Luka Esenko's blog » Bosnia and Herzegovina

The bridge on Drina

Luka — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 23:19:21 +0000

The Bridge on the Drina is the Nobel Prize winning novel written by Ivo Andric, Yugoslavian writer. The story is about the life in a small town of Visegrad in Eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina. The novel begins its story in sixteen century when the famous bridge was built by Turkish Grand Vizir Mehmet Pasha Sokolovic. The bridge turns the lives of the villagers upside down and becomes the centre of their community. The story is a fiction, but the historical facts are real and so is the bridge. I read the book twice and I always wanted to walk over the bridge. The bridge is magnificent as I expected. Its monumental structure, its age and its size make it very special even for the ones who haven’t read the book. Sadly the bridge witnessed many wars and tragic moments and I couldn’t get out of my mind the facts what happened here during the last conflict.

The arches and strong pillars are architectural masterpiece.

A view on the bridge from the right (Eastern) riverbank.

In the middle of the bridge is a memorial wall with two tablets from sixteen century.

A view on Visegrad town from the bridge.

If you are travelling to Bosnia and Herzegovina it is worth to stop by at the bridge in Visegrad. The town lies in Republika Srpska entity and it is close to the border with Serbia. It takes around two and a half hours drive from Sarajevo. Apart from visitingthe bridge there is not much to do or see in Visegrad, but the way from Sarajevo to Visegrad is rewarding enough, especially the scenic route through Romanija (via Rogatica town). If you continue your way to Serbia, pay attention to Dobrun monastery close to the border.

Check out my other posts on Bosnia and Herzegovina.

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Short walk through Mostar

Luka — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 18:19:18 +0000

Mostar is a number one tourist attraction of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Surprisingly it attracts more visitors than Sarajevo or any other destination in the country. One of the reasons is definitely its location – it lies less than an hour away from Adriatic coast and about two hours driving from Dubrovnik or Sarajevo. Summer is the top season and the old bridge is always packed with tourists impatiently waiting for THE moment – a jump from the bridge to cold Neretva river. The old bridge was demolished during the last war, but it was reconstructed in 2004.

Mostar and its most famous sight – the old bridge!

A view on the bridge from the right riverbank. As you can see, the bridge still looks freshly built as it would be reconstructed yesterday.

A rare view – I was lucky to take this shot without hundreds of people on it.

This is the moment when everybody on the bridge and around it hold their breath. The height is supposed to be almost 30 metres!

Colourful local market on the left side of the river Neretva. Here you will find a variety of souvenirs from old Turkish era, second WW and even from the last war.

These two containers were used to hold fresh water from Neretva river. There is a lot of stuff like that for sale on the busy streets of the old town.

That’s me, wearing traditional Turkish clothes at Biscevica cosak (an old Turkish house).

Traditional Bosnian slippers. They are surprisingly comfortable to wear!

If you like drinking coffee, then Bosnia is the right place for you to be!

This is my favourite shot from Mostar. Quite powerful message! What do you think of it?

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Sarajevo – The tunnel museum

Luka — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 15:27:08 +0000

If you ever venture to Bosnia and Herzegovina and its capital Sarajevo, you should definitely visit the Tunnel museum. It is not a museum as a man would expect, it is just a house where the famous tunnel ended (or started) during the nineties Bosnia war. The tunnel was dug during the siege of the Sarajevo, because people were surrounded by hostile forces and were unable to get food, medicine and ammunition inside the city. The tunnel was the main (and only) way in or out for three years and also the late president of BIH Alija Izetbegovic used to pass through it several times.

Today the tunnel is open to the public and restored as a museum. Actually the Kolar family still owns the house and runs the museum in it. A father Bajro is the owner and his son Edis manages it. They can be very informative and Edis speaks good English. The museum is opened every day between 9am – 4pm also during the holidays. It is located close to Sarajevo airport in a district called Butmir. It is quite tricky to find it, but if you ask the locals, they will be happy to help you out.

The last photo shows Sarajevo during the siege. Actually this is a map that was made for the Olympic games in 1984, which took place here in Sarajevo and surroundings. If you want to see more photos from Bosnia and Herzegovina visit my galleries at Pbase.com.

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Luka Esenko's blog » Bosnia and Herzegovina

The bridge on Drina

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Short walk through Mostar

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Sarajevo – The tunnel museum

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