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Bosnia & Hercegovina HIGHLIGHTS Sarajevo Explore the vibrant cafe-filled heart of this very ‘human’ capital ( p137 ) Mostar Survey the picturesque Ottoman old town from the iconic bridge ( p144 ) Adrenalin overload Raft from Foča ( p147 ), go canyoning beyond historic Jajce ( p143 ), ski

at Jahorina ( p139 ) or quad-bike at Bjelašnica ( p139 ) Off-the-beaten track Trailblaze the ‘alternative route’ to Dubrovnik from Mostar or Sara-

jevo via Trebinje ( p146 )

Undiscovered Bosnia and Hercegovina (BiH) is a land of seemingly endless mountains etched with canyons whose rivers provide world-class rafting. Around fascinating Sarajevo Olympic-quality slopes offer some of Europe’s best-value skiing. Lively cafes fill Ottoman-era old town and add to the super-quaint atmosphere of Mostar, one of Eastern Europe’s delights. Though there are some post-Soviet monstrosities, the majority of Bosnian towns are lovably small affairs wrapped around medieval castle ruins. A few lingering scars remain from the heartbreaking societal haemorrhag-ing of the ’90s but BiH has largely regained its once-famed religious tolerance. Rebuilt churches, mosques and synagogues once again huddle together, rekindling an intriguing East-meets-West atmosphere born of Bosnia’s fascinating Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian histories. BiH offers a great sense of discovery, of real personal interaction and of very fair value-for-money that’s all too rare in 21st-century Europe. Many visitors stay longer than they’d planned.

© Lonely Planet Publications

FAST FACTS

Area 51,129 sq km

Budget 65KM per day

Capital Sarajevo

Country code %387

Famous for Mostar’s Stari Most, Franz Ferdinand’s 1914 assassination, U2’s ‘Miss Sarajevo’

Languages Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian

Money convertible mark (KM); A$1 = 1.08KM; C$1 = 1.23KM; €1 = 1.95KM; ¥100 = 1.54KM; NZ$1 = 0.85KM; UK£1 = 2.20KM; US$1 = 1.45KM

Phrases zdravo (hello), doviđenja (see you later), molim (please), hvala (thanks)

Population 4.59 million

Visas no visa needed for citizens of the EU, Australia, New Zealand, the US and Canada; see p148

TRAVEL HINTS

Try BiH’s under-appreciated wines (www.wineroute.ba), especially Hercegovina’s rich red Blatina. Some restaurants’ domaći (house) wine costs only 12KM per litre carafe.

ROAMING BOSNIA & HERCEGOVINA

Visit Mostar then Sarajevo from coastal Croatia, cross to Jajce and consider summer rafting between there and Banja Luka.

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l o n e l y p l a n e t . c o m B O S N I A & H E R C E G O V I N A • • H i s t o r y

HISTORY Ancient Illyrians, followed by Romans from AD 9 and Slavs from the late 6th century were Bosnia’s early arrivals. The medi-eval Bosnian kingdom had its own rather mysterious Christian Church and reached several cultural zeniths between 1180 and 1463. Thereafter the area was absorbed by the Turkish Ottoman Empire. Islam rapidly became the predominant religion of Bosnia’s elite, though much of the peasantry remained Christian.

After 1878, BiH became controlled by pre-dominantly Catholic Austria-Hungary. This alienated Muslim Bosniaks and Orthodox Serbs, and in 1914 a Bosnian Serb assas-sinated Austria-Hungary’s imperial heir,

Franz Ferdinand, in Sarajevo. This ultimately ignited WWI, which killed an astonishing 15% of the Bosnian population. Postwar BiH joined proto-Yugoslavia and in WWII its mountains were the scene of numerous battles between Nazi occupiers and Tito’s Communist Partizans.

In 1991 BiH’s Croats and Bosniaks united to declare independence from Serb-dominated Yugoslavia. In reply Bosnian-Serb nation-alists started seizing territory and ‘ethnic cleansing’ Muslims from the north and east. By 1992 a three-way war was raging between Serbs, Croats and Bosniaks. Atrocities were committed by all sides. Most infamously, Croats senselessly destroyed Mostar’s Old Bridge while Bosnian Serbs besieged Sarajevo

RadimljaNecropolis

Batrovci

Trbusnica

Ljubovija

Kotroman

Gorica-VinjaniDonji

Tara Canyon

Š™epan

BronzaniMajdan

Slavi™kaOmarska

Lamovita

Podmiladøje

Jahorina(1913m)Bjelašnica

(2067m)

BobotovKuk

(2523m)

ŠolkaBraø

Hvar

Korøula

Mt Magliø(2387m)

Hutovo BlatoWetlands

Mljet NP

PlitviceLakes

NP

KozaraNP

Durmitor NP

BijambarskCaves

Visoko

Tito'sCave

Vlašiø

Øitluk

Jajce

Bugojno

Kupres

Jablanica

Poøitelj

BlagajMe‹ugorje

Neum

Ploøe

Pale Višegrad

Orašje

Vodice

Primošten

SolinImotski

Makarska

Brela

Omiš

Supetar

Bol

Stari GradHvar

Vis

Vela LukaKorøula

Orebi™

Sobra

Cavtat

Kotor

Gracac

Vel Kladuša

Otok

NovskaHrvatskaKostajnica

Bosanska Dubica Davor

Mrkonjic-Grad

Kljuø

BosanskiPetrovac

Bosansko Grahovo

Glamoø

KotorVaroš

Vareš

Banovi™i

Kladanj

Modriøa

Drvar

Sanski Most

Tomina

Maglaj

Fojnica

Tomislav Grad

Šuica

Letka

PosušjeŠirokiBrijeg

Nevesinje

Stolac

Bile™a

Olovo

Ivanica

Rogatica

Š™epan Polje

Sitnica

BosnanskaRaøa

Ður‹evicaTara

Æabljak

Mojkovac

ErdevikŠvarmac

Srebrenik

Gradaøac

Tešanj

BosanskaKostajnica

Cazin

OtokaBosanska

Novi Grad(Bosanski Novi)

Kostela

Klokot

OrlijaniGolubi™

Sokolac

ŠtrcaøkiBuk

Kulen-Vakuf

Jezero

Švipovo

Podrašnica

Karanovac

Krupa

Prusac Lisac

DonjiVakuf

RostovoSte™ci

Vranduk

Bratunac

MokraGora

RudaUstipraøa

River

Tjentište

Zavala

Ravno KoteziLjubinje

DaorsonArchaeologicalPark

RotimljaLjubuški

Umoljani

KraljevaSutjeska

Gunja

MtVeleÅ

Smajki™i(PodveleÅ)

Bara™i Pogar

Lukomir

Glavatiøevo

Kozarac

Trebinje

HercegNovi

Pljevlja

Metkovi™

NovaGradiška

DakovoBaøka

Palanka

Prijedor

Sinj

Derventa

Loznica

Sabac

Zvornik

Priboj

BosanskaKrupa

ŠidÆupanjaBosanska

Gradiška

GoraÅde

Foøa

Konjic

Vlasenica

Srebrenica

Gacko

Knin

Livno

Æepøe

IlidÅa

Strizivojna-Vrpolje

Šabi™i

Mostar

Zenica

Tuzla

Cetinje

Nikši™

Dubrovnik

VinkovciVukovar

Biha™

Šibenik

Doboj

Brøko

Bijeljina

Travnik

SremskaMitrovica

KakanjBobovac

Split

Banja Luka

Podgorica

SlavonskiBrod

Sarajevo

KraviceWaterfalls

GomionicaMonastery

SrebrenikCastle

Eko-Centar

ZelenkovacEco-village

Dobrun

TvrdošMonastery

Øapljina

Sutjeska NP

GuøaGora

ADRIATIC SEA

BOSNIA &HERCEGOVINA

SERBIA

MONTENEGRO

CROATIA

CROATIA

ALBANIA

CROATIA

OstroÅac

PlivaLakes

Tara

Lonja

Kanal

Tolisa

Luko

vacSpreca

Cotina

Trebišnjica

Una

River

River

River

Riv

er

Sava

Vrba

s

Bos

na

Drina

River

Nere tva

River

Riv

erSa

na

River

Rive

r

M17

M17

E73

E761

E761

E661

E661

M17

M19.3

M18

NoviTravnik

M20

M6

BOSNIA & HERCEGOVINA 0 80 km0 40 miles

135

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