Tom`s travels: Hike from Bobovica to Boračko Jezero and Konjic (05-06/07/2025)

Ania and I took the tram from Sarajevo city center to Ilidža, and once there, a local bus in the direction of Tušila. Right before the end line, we asked the bus driver to drop us off along the road at the start of a trail just after the Rakitnica canyon. We got off and started walking uphill in the direction of Bobovica. Unfortunately, the trail marked on the map was factually nonexistent as the grass was overgrown and impossible to find. We cut through a field and then reached the unpaved main road, which we followed all the way to reach the village of Bobovica. Once there, a large dog that was lying in front of a house got up and decided to follow us and walk alongside us. As we walked through the village, a second dog noticed us and started barking, but then decided to join us as well. We left the village with the two dogs alongside us and started following a trail, this time a little easier to spot through the overgrown grass. Eventually, the second dog gave up and decided to return to Bobovica, while the first one still came along as we made our descent. The way was steep and narrow, heading down the cliffside and into the Rakitnica canyon. We struggled in some spots due to the loose stones on the trail, while the dog always seemed to find an easier alternative and would just look at us and wait. We tried telling him to go back, but he still kept going. Eventually, nearly at the bottom of the trail, the dog decided to head back to the village, but we had walked quite a while, and that meant he needed to travel rather far for it. At the bottom of the trail, we crossed a wooden bridge over the Rakitnica, which was quite wobbly and missing a few planks as well. Once on the other side, we sat under a tree and had a short break to rest and have a snack. After that, it was time to start our ascent. The trail first went through a bit of forest, and as we headed up left the forest behind, and grassland with sparse trees and rocky landscape gave way. As we followed the trail, we eventually joined the main trail heading into Lukomir, which we reached shortly after. Here we decided to have a break and have a drink at a place called Kod Kapetana. After that, we got back to walking and followed a trail heading out of the village and eastwards along the mountainside. As we ascended, we reached a rocky ridgeline, which we followed until we got to a forested area. We decided to stop and sit under a tree to take a break and eat the lunch we had brought with us. After that, we got back on our feet and continued walking along the ridgeline, with the Rakitcnica canyon ever present down below to our left. We were now following a trail which we had previously walked on, passing the peaks of Mali Lisac, Veliki Lisac, and Markovac, before eventually reaching the sparse hamlet of Blace over the Blatačko Lake. We continued eastwards along the relatively flat and open plateau of this part of the Bjelašnica mountain range. Apart from the village of Lukomir, we hadn't encountered one single human being during the whole hike, and it was quite a strange feeling, but very nice and liberating. As we progressed further, we got into even more remote territory, and in fact, the trail started being a little tougher and harder to spot due to the overgrowth. We decided to take another break, and at one point, after setting down the backpacks, Ania noticed something on the upper part, thinking she also saw a tongue. I immediately knew what it was without looking and quickly grabbed a stick, telling her to back away from it. I prodded with my stick and pushed the viper out, which luckily decided to scamper away into the grass. We immediately thought how it was possible that a viper got into her backpack and imagined it had been when we had stopped for lunch over two hours before. We were lucky it just curled up and stayed still inside, but it could've gone bad if either of us had put her hand inside to grab something. Happy that nothing had happened, we started our descent through a forest and could see in the distance the barren range of the Crvanj mountain. After a while, we then approached the remote village of Dubočani, but there wasn't anyone around. We tried following a path for a bit, but found it led nowhere and disappeared in tall grass and forest. We headed back a bit and then found a better way through the forest, but this time heading back uphill. We followed it and walked among a ridgeline steep above the Rakitnica canyon to our left and the Neretva to our right. The trail was rocky and barely visible at times, and the way was quite tough, but the views were amazing, and there were just the two of us. That last thought, though, came a bit to worry us, as if something happened, it would be hard to find and get to us. We proceeded cautiously despite being way slower than expected and having walked around many kilometers and many hours with still quite some way left ahead of us. As we made our way down the forest-covered but rocky terrain, I started feeling a bit strange and decided to stop for a second. Shortly after, I felt dizzy and a bit nauseous and quickly asked Ania for help to keep my legs straight up. It helped a lot, and I decided to keep them lifted against a tree for a bit before finally slowly getting up. I had been drinking lots of water all day, but didn't realize that I had needed food too, and the normal lunch plus the small snack was not enough for the heat and many hours of walking. I never experienced such a thing, and it was a bit strange. Luckily, we still had a little piece of bread left, and that helped with some extra sugar. I told myself for next time to have a few energy bars with me just in case. After getting back to walking, we started descending down a sandy, slippery hillside until we reached the banks of the Rakitnica River. Here we crossed over a bridge and then continued hiking on to reach the small village of Kašići. It was rather late already, and the sunset was soon approaching with still a few kilometers left. We decided to try our luck with a man who had just parked his car and was tending his garden. Once he came out and headed for his car, we asked him if he was gonna drive down towards the main road; he said yes and then agreed to take us with him after asking if that could be possible. In the end, after talking a bit with him, he decided to drive us all the way to Boračko and dropped us off on the main road right above the lake and village. A short walk, still with some daylight left, eventually led us to the settlement, where we then looked for a place to sleep. We ended up staying at the Konoba Boračko jezero, where we also had dinner. Finally, after 32km and a plentiful dinner, we headed to sleep.

The next morning, we decided to spend a bit of time enjoying the lake. We headed to the nearby small beach on the northeastern side of the lake and laid out our towels close to the waterfront. The lake sits at about 400m above sea level and was formed from glacial erosion, and sits in a beautiful valley surrounded by tall green mountains. I had a swim in its refreshing green/blue waters and swam across its width to the other side. Once back at the beach, we lay there for a little longer and then decided to leave. The few beaches on its northern shore were quite full by the time we left, as it's a popular place in the area. We left the village, heading up to the main road, and tried seeing if we could catch a bus. However, there were no buses running on that day, so I told Ania we could try and hitchhike. After about 10 minutes and very few cars passing, a car with two guys stopped to pick us up. We told them we were heading in the direction of Konjic, and they agreed to take us in as they were heading that way. We first spoke Bosnian, but then found out they both spoke German, one of them having worked there for a while. Along the way, they wished to stop to fill up water at one of the springs, but a stray dog was lying in front, and they were afraid to approach it. Ania then went to fill everyone's bottles, and the dog didn't even flinch. Eventually reaching the town of Konjic, we offered to pay them at least for gas, but they didn't want it and just wished us good luck and goodbye. Once in town, we decided to have lunch there and explore a little before taking a bus to Sarajevo. We headed through the city center and reached the town's main attraction, the Stara Ćuprija, or old bridge. Built between 1682 and 1683 by Ali-aga Hasečić, this six-arched bridge is a nice example of Ottoman architecture in the region. It was damaged during WWII by the retreating German army, with most of the arches collapsed, but all five piers survived. A makeshift deck of iron beams laid across the piers supporting a one-lane tarmac for motorized vehicle traffic was used as a temporary solution, which in the end lasted for more than five decades, even after the Bosnian War. Eventually, thanks to European financial assistance, the bridge was fully rebuilt to its original Ottoman style in 2009. As we walked across it, we passed by the Čaršija Mosque built around the 16th century and then reached the Hotel Konak, where we decided to stop to have lunch. We sat on one of the tables set along the waterfront and admired the nice scenery of the Neretva River flowing right by us and the old bridge nearby as well. I had a nice trout, while Ania had a salad. After lunch, we continued on our stroll passing by the 17th-century Tekke Mosque, with a rounded cupola, right by the river, and then the 16th-century Prkanj Mosque with a traditional Bosnian sloped roof. Not too far ahead, we then passed the orthodox church of St. Basil the Great, dating to the end of the 19th century, while on the other side of the river, we could also spot the catholic church of St. John the Baptist, also from the same period. After the nice walk around town, it was time to head to catch our bus. We reached the bus stop, which is just a large space in the center of town along the main street between Mostar and Sarajevo. Here we saw other people waiting, but after quite some time, we started worrying as no bus was coming. Time passed, and despite the traffic, we thought maybe something was wrong with the bus or the schedule. We started asking the other people standing who also said they were going on the same bus. We tried calling the company in English, and the others called in Bosnian, and we both got the same answer: the bus hadn't left Mostar, and we would need to wait 1h30 for the next one. We saw one from the same company coming from Split and heading to Sarajevo, and we tried stopping it, but it didn't even slow down. There was quite a lot of traffic, and I started doubting that even if we waited for the next bus, it would arrive on time or would even have seats available for all those waiting. Again, I told Ania our best bet would be to hitchhike; there was just that one road all the way to Sarajevo, so we were bound to find someone eventually. A family of about eight Indian tourists who had also been waiting there asked if it was common to have these problems with buses, and we told them it was actually the first time taking the bus from there, so we couldn't say. They resolved to order two taxis for them, which would cost them over 200 marks in total. We, on the other hand, managed in just a few minutes to get a car to stop and pick us up. We saw the Indians still waiting and waved at them, at which point they laughed and told us, as we passed by, that we probably would get back before them. The driver who picked us up was a friendly older guy who only spoke Bosnian and told us he had been swimming in Lake Jablanica and was heading back home in the direction of Sarajevo. We had a bit of a conversation, and along the way, he even stopped to get a cake for his family. He dropped us off in the town of Hadžići, not too far from our final destination, from where we were then hoping to catch a local train or bus to Sarajevo. Just as we were asking for information at one of the restaurants there about the bus, we saw it driving right past us. The guy at the restaurant told us the next one would be in an hour, so I again resolved to resort to hitchhiking. We headed to the main roundabout in town, on the main street to Sarajevo, and a couple of minutes later, another car stopped for us. This time it was a younger man with a nice SUV who spoke English and told us he worked in constructing relief housing for people in calamity zones, and he had just come back from the area near Jablanica, which in the previous fall had suffered heavy floods. We talked for a bit, and he showed me the collection of Real Madrid t-shirts he has at home, having been interviewed by news outlets, as it's supposedly the largest collection of that soccer team's jerseys in the Balkans. We told him he could easily just drop us off in Ilidža, as it was close to his place, and we could then just take a tram or even taxi from there. In the end, he asked us where we lived and decided to drive us all the way to our front door, and we couldn't believe his generosity. We thanked him so much and again offered to at least pay for his gas, but as any other Bosnian, he wouldn't have it any other way and just wished us good luck. We were tired but happy about that adventurous trip and ate a nice dinner before falling asleep.