Introduction to Bosnia and Herzegovina - no tourists, amazing gastronomy, cheap prices

My dear friends,

I wanna recommend you for a visit Bosnia and Herzegovina - one of the best countries where I had a chance to spend a holiday. 

Our travelling plan - 3 countries in 11 days

Croatia - Zagreb and Plitvice lakes National Park

Slovenia - Ljubljana

Bosnia and Herzegovina - Mostar, Sarajevo, hiking around Sarajevo, Visoko - pyramids, Kravica waterfalls, Blagaj Tekke, Pocitejl

Highlights

- there are no turists

- amazing and cheap gastronomy (tea: 12 CZK, in the Czech Republic more than 60 CZK, omelette for 40 CZK during the whole day, in the Czech Republic more than 100 CZK and only for breakfast)

- prices are very low (cinema: 80 CZK, in the Czech republic the price is double)

- the other half of September - very cheap accommodation, I paid for a luxury hostel in Mostar about 150 CZK per night

- we could understand some words because it´s the Slavic language

- bakeries are everywhere and open till the late night

- basically no trains but busses are generally good (the views from busses are amazing)

- busses usually don´t go usually on time

- I highly recommend you to rent a car, it´s cheap and we couldn´t get to some places if we only relied on busses

- for some reason locals love Germans cars

- water is available everywhere outside for free
- you will read everywhere that the worst thing that can happen is to step on the mine. Well, don´t believe everything you read. There is practically no chance that this could happen to you, so don´t worry
- there are no homeless, locals take care of their neighbors who can´t take care of themselves
- a country with a large number of Muslims - with all the traditions, prayers etc..

A horror story
When you travel, it can be hard sometimes. Let me share with you one "holiday story".

It all started in Plitvice bus station. There was supposed to be a night bus which goes to Mostar in Bosnia. The name of the bus company is APZ Imotski-Autoherc. Departure time was: 23:15. It was cold, during the night, dark, in the middle of nowhere, nobody was at the bus station just me and my brother. And also, I felt really sick that night. So we were waiting and waiting and waiting and the bus has just not been anywhere. So my brother started to search for some references on this bus company and we found out that it´s really terrible. Sometimes their bus just doesn´t arrive at all. I started to be a bit stresfull about it because we had no place to go. So in the middle of the night we found a guy who was working in the area - something like a night watchman of national park + another guy just came for a inspection. I asked this second guy (because the watchman didn´t speak any English) if he can find out what happened to our bus. He called his colleague (who was already sleeping) and we were told that the bus was there and already left. But we didn´t see any bus so how was it possible? All the time we were at the bus stop. Well, I was really desperate after this phone call. Like I said before, we had no place to go. Hotel was too far away, for sure too expensive and the only possibility how to get there was to follow the main road and managed about 3 km in total dark without any lights. I just wanted to cry but I was still holding because my brother was there. You could hear all those sounds of the night. We accepted the fact that we will be real homeless for 1 night. So we went inside the "bus station" (just a roof and two walls from the wood). I tried to sleep and my brother was awake. After 5 minutes the night watchman run towards to our bus station and started to scream something in Croatian. We didn´t understand but we catch the point when we saw some bus coming. It was our bus! If the nightman didn´t come we would be inside the bus station and we could never see this bus coming. The bus arrived with 2 hours delay. The front window was broken. There were 2 crazy bus drivers. After one hour we made a short stop. I throw up in front of the bus and all people. Nobody asked me if I was ok or something. After few hours we made another stop. I really needed to use a toilet. In the bus it was out of order. So I asked the bus driver and he send me to a gas station. It was really disgusting. There was a mess everywhere. When I came back to the bus first I didn´t it. It wasn´t in the same place. I almost got a heart attack. All my stuff were inside - my wallet, money, ID etc. Everything. Then I walked a bit and I noticed the bus. My brother told me that the bus driver wanted to leave and if he didn´t tell him the last second that I was still at the gas station he would just leave without me... 

And that was my first experience with Bosnia. At the beginning I wanted to cry. At the end I was really proud of myself that I managed all this. Despite this bad experience I totally fall in love with this country and I will definitely come back.

The conclusion: Every journey teach us a lesson and it´s only up to us what we will do next.


A few photos
I always go to supermarket and buy local products.

The example of cheap prices in Bosnia.

The elections.

Salep - traditional drink.

Baklava - sweet dessert.

Traditional meal -for instance Čevapčiči.

Mostar - bridge in Unesco.

Konjic - stone bridge.

Počitejl - old town.

Kravica Watterfalls.

Blagaj Tekke - monastery.

Visoko - pyramids.

Sarajevo - the capital.

I went to Bosnia and Herzegovina with my brother. Then he continued to Macedonia for some voluntary job. I will definitely come back one day and highly recommend you to go as well but please if you go by bus, check the references first.

Regards
Misa