Sarajevo to Jahorina and back (02-03/08/2025)

Ania and I decided to plan a long-distance hike starting from Sarajevo. We opted to walk towards Jahorina mountain and either come back by taxi or sleep there. We started out by taking the cable car from the city center up to Trebevic. Once at the top, we followed the road running along the northern ridgeline of the mountain and reached Brus, an area with tourist facilities and being built up to further attract tourism. Here we tried leaving the main road and taking a path first among some houses and later through a forest, but it ended up being a non-existent path, only on the map, and very steep up the mountainside. We decided to give up and instead found a spot to sit down and have lunch. Then Ania thought she preferred to head back home and let me continue on the walk alone. We reached the main road, where she then continued straight to get back to the cable car, while I headed south to continue on the journey.  I briefly followed the main road and then, after passing the Celina mountain hut, took a forest trail. It soon turned into the forest, large and clearly marked; it was easy to follow, and there was no one else in sight. After exiting the forest, I reached another road, this seemingly freshly asphalted, as it had dark cement. I passed through the sparse village of Stupanj and then took another country road past a semi-abandoned house where some dogs were chained and started barking at me. I managed to pass around and reached the run-down and crumbling former Energoinvest mountain hut. Here I took a break and ate a snack while admiring the view of Trebevic mountain already in the distance. After the break, I continued on my walk following the path, which once again headed through the forest. The first few kilometers were along a wide path, a bit through the forest and a bit through open flowering fields. Then the path became less trodden, hard to spot among the high grass, and eventually went through deeper forest. After a bit of struggling to find my way, I managed to exit the forest and reach the Dvorista settlement, part of the Jahorina mountain resort. A short walk along the main road eventually led me to the mountain village of Jahorina. The town is mostly known during the winter as it's where the Jahorina ski resort is located, which hosted the women's alpine skiing events of the 1984 Winter Olympics. Today, it is the most developed ski resort in the country, with many rental apartments. During the summer, despite still a few visitors, it looked quite empty compared to the winter. As I arrived, I decided to check into the apartment which I had booked after lunchtime, Apartman Ice Age, leave a few things, and then continue hiking to its highest peak. After restarting the walk, I followed a path through the village and then started walking on what is a slope during the winter, alongside the poles of the gondola lift. After a first uphill climb, I continued upwards and eventually reached the top of the Jahorina mountain range, on the Ogorjelica peak at 1916m. This was also where one of the gondola lifts ended, allowing people to use it to walk around the peak easily without making much effort. I walked around the top, admiring the nice views all around me. To the north, the whole ski resort with its many slopes, now obviously grassy, and the gondola lifts scattered here and there. To the west, Trebevic mountain, and Bjelasnica, and to the south and east, the mountains of Treskavica, Zelengora, and even partly Maglic. Sunset was soon approaching, and I admired the beautiful view with no one around. I then headed back towards the peak and saw that the mountain hut restaurant seemed still open. I headed inside to see if I could get something, but they told me they were just closing. I thus decided to head back down to the village and saw the gondola lift still working. I managed to sneak in and catch a lift without having to walk all the way down. Once down, I then looked for a place to eat and ended up choosing the Etno Restoran Koliba. I had a schnitzel and beer and then headed back to the apartment to sleep, even though I had to hike a bit up a ski slope and partly through the forest.

The next morning after an early rise, I left Jahorina, silent and without anyone around, and headed along the main road. I followed for quite a while, nearly all the way to the town of Pale, but as it was early, there weren't many cars using it yet. I eventually left the main road and passed through the small village of Radonjici before eventually reaching the edge of the town of Pale. Here I passed some houses and then arrived at the start of the path that connects Pale to Sarajevo, built over what was once the railway connecting the two towns through the Miljacka Canyon. The path had been used for a long time but was quite wild and had broken-down bridges along the way. Nowadays, a new project to turn it into a tourist cycle path has started with plans to pave it, rebuild the bridges, and install barriers alongside it. I started following the path, which for now is still made of small loose rocks, and went through the first of many tunnels, completely unlit and fun to traverse. Here I could see already the first barriers being installed in a short section, which I thought was taking away the beauty and natural state of the path. A short way ahead, I then reached what looked like a bridge under construction. Apparently, the old wooden bridge that was once there had been torn down, and a new metal one was being built. However, just the foundations were laid, with metal poles and large gaps in between, just barely covered by wobbly wooden planks. There was no other way around it, and I stopped to consider whether to head back or try it. At first, I thought I would easily manage, but as I was crossing over the planks, with the wooden pieces wobbling, I suddenly felt a bit of vertigo, which I had never experienced before, and my legs got shaky and heavy. I had no barriers on either side to hold on to to give me extra balance, and there were large gaps right below me which I could've easily fallen through. I managed to push myself forward and eventually cross the bridge. As I continued further, I passed by a nice section with views over the surrounding high cliffs and the river canyon below. I passed two more bridges, these ones already completed, and a long section sided by barriers, which took away from the natural beauty in my opinion. Then I reached a nice section with a series of tunnels and a steep cliff over the canyon. A short while after, I met the first people of the day, two cyclists who stopped to ask me how much further the trail was. I told them a few kilometers, but that it might then be hard to cross the bridge with their bicycles. They thanked me and told me they would reach it and then turn back. I moved on, and after a while, the path was again without barriers, this time in a more open area a little further away from the canyon. In front of me, I could now see Trebevic mountain, which meant I was quite close to Sarajevo. I started seeing more and more people along the way, all on bicycles and all heading towards Pale. After some more time walking, the path turned into an asphalt road which eventually led me to Šejhova Korija, a turbe located on the top of the hill with two dervish tombstones. It was used by Sufis as a gathering place, which also used a nearby cave for their 40-day-long solitude practice. From here, I also had a nice view of the Miljacka valley below. Moving on, a short walk led me to the Goat's Bridge, a 16th-century Ottoman stone bridge spanning the Miljacka River, and the only fully preserved bridge from the Ottoman period that still spans that river. After crossing it, I then followed a nice path along a flat valley called Dariva, passing by a popular rock climbing area. From there on the way is known as Ambassadors' Alley as ambassadors, serving in Bosnia and Herzegovina as high officials of their representative countries or major international organizations, get an opportunity to plant a linden tree during their mission and in front of every planted linden tree, a stone plate is installed containing the ambassador's name, country or international organization that they represent. In total nowadays there are over 200 planted trees and stone plates. I had fun walking along and reading the plates of each ambassador and eventually reached the city center of Sarajevo in the Bentbaša neighborhood. At that point a walk through the center brought me eventually back home after 63km over two days.

The view over Sarajevo

The area around the Celina mountain hut

The former Energoinvest mountain hut

The trail towards Jahorina

Deep in the forest

Jahorina

The upper gondola

The view of the surrounding mountains

Sunset

On the way to Pale

The bridge being rebuilt

The trail along the Miljacka canyon

One of the many tunnels

A ruined building

View of the canyon

The Šejhova Korija

The Goat's Bridge

The Miljacka in Sarajevo

Zelengora (26/07/2025)

With one of the hiking clubs of Sarajevo, we took a day trip to the Zelengora mountain range. We left early with a small group and after a few hours' drive, passed the town of Kalinovik. From there, we left the main road, drove along a dirt road, and after a while, we eventually reached a group of houses where we parked the van and began our hike. A dog from one of the houses decided to follow us and would not leave us for the entirety of the hike, ending up walking for much more than we did, as he was often gone and running around at every spot. The landscape was typical of these parts of the Dinaric Alps, an endless plateau covered in already yellowish grassland, mixed with rocky terrain and barely any trees. We followed a path marked by a country road through the grassland and passed some ruined buildings, once probably used by local farmers and shepherds. After the rather monotonous landscape, we reached an area with a small valley sided by rocky hilltops with a few trees here and there. Close by, we then reached the Kladopoljsko Jezero, a 250m long and 100m wide lake located at an altitude of 1,380 meters. It is quite a small lake and with a low depth, but a rarity in these parts, and picturesquely set, surrounded by rocky faces. The surface was covered by lots of algae and plants, a sign of the hot weather. After the short break, we continued our walk and avoided a group of bulls hanging close by. A short way ahead, we then stopped at a spot where the guide told the group there was a small spring from which to refill our water bottles. We continued along the path, walking through the nice valley until we reached a small saddle opening up to a vast landscape with a small plateau filled with trees, and around it, rocky hilltops. We started walking around the plateau and heading slightly uphill. Eventually, the grassland gave way to mostly kartsic rocky landscape where we had to watch out where we put our feet not to sprain our ankles. The landscape was mostly gray with the yellow grass in between. As we continued, we headed up a ridgeline and eventually came to a halt, where we decided to have a break and eat lunch. At that point, we had one last climb to reach the Drhtar peak; part of the group decided to stay down at the lunch spot while the rest, including me, headed up to the peak, leaving our backpacks behind. The hike up was unmarked, steep, through rocky terrain, and the typical short bushy mountain pine, hard to pass through. We eventually made it to the top, with the dog still following closely, from where we had a great 360-degree view. Despite the haze due to the heat, we could still make out lots of mountains and peaks all around us. From there, we then headed back the way we came and rejoined with the rest of the group. We then started our hike back to the start, taking a different path this time, heading down the rocky mountainside. We passed some nice, blossoming flowers, yellow, purple, and pink, and then reached a basin with a large, beautiful patch of purple flowers. Continuing on, we then reached another valley where we met a herd of bulls, not sure if a new one or the previous one, which we again avoided walking around at a distance. We then passed a small forest and eventually rejoined the trail that we had taken on the way up. We continued further, passing yet again next to the lake and then through the wide plateau covered in endless grassland. We eventually arrived back at the starting point after around 25km and more than 1200m of uphill climb. 

The barren landscape of Zelengora

Abadoned farming buildings

The Kladopoljsko Jezero

View of the lake

Picturesque valley

A solitary forest in a plateau

Blooming flowers

View from the top of the Drhtar peak

More blooming flowers

Some cows and bulls

The friendly dog who followed us all along the hike

View of the barren landscape

Neum (12-13/07/2025)

For the weekend, we decided to head to Neum, Bosnia's only town by the sea. As we had seen, buses took quite a long time to get there, so we arranged a transfer with a local company, hoping to get there fast without traffic. For the way back, we were told we would then be given a ticket for the bus so that we could leave later instead of in the morning. Once we got picked up, the driver said we had to pick up another couple, but didn't seem to know the correct address, as we first stopped on the wrong side of town before eventually driving to the correct location. Just like that, we had lost over half an hour. Then we had to drive to another place to get the bus tickets for the return, from a random man, and then had to stop at a convenience store to get cigarettes for the other passengers. Eventually, after leaving the city and quite some driving, we reached the seaside, nearly one hour later than expected. Once there, we were able to check into our accommodation already and then decided to look for a place to eat as it was already lunchtime. We opted for the Restaurant Laguna, where I had a mixed fish platter, with mussels, fried fish, anchovies, octopus salad, and crab paste, while Ania had a shopska salata. After lunch, we headed down towards the waterfront, characterized by a rocky coast filled with apartments on the eastern side and some stone beaches here and there on the western side. We opted to walk along the pavement of the waterfront and found a tiny shaded spot on a low wall with some grass to lie on. We stayed there for most of the afternoon, reading a book, taking a nap, and then having a few swims in between. After quite some time there, we then got up, left the place, and walked a bit along the waterfront, before then heading uphill back to our accommodation. We took a shower, changed clothes, and then, after enjoying the nice sunset view from the terrace, headed out for dinner. We opted for the Humska kuća restaurant, where we shared a huge fish platter with gilt-head breams, mussels, scampi, and squid with the addition of potatoes and spinach. I had additionally ordered a busara risotto with scampi together with the other platter, which turned out to be too much, so I just ate the fish and left most of the risotto. After dinner, we had a stroll through town, on the lower part, at the waterfront, and the place was packed with people, especially families and young ones. We got a Nutella crepe as dessert from one of the stands and then walked along the shore, admiring the nice view of the bright lights reflecting on the water. At one point, a beautiful full moon started rising from behind the hilltops covered in buildings, and we stayed to admire it for a bit. 

The next morning, we woke up early and, after checking out, decided to head to the western part of town. We had spotted a nice spot along the waterfront the night before, and once there, asked for the price of two sunbeds and an umbrella. It turned out to be less than 10 euros, and we spent the rest of the day there, on a stone platform right by the water. Once in a while, with just a few steps, we were swimming in the nice, clear waters. After some relaxing, reading, and swimming, we decided to grab something for lunch. We opted for a restaurant just next to where we were staying, called Kouzina, where I had black ravioli with fish filling. After lunch, we went back to our sunbeds to relax some more and continue reading. I also took a few swims here and there and enjoyed our last hours at the beach. When it was time to go, we got our stuff and headed uphill to reach the bus station. We waited for the bus to arrive and then got on, took our seats, and journeyed back to Sarajevo. We stopped a couple of times along the way, but the journey did not take longer than the transfer on the way there, so we were happy about that. 

The bay of Neum

The waterfront

The main beach

Sunser from the accommodation

Beautiful sunset

Neum by night

View of the Pelješac Bridge

View of Neum from the accommodation

The main beach seen from above

Our small spot along the waterfront

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.

On the way to the village of Bobovica

View towards Bjelašnica

The village of Bobovica

Leaving the village

The Rakitnica canyon

Crossing the canyon

View of the canyon

Looking back towards Lukomir

The whole Rakitnica canyon looking westward

A nice forest along the way

The end of the canyon

Along the crest

Crossing the river

Around the village of Kašići

Boračko Lake

Konjic

The Stara Ćuprija

The Neretva river

The Prkanj Mosque