Day Eleven: Bosnia
Woke at 5:45am for this Bosnia trip. I felt like I had barely slept. The hostel room had only one bathroom and it was located in the room so every time the light went on I was woken. But alas, I am a morning person. So I went to the bakery around the corner at 6:05, grabbed 4 croissants and a coffee and brought them to my sleepy gal pals for breakfast.
We tried to get an Uber but one never came, so began our 20 minute walk to the meeting point for this bus tour. I didn’t know what to expect, I hadn’t done much research, instead I tagged along for the ride to another country.
Our first stop was about an hour and a half ride to a town called Počitelj. It was a medieval town with a beautiful view. We hiked up to a lookout point. Super pretty and old looking. Old lady was selling some fresh fruit on the street and supposedly some pomegranate juice. I bought a bottle but I think we were played…it definitely did not taste like fresh juice, pretty sure it was quite watered down.
Before leaving, stopped in a cafe for a Turkish coffee. I’ve never had one before and wow! I’m obsessed! Also obsessed with the Turkish delight candies. Must find this locally asap.
Back on the bus, drove (and slept) a little more to the main city/town, Mostar. What a beautiful place and SO different than Croatia. It felt surprisingly different with so much more of a Turkish influence due to Ottomans ruling this part of the country in the past. Everyone was in love with the stone streets and winding River. We did a walking tour, then had lunch with a beautiful view and delicious food for a much lower price than in Croatia too. Cevapi (Bosnian sausage), stuffed grape leaves, potatoes, and stuffed cabbage.
(Side note: trying to understand 4 currencies at once is really rough—8 Croatian kuna, is 2 Bosnian marks, is 1 euro and who knows how much usd…)
After lunch, I wandered around, bought a magnet, a dress, and a gelato that was so bad I threw it away. No point in wasting calories.
Final stop was the Kratvice waterfalls for a swim. It was hot on the bus by then so I was ready to swim. The waterfalls were beautiful! However we were so spoiled by the warm clear water of the Adriatic sea! This water was much colder and a little murky from the sand as opposed to rocks. I went in for a short while but then felt nervous about leaving our bags unattended so I grabbed a cider and sat with the bags and took in the beautiful falls.
Two hour ride back to Split, read a little but talked more. Arrived back feeling hungry, we split up between getting burek, salad, or poke bowl. My poke bowl was truly beyond delicious. We sat on a step and listened to piano music while we ate. Really eating was just a pre-cursor to returning to the gelato place that we loved the night before.
The line was SO long but so worth it! I had cheesecake on the bottom and Ricotta Fig on top. I so badly want to like the ricotta fig butttttt it’s just not my flavor. I powered through it to get to the cheesecake gelato. It was so so good and a perfect ending to the night before our trek back to the hostel.
