A Three Hour Tour of Herzegovina’s Finest

I have to be honest with this one.  I did no work to plan what we’d see and not see while in Herzegovina.  The Bosnian portion of our Serbia/Bosnia trip in this past December was a fairly standard itinerary: into Sarajevo, then Mostar, and back to Sarajevo again.  In Mostar we hung around the Old Bridge, and did our best to fend off rather forceful drinking invitations from the sole two patrons of our hotel bar.  Peer pressure doesn’t always work (except when it does).

It was New Years Eve, and we’d had an absolutely magical day in Mostar – we went to bed before midnight (as we had done in Tbilisi, Georgia a year prior), as we were to wake up early (in Bosnian standards, anyway) to see some key sights around Herzegovina the next day.

Our guide met us at 8am, and didn’t seem totally thrilled to see us.  We got on fine though, after a couple of Nescafe 3 in 1’s, and were off to Blagaj, Pocitelj, and the Kravice waterfalls.

Blagaj is located quite near Mostar, and if you’re on the same cookie cutter tour we were on, you’ll go there first.  We arrived before 9, right as it opened for the day.  As it was both a holiday and early in the morning, there wasn’t another sole in sight.  The main attraction of the town is the oft-Instagrammed Blagaj Tekije, an Islamic Dervish house.  Dervishes, or practitioners of Sufi Islam known for their ascetic lifestyles, are more common than you’d imagine in the predominantly Muslim European nations of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo.  The Blagaj Tekije on its own is amazingly beautiful building, built in the 1520s, while the region was under Ottoman rule.  And while it has been restored several times, that fact does nothing to diminish its grandeur.  As we pulled up to it, the narrow road was lined with shuttered souvenir and drink stands built primarily for the wealthier day trippers from Dubrovnik or Split in Croatia.

What’s most impressive about the Tekije is its location directly next to a huge cliff face, which itself is hovering over the source of the Buna River.  The water is pure, and from a vantage point across the river (you have to walk through an additional spur of restaurants to get to the trail), it’s a ridiculously easy feat to capture that picture you’ve seen on everyone’s Pinterest boards.

So I’m waxing poetic, but my real opinion of the place is more complex.  I imagine the summertime, when all of the kiosks are open and hawking, and hundreds of tourists on package tours cycling through the space…Let’s just say, I’m really happy to have visited Blagaj (even Mostar, really) in the tourist hibernation period.  I think had I been surrounded by selfie sticks, I would have had a different experience.

From there we went to Pocitelj, the world’s cutest hillside Ottoman fortified town!  Again, we were the only folks there.  David and I tend to start early and move quickly – we rarely stop for more than an hour at a given attraction, and Herzegovina fit this model.  We wandered around the ramparts, shot photos from points that seemed made for the express purpose of stock travel photography, played with some kitties, and paid respects at the town’s mosque before hopping back in our car.  Then came the same drive of shame as at Blagaj – the one with the tens of shuttered souvenir shops on each side of the access road.

Our guide had warmed up to us by now and was giving us the scoop on the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina.  He was happy about the increased foreign direct investment, primarily from Saudi Arabia, but was worried of what would happen to his country (Herzegovina specifically) if investors started forcing locals to less desirable locations.  And what could happen if Bosnia and Herzegovina crumpled under pressure to become a more Orthodox Islamic state as opposed to a secular one. 

Oh right.  We stopped at the Kravice Waterfalls (think Plitvice National Park in Croatia – but in the winter with no tourists, and you’ll get the gist) too, but it didn’t leave much of an impression.  We were sleepy and anxious to get a bus back to Sarajevo earlier than later.

Herzegovina almost reminded me of Tallinn’s and Tbilisi’s Old Towns – they felt polished and new…and dare I say artificial?  Clearly the place is benefitting and profiting from more mainstream/mass tourism coming from Croatia (and increasingly from inside Bosnia, as it gains more attention in travel media), but I couldn’t help but feel like part of the whole things was a put on.  Regardless, as I’ve said before, I can’t claim ownership of how places decide to market themselves.  It’s not up to me, and if some mild sterilization for mass consumption is helping the society in total, then it’s an absolutely wonderful thing.  The fear comes from places that became too big too quick; places like Angkor Wat, Machu Picchu, and Ko Phi Phi.  The fear that what’s profitable in the short term will cause irreversible damage.  

So there I was again, with full blown hipster traveler angst.  If you’re in Herzegovina (and I think you should go – the area is one of the most geographically beautiful and culturally interesting spots we’ve been to in recent history), see for yourself.  I’m probably just being an asshole about it.

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It’s remarkably cheap and easy to get around Herzegovina with a driver.  Ours was arranged by our Hotel, the lovely Villa Anri, in the thick of things in Mostar’s Stari Grad.  We were there over New Years, and while Mostar was still relatively crowded, both Blagaj and Pocitelj were devoid of other tourists.  Our driver from 8am to 1pm cost 30 USD, and he took us wherever we wanted to go.  Another interesting spot we didn’t make it to is the holy site of Medugorje – site of a Virgin Mary sighting by some kids back in the 80s.  I imagine the site is kind of similar to the Hill of Crosses in Lithuania: kitschy and religious.  A driver could easily take you there on a half day tour of Herzegovina.

I can’t speak to what the area would be like in peak season.  But let’s just say my social anxiety spidey sense tingles just thinking about it.