Our first evening in Sarajevo was pleasantly cool, and cooled off even further while we waited for our food, to the extent that I actually felt cold for the first time in 3 months. We later discovered that a heat wave would arrive in 3 days, so the enjoyable temperature was short lived. The next morning we explored the old town. The centre of Sarajevo is very small – in fact the entire city is very small, perhaps the smallest capital I’ve ever visited. But it’s a very scenic old town, with a bit of a maze of alleyways lined with traditional buildings that are now restaurants and souvenir shops. We discovered that all the restaurants pretty much serve one dish only during the day, because there’s only one thing that everyone eats for lunch and that’s a sausage sandwich. This suited me perfectly, and we enjoyed blending on with the locals with our ‘cevapi’ lunch.

Afterwards we headed up the hill past the cemetery to the yellow fortress, a viewpoint offering great views of the town and surrounding hills. We pushed on even further up to the white fortress, which was more of an actual fortification, and therefore had an entrance fee, so we declined and looked at the view from just outside instead. On the way down we discovered some absolutely delicious dark chocolate ice-cream, and then retreated to the shade of our accommodation to get some work done. In the evening we explored some of the bars around town, which were all jam packed because there’s very little else to do in Sarajevo. While there were lots of cool finds, nothing beat getting our preferred beer and cider from a shop and just sitting along the riverside watching the world go by.​

The next day we took a walking tour to learn a little more about Sarajevo and Bosnian history. We walked all the same streets but this time with a bit more insight. We saw the spot where Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated, sparking WW1, and relearnt the entire story that we’d forgotten from school. We also learnt about the architect who designed the town hall to blend in with the surroundings, but did so having never actually been to Bosnia, resulting in a spectacular building that very much stands out. We almost got lost from the group buying another of the dark chocolate ice creams, and then finished up the tour learning about local desserts.

In the afternoon it was time to head to the train station, and on our way we stopped off at the tallest tower in Sarajevo and had a drink at the top floor cafe with some great views of the city. The train to Mostar also offered great views for the entire ride, through mountain tunnels and scenic valleys, with a very blue river snaking its way alongside the train tracks. We arrived into Mostar fairly late in the evening and discovered that it was absolutely jam packed with tourists. We never really intended to travel Europe in the summer, because it’s so busy and so hot, but we wanted an adventure after Egypt and before time at home, and the best route to get there took us via some cool spots that were new to both of us. So we made the most of it, but it was a much speedier itinerary than we usually like, and meant we had to deal with some huge crowds.

Despite all the people, Mostar really is beautiful. It’s very small and so can be visited easily in one day, but there are a few sights on the edge of town worth visiting if you have extra time. Unfortunately our one day in Mostar was a Sunday, which meant none of the public transport to these places was running. We tried to get a last minute day trip instead, but it was fully booked, so we simply had a very slow wander around every possible viewpoint of the town and famous bridge. We watched someone jump off, we had some drinks by the water, and we found a local brewery that had some very tasty offerings.

Thanks for following along on my crazy adventures!

 Ros ♥

If you’re interested in how I got here, or where I went next, check out the rest of the story!