The Grain and Grape

Adding a couple of extra days to the Veteran’s Day weekend, we decided to check out another interesting Balkan country by exploring Bosnia. A quick 90-minute direct flight from Stuttgart, and we were ready to start checking out this unique country.

Sarajevo

We landed in Sarajevo, the capital city, late afternoon. Quickly off the plane with our carry-on bags, we were out of the airport and into a taxi, an inexpensive option for getting to Old Town. The November air was a little chilly, and there was a faint aroma of wood fires. Sarajevo is in a deep valley, and in the winter the air quality can be bad. Regardless, the smog and fog hovering just above the tops of the mountains made the scenery very interesting.

We checked into our hotel in the historic Baščaršija Old Town and went to explore our surroundings and get dinner. The Old Town still has its Ottoman-style bazaar look and feel, with small winding cobblestone streets full of people, historic buildings, mosques, restaurants, and shops.

Our first dinner in Bosnia was one of our favorite meals, the Grill Plate. A meal to be shared by at least two people, with different types of grilled meats and vegetables. It was an outstanding way to begin our Bosnian tour.

Food and History Walking Tour

The next day, we went on a walking food tour, booked through TripAdvisor. We met our guide, Emina, who is charming and funny, and speaks perfect English. Walking around Sarajevo, it was great to learn from a local about the history and foods of Bosnia. We saw the spot where Archduke Ferdinand and his wife were shot, which triggered World War I, and heard about the Siege of Sarajevo, which lasted from 1992 – 1996.

We visited a historic café for Bosnian coffee and tres leches cake, sampled the most tender smoked beef at the local market, ate a traditional lunch of a Bosnian national dish, Ćevapi, small minced meat sausages and raw white onions in Arabic pita, and lastly had a cheese and spinach pie called a Burek. All fantastic, and very filling.

After all this food, we spent the afternoon climbing two different hills. One up to the Alifakovac Cemetery, a sea of white grave markers overlooking the city. And then up another hill, to the Yellow Fortress, for more views across the valley.

As always, we found an Irish pub, the Dubliner. Perfect for sitting down with a pint of Guinness and planning for the next part of our trip.

Exploring Bosnia

To see more of Bosnia, we booked a tour in advance with Funky Tours, to include transportation to and from Mostar. Funky Tours helped us put an itinerary together to see top sights, have a wine tasting, and also give us the flexibility of spending a day on our own exploring Mostar.

Our tour guide for the day, Ajla, picked us up from our hotel in Sarajevo, and we set off to our first stop, a picturesque old bridge in Konjic. Everywhere you look in the old cities you can see the influences of the past. We stopped and took some photos in the rain.

Wine tasting

Our next stop was a wine tasting at the Brkić winery in the Herzegovina area. Our tasting was led by two brothers, part of the large Brkić family that runs the vineyard. They are the third generation of winemakers, and told us that they never thought of trying a different career.

Passed down from their grandfather, this family tradition became an organic vineyard in the early 2000’s. We toured the cellar and discussed the processes used to create the Brkić wines. Our tasting included six different wines, and we enjoyed them all, whites, a red, and an orange wine. After purchasing a few bottles, we headed out to see the Kravica waterfalls.

kravica waterfalls

All the rain we were getting made the falls look like something other-worldly. It is nice to see areas of such beauty are being taken care of and preserved.

Počitelj

Our day of touring was capped off with a stop at the enchanting medieval town of Počitelj, at the top of a mountain. Ajla drove us to the top, and then we had time to wander around, seeing the gorgeous views and the quaint town before heading back down on rocky paths and stairs to meet up again.

We had an amazing day of touring, with everything so well coordinated and planned. Ajla left us at our hotel in Mostar after giving us a quick tour of the main parts of the Old Town.

Mostar

Mostar is home to the beautiful Stari Most bridge. Unfortunately, the original 400-year old bridge was blown up in 1993, during the conflict. It was rebuilt to be as similar to the original as possible, but of course it is never the same. We happened to be there on the anniversary of the bridge’s destruction, 9-November. We saw a lot of national pride, many Bosnian flags, and a large group throwing flowers into the river as a remembrance for victims of war.

Mostar is very picturesque, and being in the preserved Old Town was like walking through time. The stone bridges and streets, while challenging when wet, were so cool to see.

We had more amazing Bosnian food here, in really lovely restaurants. Podrum was our top favorite for their foods and ambience, and we also loved the Hotel Emen restaurant and Restoran Kaldrma, and it was just warm enough to sit outside at both of these.

After 2 nights in Mostar, our driver from Funky Tours picked us up for the three-hour ride back to Sarajevo. He was not deterred by the sleeting rain or the winding mountain roads, and while he didn’t speak much English, we all knew that he was making an attempt to break a personal record on getting us back to the capital city.

Safely back in Sarajevo, we checked into our hotel and went out for one last delicious meal in Bosnia, with baklava for dessert.

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We had a wonderful time exploring Bosnia, enjoying the Old Towns, traditional foods, and local wines, all at really great prices. Overall, the weather was good, not too cold, and only one day was truly steadily rainy. Hopefully we’ll have a chance to visit more of the Balkans soon.

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