of Durmitor National Park.
Our first stop was a lovely lake where we were able to park right on the lake shore. Unfortunately it wasn’t great for swimming as the floor of the lake was deep, soft mud but we got the kayak out and had a play with that instead. Jon was also keen to give it a try as he’d been thinking of getting a pack-raft himself.
After spending the afternoon by the lake we all packed up and headed up the P14 road to Sedlo Pass. The P14 is a really scenic road that crosses Durmitor National Park but it is narrow and gets pretty busy. That’s why with our bigger vehicles we wanted to do the drive towards the end of the day to minimise the amount of traffic that we met. It was still fairly frustrating when we met oncoming traffic but at least it was a lot quieter than it would havr been during the day.
Sedlo Pass is at 1900m so we had a lovely cool night and were well placed for a hike the following morning to the highest peak in the park, Bubotov Kuk. This is listed as the highest mountain in Montenegro but there are actually a couple of higher mountains in the Accursed mountains to the East.
It was great to have some company on the hike as Donna and Jon had invited me along.
The hike up to Bobotov Kuk was very steep and quite a lot of climbing was required in the final ascent. But eventually we reached the top at 2,523m. This was fairly misleading as the route to the top had involved traversing a fairly deep valley at the foot of the peak, so we had still managed to climb a gruelling 1,000m on the hike.
On reaching the top we were shocked to find a few stray dogs sleeping at the peak. I suppose they must get good pickings from hikers having lunch but it’s a first for me finding dogs on a mountain peak.
The views were fantastic and we were able to see all the way to Black lake and beyond one way and views of the intricately folded Prutas mountain the other. We felt lucky to see the views when we did as not long after we arrived the clouds came in.
On our way back down we were also pretty stoked to run into some relatively tame Chamois and one almost seemed willing to pose!
This was our last night in Durmitor with Donna and Jon and we were heading off early the next day, so we found a picnic table with a view on top of Sedlo pass and shared some drinks, snacks and stories as the sun went down. We retreated pretty quickly to the warmth of our vehicles after sunset though as the temperature fell pretty quickly.
Back to Serbia
After our brief trip into Bulgaria we headed back out of the Schengen zone and back into Serbia. We crossed over into the South Eastern corner of the country but we actually wanted to spend the remainder of our time in Serbia in the South Western corner. So we drove across to the tip of Kosovo and a mountain area called Kapaonik National Park.
As the heat wave in the Balkans was still raging with temperatures hitting the high 30’s and low 40’s at sea level, we were really pleased to see the mercury dropping as we drove up the access road to Kapaonik. We finally settled down on a ridge at 1700m with a great view looking back down onto the plains below. The temperatures over night were down low enough for us to actually use our duvet and it was great.
We spent four nights in total at Kapaonik, enjoying the cool temperatures and visiting the modern ski resort.
We did descend the mountain for a day of exploring, which included a visit to Maglic castle, which was built in 13th century and conquered by the Turks in 1438. The castle is perched on a crag overlooking the Ibar river. There isn’t much left of it now, other than its walls and the remains of the keep.
There is no access road to the castle and the old bridge has collapsed, so to get here you have to take a hand-pulled ferry across the river and then hike up the steep path.
At the base of the crag upon which the castle sits, is a tributary river with a small waterfall and a perfect pool for swimming. Just what I needed to cool off. However, on returning to the ferry the wind had risen and the temperature was plummeting. In the space of about 20 minutes the temperature fell almost 15c and once safely back in the camper the heavens opened.
We moved on to our next destination, the Studenica Monastery, which is considered one of Serbia’s most sacred sites. It was established in 1196 and within its white marble walls there are two churches with acclaimed frescoes.
We had planned to spend the night at the Monastery but as the thunderstorm passed and the clouds dispersed the temperature headed back into the 30c despite it being early evening, so we decided to make a dash back up to Kapaonik for a cool night.
We finally prised ourselves free from Kapoanik National Park and drove to the town of Novi Pazar which is at the foot of Kapoanik. It is a typical border town being close to both the Kosovo and Montenegro borders and we did not linger long.
We had come to this area because we wanted to visit two more monasteries. The First is a very popular destination and easy to reach from Novi Pazar.
This is the Sopocani Monastery, which was built in 1265 but was subsequently destroyed by the Turks in 1689. The frescoes contained within are superb examples of medieval art and the site is Unesco listed having been fully restored in 1929.
The next monastery on our tour was Crna Reka, which was a little more tricky to get to. To get here we had to cross a narrow bridge over a lake and, unsure of what we would find at the top of the steep narrow drive up the mountain, we parked up and decided to cycle.
It was an exhausting cycle up (for those of us without an e-bike) and upon reaching the top we discovered there was just enough space to park. It was early evening when we visited though and we were the only visitors at that time, had there been any other visitors we would have struggled, so we were right to be cautious. On our way in, a priest intercepted us to say that I couldn’t enter the monastery in my shorts. Fortunately, he gave me a pair of tracksuit bottoms to cover my legs and spared me having to cycle down and then drive back up as there was no way I was cycling it again!
The 13th century Crna Reka monastery is built into the cliff side and many of the rooms are built into caves. The monastery is spread over four levels and each section is linked by staircases built along the cliff.
Being all alone visiting this monastery made a nice change and we really enjoyed poking our heads into all the nooks and crannies in the cliff side which had been made into little chapels.
For the night we drove up to another ski resort and found a huge deserted car park at the top of the mountain. The car park had been built a few years ago for a new ski resort but no further development has taken place so it’s just a big car park surrounded by trees.
The next morning we kept driving along the same road when the tarmac gave out and we had to continue down a reasonably rough gravel road. Then, just as abruptly, after about 5km of gravel the tarmac started again and we carried on back to the main road on a lovely smooth new tarmac road.
We arrived at our next destination which had a tarmacked road so new it’s not yet on google maps and we set out on a short hike to a viewpoint overlooking the amazing Uvac canyon. The river here is incredibly meandering and makes for an amazing view. There are also lots of vultures inhabiting the area so you can take turns looking at the river canyon or admiring the swooping vultures. If this was somewhere more accessible it would probably be very famous !
We decided to try to find a boat tour through the canyon which involved driving down a very steep, deeply rutted and crumbling dirt road to river level. As we were descending the road got worse and worse and we started to get pretty concerned about making it back up, but we were on a single track with no way of turning around so we were committed now. On arriving at the bottom, the area where boat tours were meant to leave from was littered with old beat up caravans that looked like they had been there for many years and a couple of closed-up buildings that likely used to be restaurants. The place had an eerie feel to it and it was clear any boat tour business that once existed here was no more. With nothing left to do, we girded our loins to drive straight back up the road – traction control and hill ascent on, we powered up the hill wheel spinning as we went. That was certainly as gnarly a road as we would want to do in our 2 wheel drive motorhome.
On reaching the top with our hearts racing, we stopped at a nearby restaurant, asked if we could stay the night and then promptly ordered some drinks to settle our very frazzled nerves.
Next stop in Serbia was the modern ski town of Zlatibor. Zlatibor has the feel of a modern American ski town with a Balkan flavour. The slopes are actually a bit out of town but connected by a new cable car.
We stayed the night in a rare Serbian campsite but had a terrible nights sleep as somewhere nearby they were blasting dance music until 3 in the morning. The bass was so loud you could feel the vibrations through the camper. This isn’t unusual for a weekend but was unexpected on a Wednesday night !
Near to Zlatibor is the Sirogojno Open Air Museum. This is a collection of traditional buildings which have been moved to this site to demonstrate how people in this mountain region of Serbia used to live.
Close to Sirogojno is a park which is home to a series of waterfalls called Gostilje. This is a lovely 1km walk down along side a river which passes over a number of cascades before reaching a larger river at the bottom of the valley.
Sometimes you just get things wrong when you are researching and finding things to do and see in the areas which you visit. Everything we were reading online and in our guide book was that the Mokra Gora Sargan Eight railway was a fantastic trip that shouldn’t be missed.
With this in mind we set out early to secure a spot in the car park for the starting station and bought some tickets for the first journey of the day. This is an out and back train journey which takes an hour and a half each way. There are also a number of stops along the way to admire the views and stretch your legs.
We have done a few rail trips while travelling and usually you can expect some amazing views (the Mont Blanc Tramway immediately springs to mind), but unfortunately the Mokra Gora railway just did not deliver, as 90% of the journey is through forest that blocks any views at all. The stations that you stop at are ok and did have some interesting old trains to look at but nothing that was worth spending 3 hours on this ride.
We made the best of it but just felt that it was something that could easily be skipped without missing anything special. The train line is called the Sargan Eight as it winds its way in a figure of eight as it climbs over 300m from start to finish through 22 tunnels in 15.5km. It is something of an engineering marvel, but you just can’t see that from the train itself and I suspect you’d need a birds-eye view to really appreciate it.
Near to Mokra Gora is the village of Drevengrad which on the face of it looks like a traditional Serbian village but was in fact only created in the 2000’s as a movie set for the film – “life is a miracle”. It made a diverting stop over for 20 minutes but no more.
We were getting close to the end of our time in Serbia but before leaving we wanted to visit Tara National Park. This park consists of two different areas: the Tara river canyon and then a highland mountainous area overlooking the canyon.
We stopped off at the river canyon and were interested to see the number of houseboats tethered along the canyon, being used as holiday lets.
We then drove up into the highlands area and visited Zaovine lake – a large reservoir in the middle of the park. Nothing really piqued our interest though so after a day in Tara we headed to a campsite in the hills above the town of Uzice.
This was a great campsite, particularly because there aren’t very many in Serbia. It was a working small holding with donkeys and peacocks and we were welcomed by the elderly father with whom we sat and enjoyed several generous measures of his home-made Rakija. We also had a fantastic meal while we were here. There was so much food that we took a doggy bag away with us and had enough food for another two meals back in the camper.
After a relaxing day here we then headed south towards the Montenegro border and our next country.
Bulgaria
We hadn’t really planned to go to Bulgaria (particularly as they joined the Schengen zone earlier this year), but we ended up doing a week long detour into the Rila mountains due to a problem we were having with our gas.
After our last LPG fill we had been getting wafts of gas around the gas locker. It wasn’t happening consistently but tended to occur in the afternoons at the hottest part of the day. We also couldn’t get one of the tanks to work and having done some investigation it seemed to me that the tank had been overfilled and gas was being released through the safety value as it was expanding in the heat of the day, but it was difficult to know for sure. Gas is something that worries me, I don’t know enough about it other than its potential to go boom!
So after some discussion we decided we needed to talk to the experts at Gaslow (our LPG is a gaslow system) to work out if this was something serious we needed to worry about. We can’t make international calls on our local Serbian sim cards but luckily, we were in fact closer to Sofia across the border in Bulgaria than any major town in Serbia, so it seemed sensible to slip across the border into the EU where our home Sim cards would work and where there is an actual motorhome repair company (based in Sofia) if we needed it.
We crossed the border without any issues other than a lengthy queue, which turned out to be quite helpful as it meant we had plenty of time to see all the neon Vignettes signs and realised we needed to buy one before crossing over. After a quick internet search we were able to do this online while waiting in the queue.
Once across the border we found a place to pull over and make the call to Gaslow. Long story short, after a very helpful and detailed exchange, we concluded that in all likelihood, our last LPG fill had been an overfill due a faulty pump and that once the tank we were using had emptied, the overfill tank should start to work as normal. Most importantly, they assured me that there was absolutely no chance of the aforementioned Boom. If this didn’t happen we needed to call them back.
So with that in mind, we needed to find a campsite for a few days to settle down and monitor what was happening. The campsite we found was only a 30 minute drive from where we were, in the foothills of the local mountains which meant the potential of cool nights despite the heat wave that was still engulfing the Balkans.
Sometimes with campsites you can really luck out and in this case we hit the jackpot. Blue Gates Camping was owned by a Bulgarian/Canadian couple who were really friendly and set us up in a lovely spot that had shade for most of the day.
The campsite was based on a large, mostly shaded plot and the owners had marked out some walking trails that climbed up the ridge behind the camping area, which we explored. But by far the best thing about the campsite was the overground swimming pool, which was clean, cool and very refreshing.
After a couple of days of R&R at this lovely campsite, the gas tank switched over automatically to the overfull tank and, much to our relief, started working properly again. With that panic over, we were able to move on with our travels.
Since we had a few days left on our seven-day vignette we thought we’d make the most of it and see something of the country. After quickly consulting a map, looking for mountainous areas that would be cooler, we settled on the Rila Mountains.
First up was the Rila Lakes hike, a lovely mountain trail which can be accessed by a chairlift. We free camped for the night in an area just below the main car park and then first thing, moved up to the chairlift car park to beat the crowds and jump on the lift as soon as it opened.
The great thing about the chairlift was that it took us up above the treeline to over 2000m and took away a lot of the uphill grind.
The hike here is around 10km long and takes in 7 alpine lakes of varying sizes. It’s a popular hike but as with most hikes in the Balkans if you start off early you’ll be pretty much on your own.
After leaving the 7 lakes area we had to drive down out of the mountains and then back up again to access a different area. We wanted to visit Rila Monastery, the most famous monastery in Bulgaria.
This impressively ornate monastery is surrounded by high stone walls and was founded in 927 AD.
The central church is surrounded by a colonnaded walkway and is covered in frescoes.
The monks quarters are built several stories high against the interior of the walls of the complex.
The quarters were added during the reconstruction of the monastery in 1469 after a series of raids destroyed it.
To finish off our day and our week long excursion into Bulgaria, we parked up at a mountain restaurant for the night where we treated ourselves to a meal out. Our first and last, in Bulgaria.
Central Serbia
From Golubac we carried along the Danube to the Mesolithic ruins of Lepinski Vir. This is close to the site of a mesolithic fishing village and a very modern space age building has been erected to protect and display the ruins of the village and artifacts from the archaeological dig.
The museum shows a film made in the 1970’s during the original dig, which was very interesting and gave some real context to the remains. There were also some sculptures of fish-faced human idols which felt like modern art and were very impressive considering they were made 7000 years ago.
It was really hot after we finished looking round the museum so we decided to take a road up into the hills away from the Danube. The road was steep and although tarmacked, it was a patchwork of fixes, so much that you could barely see the original road in certain places, making it a slow and bumpy ride.
We drove up to 600m above sea level where things were a bit cooler and found a peaceful place to spend the night, a few hundred metres from an abandoned ski resort. The next morning we were treated with a visit from a small herd of beautiful wild horses.
We set off early that morning to the small town of Majdanpek and a visit to Rajko’s cave.
We arrived for opening time and were the only people there. The guy in the ticket office let us in and then left us to wander through the cave system at our leisure – a definite first! But it was great to be alone in the passages of this 1.5km long cave. There used to be a loop walk over two levels but flooding of the lower level means that you now have to retrace your steps.
After leaving the cave we headed down some narrow country lanes to park outside a nunnery which is the starting point to walk to the Vratna Gates, which are natural stone arches over a river in a canyon about a 20 minute walk from the nunnery.
The canyon around the arches was shaded and cool, a nice relief from the heat and I enjoyed having a cooling paddle in the river.
Having found a shady spot under a tree, right next to a small river, we decided to spend the night outside the nunnery and enjoyed taking dips in the chilly little river to cool down. We of course also visited the nunnery while we stayed there, which had a beautiful little church and were amused to see one of the nuns in full garb whizzing past us on an electric scooter with a big dog in tow.
The next day we came out of the hills next to the Danube and headed towards the South of Serbia, however we stopped off at the Roman ruins of Felix Romuliana, a UNESCO World Heritage site that originally housed a complex of palaces and temples covering an area of 10 acres. The complex was built by Emperor Galerius and completed in AD313 but they are very much in ruins now and despite being a UNESCO site there isn’t a great deal to see.
However we did bump into a lovely British couple here (Donna and Jon, aka the Roverlanders on social Media – @theroverlandersadventures on Instagram), travelling full-time in their converted 4×4 Land Rover Ambulance. Luckily, there is a cafe on-site, so we made ourselves comfortable and after chatting for quite some time we agreed to meet up in a couple of weeks when we were both heading for Montenegro.
Having waved goodbye to The Roverlanders, our stop for the night was the amazing fortified Manisija Monastery. Built in 1418, it became a refuge for artists and writers fleeing the Ottoman invasion.
This is also a UNESCO listed site and one that is definitely much more impressive but unfortunately photography is not allowed inside.
We spent the night a short walk from the monastery where we found yet another river to cool off in, although this one had quite a few nibbly little fish! One of the best things about the Balkans (especially in the summer heat), is that the rivers here are abundant and mostly very clean, so we have no qualms about taking a dip. I’m not sure we’d be so eager in the UK!
Close to the monastery is another cave, Resava. We had a private (no one else was there) guided tour around this very impressive cave. I wasn’t allowed to take photos with my camera (its was too professional-looking apparently) but we were allowed to take pictures with our phones. Of course it was only 10c inside so we had a lovely cool time but the tour only lasts an hour so it wasn’t long before we were kicked out into the heat once again.
Just down the road from the cave is a park with a pretty little waterfall on the Resava river, which made for a diverting 30 minute walk but unfortunately no swimming allowed!
From Manasija we continued heading South to visit the town of Nis, which is the third biggest city in Serbia. Our first stop here was the Red Cross concentration camp.
This is a well preserved Nazi Concentration camp and is named after the adjacent train station, the Red Cross. 30,000 Serbs, Romany and Jews were held here during the German Occupation of Serbia which lasted from 1941-1945.
Mass executions were not performed on site but there were still many deaths here. Informative displays tell the stories of the inmates and the atrocities committed to both them and the people of Nis. Some of the personal stories are very moving and it is definitely worth a visit.
Our next stop in Nis was the Cele Kula or Skull Tower. This was built after the Turks defeated the Serbs in the 1809 Battle of Cegar. Over 10,000 Turks were killed in the battle and the Turks, in an attempt to ensure there were no future acts of rebellion, beheaded and scalped almost 1,000 Serbians. The skulls of these dead Serbs were then embedded in the Tower of Skulls as warning to any future rebels.
However the Tower had the opposite effect and became a symbol to the Serbians of their proud resistance against invaders. Most of the skulls have since been removed from the tower but 58 still remain.
Not wanting to stay in the lowlands for the night we drove up into the Stara Planima Nature Park on the Bulgarian border to a high altitude lake, Zavojsko Jezero, to find another swim spot and a cool night.
It wasn’t quite what we expected with lots of locals already there and quite a lot of noise but it sufficed for one night!
Serbia
After enjoying Bosnia so much we were a little bit reluctant to head into Serbia, particularly as our research indicated that it was a harder place to travel around than Bosnia.
However, our first impressions were positive. The border crossing was quick and easy and we headed for the nearest town, Loznica, to get some currency and SIM cards for the country. This proved to be much easier than Bosnia and we each got a data SIM with 25GB of data from Yettel, the biggest mobile company in Serbia.
We found a spot for the night near Loznica and close to the Tronosa monastery, which we visited the next morning. This monastery had a small shrine with a spring and we filled our water with this lovely tasting spring water.
Our first main destination in Serbia was the city of Novi Sad. The North of Serbia is very flat and gets very hot in summer. We wanted to do a whistlestop tour of this part of the country and then head for higher (and cooler) ground in the East and South of the country.
Novi Sad is the second city of Serbia and is located on the banks of the Danube river. On one side of the river is the huge Petrovaradin Fortress and its old town and facing it on the other side is the main town.
Novi Sad is a big modern town but the old town area has a laid back street culture vibe which is, I expect, what contributed to it being the first Non-EU European Capital of Culture in 2021.
The Fortress is the second largest in Europe and is nicknamed “Gibraltar on the Danube”. It is the setting for the Exit Festival each year, an international music festival, which was being set up while we were there.
The town itself is big and modern with a large but attractive pedestrianised area filled with bars and cafes and outdoor seating. And so, after a good wander around we couldn’t resist sitting at one and having our first taste of local Serbian beer in the sunshine.
We liked Novi Sad and with hindsight it was definitely our favourite Serbian city.
From Novi Sad we headed North towards the Hungarian border. We started off eschewing the toll roads as is normal for us. However the roads in the North of the country aren’t in great shape and after bumping and rattling around for some time we eventually gave in and diverted to the Toll road (which, when we discovered it was only €4 realised we should have done this a lot sooner).
Our reason for heading North was to visit the city of Subotica. This small town, although the largest in the North of Serbia, is very multicultural with more Hungarians than Serbs living there.
The centre of the town is the enormous City Hall which is a strange architectural style of a cross between Art Noveau and Guadi-esque. The interior of City Hall is said to be unmissable but unfortunately for us, tours take place daily at noon and unfortunately we arrived in town too late. The building itself is surrounded by pedestrian spaces and feels very much like the cultural centre of town.
The first Art Noveau building to be built in town was the impressive Synagogue, built in 1902. This is impressive both inside and out, particularly inside. It is said to be the only surviving Hungarian Art Noveau Jewish place of worship in the world.
There were a lot of attractive buildings in Subotica but little else to hold us there for long, so we left town and headed to an artificial lake and recreation area for the night. We spent a peaceful but very hot and uncomfortable night here.
From Subotica we drove South, going back past Novi Sad to the Capital of Serbia, Belgrade – or Beograd as its locally known. The heatwave that was to grip the Balkans for the next few weeks was starting to make itself known and the plains of the Northern half of Serbia were beginning to really heat up.
To visit Belgrade, we stayed in one of the few campsites in Serbia, just outside of the city beside the Danube. It was a well set up campsite with new and very plush facilities but unfortunately it was absolutely plagued by mosquitoes. I can honestly say we haven’t seen so many since we were in the arctic in Alaska. There were so many that our screens became ineffective and so we spent a very hot night with all the windows closed, splatting all the mosquitoes that had worked their way inside. We were definitely glad to leave this place and strangely just 500m away there were hardly any mosquitoes!
Belgrade itself is a big modern city that could be anywhere in Europe. The contrast to Sarajevo in Bosnia is huge and makes Sarajevo feel like a provincial capital rather than a capital city.
We parked up in a free parking lot by the river and set off on our bicycles to explore the city.
The Sveti Sava Temple is the Balkan’s biggest Orthodox church and it is absolutely massive, sitting in a square on a plateau in Belgrade which is quite a hilly city. It is the seat of the Serbian Orthodox church.
The temple was only opened in 1935 but building work continued until 2004. It is modelled on the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul.
After visiting this very impressive church we cycled past the National Assembly of Serbia before heading into the main shopping area of the city, the Knez Mihailova Boulevard, which is pedestrian only and has the grandeur you expect from the oldest European cities.
This leads up to Belgrade Fortress which sits on a hill overlooking the two mighty rivers that join in Belgrade, the Sava and the Danube.
Belgrade Fortress has a very bloody history. With 115 battles being fought over it, the fortress has been destroyed over 40 times since the fortifications were first dug in the 3rd century BC by a Celtic tribe. It was later taken over by the Romans.
The fortress that we see today was largely built by the Ottomans who ruled this area from 1521 until 1867.
Today it is free to enter and is popular destination for locals and tourists alike as the top is landscaped into parkland and it is surrounded by Kalamegdan park.
After leaving the fortress, we ended our trip to Belgrade by visiting the Skadarska quarter of town, the cobbled Bohemian District. We had worked up a hunger working our way around this big city so we found a restaurant for our first taste of local Serbian food. As we are learning, traditional food in the Balkans involves large quantities of meat, which is fine by us!
After three cities in a row and with the heat becoming unbearable, it was definitely time to head up and into the countryside. So we set off Eastward, following the Danube close to the Romanian border.
Here we decided to spend the night at the Ramsko fortress. This fortress was built by the Ottomans in the 1400’s to protect the right bank of the Danube. However there is evidence that there have been fortifications on this site right back to Celtic times.
Just across from the fortress is a small but pretty church and down the hill along the waterfront, is a bar with a lovely view where we spent some of the evening before settling down for a quiet night on the headland, made bearable by a cooling breeze. In the morning we carried on to what is considered the jewel in the crown of Serbian castles, Golubac.
Golubac fortress in also on the banks of the Danube and was built in the 1400’s by the Serbian state. It has the distinction of having never been conquered and has repelled over 120 attacks.
It did however fall into Ottoman hands when the Commander of the fortress demanded a payment to hand over control to the Serbian Despot. This was refused so he promptly sold it to the Ottomans. The Serbian Despot, Stefan Sigismund, tried to win it back many times with a large army but was heavily defeated at a cost that far exceeded what had been asked by the original Commander.
While in the fortress we came across a tent with a bird of prey handler where they had a peregrine falcon and a beautiful Euroasian Eagle-Owl.
Into Rural Bosnia
After leaving Sarajevo late Sunday afternoon we drove 50kms or so towards the town of Konjic in search of a peaceful park-up for the night. Travelling in the opposite direction to us was probably the most traffic we have seen in Bosnia, as all the locals return to the Capital after their weekend escapes.
The next morning we headed back through Konjic and out into a deserted river valley and parked up at an anonymous locked gate. At exactly 11am the gate was opened and we were allowed to drive through into the complex.
We had arrived at the site of President Tito’s (previously) highly secret and massive nuclear bunker, which is discreetly accessed through the garage of a small house. A tunnel snakes deep into the mountainside until it reaches thick metal doors and the actual bunker.
With space for 300 troops and 50 VIPS the bunker was built to withstand a 25 kiloton blast and had a hidden hydrolelectric power plant to provide power, as well as massive generators and diesel fuel if the hydroelectric was compromised. Built between 1953-1976 at a massive cost of US$4.6 billion, which is the equivalent of more than US$20 billion today, the bunker was kept secret until after the break up of Yugoslavia in the 1990’s.
All of the equipment in the bunker is still in perfect condition having never been used and apparently all in good working order. The guide even turned on the air conditioning unit to demonstrate this. The whole bunker started thrumming with the pulse of fresh, clean air.
The tour was really fascinating and it felt like stepping back into the years of the cold war.
After leaving Tito’s secret bunker we drove into the centre of the country towards the very big and very beautiful, Ramsko Lake.
Here we settled down to enjoy the scenery at a campsite on a small peninsula jutting out into the lake, where we were able to park right on the waterfront and enjoy swimming in the surprisingly warm water.
Just opposite us across the water was a monastery with a small museum of local history. The most entertaining bit of the museum was the top floor which held dioramas of stuffed animals from the region.
The owners of the campsite didn’t speak any English but they were incredibly friendly and we managed well with the help of Google translate. The woman who helped run the campsite came to see us each morning with a carrier bag full of freshly picked cherries from her orchard (which were delicious) and when we left she also gave us a bottle of their home-made moonshine, which we haven’t opened – yet!
We spent a few really enjoyable, lazy days here by the lake but eventually had to leave and headed next for the town of Travnik.
Travnik is a really pleasant town with a big pedestrianised centre and a relaxed vibe. The top tourist attraction is a mosque dating back to the 16th Century called the Many-Coloured Mosque.
We also visited Travnik Castle which is up a steep hill from the town centre and had some fun trying out the archery.
Our next stop was the town of Jajce where, for the first time in a while, we saw some other campers and other Brits. There is a large youth hostel next to the town’s supermarket which has parking for motorhomes overlooking the river.
Although Jajce is only a small town, it is very pretty and there are a few things to see and do. First up, the town’s main attraction, the waterfall with a 21m drop on the Pliva river.
Then it was off to the castle which has a commanding aspect above the town, followed by a visit to the underground church/ crypt.
We took our bikes for a lovely ride along the river to the pretty Pilva lakes, which can be quite busy with picnickers at the weekend (and a music festival while we were there), and between the two lakes are the Mlincici, a collection of 20 tiny watermills which look like wooden shacks on stilts that date back to the middle ages. The mills were rented out by the owners to different families who each had one day of the week to grind their grain.
Finally we also enjoyed a couple of delicious meals out, one of which was a shared meat platter for two, which was definitely enough for three or more!
Once our time in Jajce was done, we headed South over an upland plateau where the highest ski resort in the country is situated at the town of Kupres and came back out of the high country to the town of Livno. The drive between Jajce and Livno was absolutely stunning and worth it just for the views, although we also passed many derelict, bullet-holed houses and once or twice what seemed to be whole abandoned villages. The war is present even deep in the countryside.
We had heard about a nice campsite near Livno with a rare and much needed washing machine! Kamp Sturba was down a narrow single track road about 5km away from the main road. On arriving though we realised that the drive to get there was definitely worth it.
We settled in on a pitch right next to a small river, with a couple of pools deep enough for full immersion, although it was very cold (like many of the Bosnian rivers).
We enjoyed a welcome drink of home brewed Rakiya from the owner Bruno, which was actually very good and we met Bruno’s father who was cooking something in the outdoor charcoal oven. A casual enquiry into what he was cooking quickly led to an invite to dinner with the family.
Dinner was a tasty spread of pork with potatoes and veggies, bread and salad. Despite offering to pay they were adamant that we were guests. Bosnian hospitality is amazing.
We settled in at this lovely campsite for five days, which is a long time for us to stay in one place, but we really relaxed, cooked BBQ’s, went for walks, enjoyed cooling off in the river and of course, managed to do our washing. The nights here were lovely and cool and our spot was in the shade so we were really comfortable.
We couldn’t stay in Livno for ever though and our next stop was in the far West of the country in the Una National Park.
The Una National Park covers some of the length of the beautiful Una river, the source of which is just across the border in Croatia despite most of its length flowing through Bosnia.
The river itself is around 8 degrees centigrade in the national park as it rises from an underground spring not that far away. You are not allowed to wild camp in the National Park so our first night was at a campground with a swimming pool and access to the river. It was a nice site but it didn’t have any shade to park in and it was quite busy so although we were able to cool off in the water we only stayed one night before moving on.
One oddity of this campsite was that they only had power and cell signal for a limited time (from 8pm to 9am). From speaking to other campers we learned that this was apparently because the power came from Croatia and they only turned it on for part of the day.
From the campsite we cycled to the Martin Brod waterfalls which cover a vertical drop of 50m in total. There is one main and very impressive waterfall however.
A short walk from the waterfalls we visited a local house where we were shown the owners working watermill where he demonstrated how grain had been milled for centuries as well as an amazing medieval washing machine that used the power of the water to clean large items like carpets and blankets.
The highlight however of Una National Park is the Strbacki Buk waterfall. This has a main drop of 18m which is over 40m wide and is very impressive.
We met one of the National Park Ranges, a former Olympic Kayaker, who told us some terrible stories of executions at the waterfall during the 90’s. There doesn’t seem to be one corner of the country that was spared from this terrible conflict.
This waterfall was only a 5km cycle from our second Una campsite, the very rustic but perfect for us, Kamp Vasva and Hasim. We managed to park up here in the shade of the trees, side on to the river and, as we were the only ones here, we had the swimming spot to ourselves. Although cold, the river was teaming with fish and it was a lovely place to stay.
I also took the opportunity to get the kayak out and kayaked a couple of km’s upriver to a small waterfall and back.
After a great month in Bosnia it was time for us to make our way to Serbia, the next country on our Balkans tour.
We headed for the border on the other side of the country, stopping again at Jayce and then the Krupa waterfalls, just south of the town of Banja Luka.
Our final stop in Bosnia was at a homestay where a German/Bosnia couple had just finished building an enormous expedition truck which is now for sale for €300,000. They gave us a tour of the inside and the quality of the workmanship was outstanding.
Unfortunately overnight we saw the first rain for some time and the area we were parked turned into slick mud. On leaving our wheels started spinning and we were stuck. For the first time we deployed our very flimsy looking, plastic mud mats and to our surprise they actually worked! Despite having to move forward half a metre at a time and replace them each time they were spat out the back, we were soon back on the gravel drive and away. Although not before hosing ourselves, the matts and the tires down which were all clad in a thick layer of stickly mud.
Onwards through Bosnia
Having hit the highlights up to Mostar, we decided to do a loop through to the East of Bosnia next, so reversed course and headed South East towards the town of Trebinje.
First however, we made a pit-stop at the town of Stolac where we drove into the town, got snarled up in the one tiny street with cars lining the road, couldn’t park and ended up doing an about turn and heading back to the outskirts, where we found a coach car park instead. People in Bosnia have an interesting approach to parking, meaning that they just seem to leave their car anywhere they like, at any angle, regardless of actual parking spaces. It can make driving through narrow roads a little challenging but on the plus side the roads generally aren’t very busy – except for Stolac on this particular morning!
Stolac has two interesting things for visitors to see, the first is the castle which sprawls across a rocky outcrop above the town.
The second is a waterfall on the river that flows through the town. The medieval centre of the town is so small that if you blink you’ll miss it.
We reached the town of Trebinje in the early evening but rather than drive straight in, we parked up at the very peaceful Tvrdos Monastery for the night, just outside town.
This was our first visit to a Christian Orthodox church and it was very ornate inside, with beautifully painted walls and a huge golden chandelier hanging down from the painted ceiling (which, having now seen several, seems to be the norm for these churches).
After spending a quiet night (not always the case when free-camping), we drove into Trebinje and found parking in a residential area by the river that flows through the middle of the town and from there, it was a quick cycle into the pretty town centre.
The high-walled, historical centre of the town is actually very small but we did finally manage to complete our most pressing task, which was to buy a local SIM card for our phones. This had surprisingly proved much harder than expected and was about our 10th attempt since entering Bosnia.
Outside the walled medieval centre there is a large, shady square called Trg Slobode, which is lined with cafes to one side and a small local market on the other.
Trebinje is also famous for its ancient bridge over the river. The Arslanagic Bridge was originally built in 1574, 10kms further upstream but was flooded by a new reservoir in 1965. In order to ensure its preservation, it was rebuilt brick by brick in its current location. It’s not far out of town and we had a lovely cycle along the river past a few old water wheels to get to it.
Having finished our wanderings through Trebinje (with Sarah saying she felt very under-dressed as the women in the town were all very chic-looking – her words not mine!), we drove up to a hill overlooking the town to visit the Hercegovacka Gracanica church.
This is another orthodox church, apparently based on the Gracanica Church in Kosovo, but it is relatively new, having only been built in the year 2000 to rehouse the bones of a local poet, Jovan Ducic.
Leaving Trebinje behind, we drove North into the Sutjeska National Park, which has at is centre the Tara River. Our first stop was by a beautiful lake where we spent the night in a deserted swimming and fishing area. Although having seen some snakes in the shallows, we kept our feet dry!
Living under a brick built BBQ at this picnic spot, was a lovely stray dog called Lucky. We had learnt about her from a comment on Park4Night and we made sure she had lots of attention and a good meal while we were there. We sat out at one of the picnic tables most of the evening and next morning to keep her company.
Being big dog lovers it absolutely broke our hearts to leave her behind, we were actually both quite choked up driving away. The only consolation was that she was in good condition and obviously well cared for by the locals whom we saw stopping by and dropping kibble on the floor for her.
On our way through the National Park there is a massive, impressive WWII memorial sculpture which we stopped off at for a wander around and just a little further through the park we found our night spot, which was a small restaurant which allowed camper parking in its back garden/field.
The facilities were a bit rustic – the cold water shower (basically a hose on a pole in the middle of the field) with no shower curtain was definitely a step too far for Sarah. We did however enjoy dinner at the restaurant and a nice chilled beer in the garden afterwards.
The scenery in the park is beautiful and we continued to drive down the road that follows the Tara river towards the border with Montenegro. The road was narrow and pretty rough but eventually a couple of km’s before the border we stopped off at Rafting Tara, a small camp with huts and a restaurant, as well as a lawn area for campers. We managed to squeeze ourselves between a couple of trees to get some shade and although it wasn’t that flat it was thankfully out of the sun!
Of course we couldn’t come to this beautiful spot and not enjoy the river. So the next day, we arranged to go white water rafting.
After being kitted out in a wetsuit (the water is very cold), lifejacket and helmet, we were driven down a narrow road across the border into Montenegro which was the start of the rafting.
The water on the Tara river at this time of year is Grade 3 pushing Grade 4, so some of the short rapids were quite a bumpy ride but we didn’t feel at any point like falling in was a real risk and it was just good fun.
The guide who was steering the raft at the back had fairly limited English but he was clear with his calls of “Stop” and “Go” to tell us when to paddle.
The river itself was really beautiful as we moved through the gorge and the water was incredibly clear. The guide told us it was clean enough to drink straight out of the river, although having been told that before in Sweden and subsequently been ill, this time we erred on the side of caution and abstained!
Just about half way through our descent we stopped off at a small beach for a short hike to a waterfall followed by a cooling swim/ float.
After a great but pretty tiring three-hour trip, we arrived back at the rafting camp where we were offered a hearty meal, and having worked up quite the appetite we did not turn them down. There was no menu, they simply brought us some soup with a big basket of fresh bread, followed by a big plate of slow roasted pork with veggies and a cabbage side salad, all washed down with some local beer. Absolutely delicious!
We spent a couple of fun days here but it was time to move on and Sarajevo was calling us.
For a capital city Sarajevo feels quite small. Our first port of call was the City Hall. Seriously damaged in the 1990’s when Sarajevo was under siege for almost 4 years between 1992 and 1995, it now houses a number of interesting exhibitions, one of which tells the story of the siege and the lengths the population had to go to to survive. All the trees in the city were cut down and used for firewood, as was most of the furniture and people had to queue for hours under threat of snipers to collect water from only two sources in the whole city.
Not too far from City Hall is a cable car which goes up to a viewpoint and the Olympic Bobsleigh run which was built for the 1984 Olympics. The run has been allowed to decay (not surprisingly as the cable car was destroyed in the war and only reopened in 2018) and you can now walk down its length and admire the graffiti.
Unfortunately it was a hazy day so the views over the city were limited.
Next on our list was the bridge where Archduke Ferdinand and his wife were assassinated, which resulted in the start of WW1. There isn’t much to see now as the memorial was removed but it was certainly thought-provoking to stand on the spot that sparked such a terrible period in history.
After wandering the old town and relaxing for lunch at Pigeon square, we visited the Museum of Crimes against Humanity and Genocide 1992-1995. This small museum is excellent although the subject matter is grim. There are testimonies of people who lived through the war and describe their experiences from rape and beatings to the murder and execution of their loved ones. Not an uplifting experience but an important one in terms of trying to understand the very complex history of this country, which we are still trying to get our heads around.
Bosnia: Into the Unknown
Crossing into Bosnia from Croatia couldn’t have been easier. In fact we had to ask both the Croatian side and the Bosnian side to stamp our passports as neither seemed inclined to do so. Other than that, we were through the border very quickly.
We noticed a lot of billboards in Southern Croatia advertising the Kravica waterfalls, which are just across the border and so that was where we were intending to spend our first night in Bosnia
After paying an entrance fee for the waterfalls and indicating that we were hoping to spend the night, we by-passed the customer car-park and were waved through a barrier onto a very steep gravel road down to the Kravica Autocamp. This is basically a field alongside a lovely tree-lined green river, which was only a couple of hundred metres away from the Kravica waterfalls.
Unbeknown to us, we had arrived at Kravica on a local public holiday so it was much busier than we had expected, with children swimming in the chilly water and families picnicking and sunbathing around the edge of the lake. It wasn’t too bad though and after having a wander around ourselves we relaxed at a lakeside restaurant for a couple of drinks.
The waterfalls feel just like those at Plitvice or Krka in Croatia, except that they are all in one place so it’s quite nice to be able to sit down at one of the restaurants and enjoy the view. So our couple of beers turned into dinner, in the form of a big shared plate of Cevapi (Balkan sausages).
We also took advantage of being parked right on the river to jump in for a swim. It didn’t last very long as the water was very cold but it cooled us down nicely. We have learnt that a lot of the rivers in Bosnia are spring fed not too far away and so the water coming from underground is super cold.
This was a great introduction to Bosnia but our next stop was a little further inland at the town of Blagaj. However, before reaching Blagaj we stopped off at an old town called Pocitelj (the names of the towns in Bosnia are proving somewhat challenging to pronounce!).
Pocitelj is an ancient town that is built into the hillside and topped by a fortress. We climbed up to the fortress, stopping in on the Hajji Alijia Mosque on the way up. This mosque was built in 1563 but was badly damaged by Croatian forces during the war in 1993.
Just next door to where we were parked at Pocitelj was a bakery, so we popped in to see what sort of delights a Bosnian bakery has to offer! We came out with a meat Burek, which is a traditional Bosnian snack consisting of minced meat and onion in filo pastry. It’s absolutely lovely and is somewhat reminiscent of a pasty.
Having devoured the Burek we got back on the road and reached our destination for the night – a campsite just outside of Blagaj town, aptly named Camping Blagaj, where we had the most amazing welcome.
After parking up we were shown around the campsite, ending up in their restaurant/bar, which sits alongside a very fast flowing (and very cold), beautifully blue, river. They then proceeded to offer us a welcome drink of our choice on the house (pints of beer on draft – thank you very much), and then appeared with a fruit plate, two slices of cake and a bottle of wine for us to take away!
What an amazing welcome. We were really blown away. The campsite itself was really well setup with power, water and disposal on each site. If this is the standard of camping in Bosnia we are going to love it here.
Our reason for visiting Blagaj was to see the Blagaj Tekke, a historic Sufi monastery that is built into the cliffs by the source of the river Buna.
The classic view of the Tekke is from across the river, where there are a number of restaurants but you can also go inside the building itself. The rooms are very small but they have been updated a bit with electricity and heating. The floor is carpeted with lovely rugs which is a good thing as you have to remove your shoes to go inside.
Blagaj is only a few kilometres from the town of Mostar, which is perhaps the most well-known tourist destination in Bosnia. It is difficult to separate Mostar in our minds from the images of the famous bridge being blown up in the war that engulfed this region in the 1990’s. But the bridge has been rebuilt in the original style and despite the abandoned buildings and walls pockmarked with bullet holes the war is definitely in the past.
Before reaching Mostar we stopped at a small unmarked turn-off at the side of the road. The road is blocked but a path leads round the gates and after a couple of hundred metres a big black entrance built into the cliff comes into view.
This is a underground hangar for fighter jets that was used during the cold war by Yugoslavia. The hangar is now abandoned but makes a good place for some Urban Exploring. In total the hangar is almost 1km long and is designed to protect the fighter jets that would have been stored there from a nuclear blast as it is buried under a hill.
After this brief stop, we continued on to Mostar where we parked at the University and cycled into the old town.
Mostar old town is very pretty but actually quite small, so even at the beginning of June it was very crowded with tourists (check out the photo below with all the tourists lining the bridge). The bridge, which is a UNESCO world heritage site, was built in the 16th century but as mentioned earlier it was destroyed in 1993 and the new ‘old bridge’ was reopened in 2004.
Members of the Stari Most Bridge Diver’s Club put on a show for tourists by diving off the bridge when they have collected enough money from onlookers. We were lucky enough to time our visit to watch one of the divers. It was definitely a case of rather you than me, especially given the temperature of the water.
After sitting down for a quick lunch of Burek at a small café near the bridge, we headed to one of the lesser known attractions of Mostar, the Kajtaz house. This was one of the oldest merchant houses in Mostar, which has been preserved as a museum. This particular house belonged to a Judge and, as was typical for that time, would have been split into male and female quarters. Unfortunately the male quarters burned down but the female quarters has been beautifully preserved.
We were given a really informative and excellent tour of the building by a young woman who spoke almost perfect English and who convinced Sarah to try on some typical clothes from that period.
We had planned to stay the night at the university campus but there was a lot of activity going on when we returned to the camper, so in search of a quiet night, we drove up the steep and narrow road to the large cross that sits on the hills overlooking Mostar. This is where the Croatians shelled the city from in 1993 and you can still see the emplacements that they used to do this. We had a great view over the hillside and more importantly, we had a very peaceful night.
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