Luka Esenko's blog » Europe

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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Pearl of the Adriatic

Luka — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 22:04:47 +0000

There are numerous historical cities scattered all over Croatian Adriatic sea. Porec, Rovinj, Pula, Zadar, Sibenik, Trogir, Split and of course – Dubrovnik. I visited all of listed cities, but Dubrovnik is my favourite. It is the history, the architecture, its people, lively atmosphere, the restaurants and tourists that make it so alluring. It doesn’t really matter at what time you visit the city in the morning, during the day, the evening, you will always feel the life of the city. And if you want to party, just ask the saints on the photo above where to go.

A classic view on Dubrovnik. There are several view points on the bypass road above the city where you can enjoy this wonderful vista. The best time to take photos is early in the morning – the sun is in the right position and the visibility is usually better.

Stradun – the main street of the old town connects the town’s main gate Pile with the old harbour. It is always busy with some nice bars and ice cream stalls. The photo was taken from the city walls.

The dome of the Cathedral. It is the biggest church in town built in a Baroque style.

The gate to the harbour is protected by St. Blaise.

It can be clearly seen how well protected was the city from the seaside. The nearby island is called Lokrum and it makes a nice half day trip in a hot summer day.

The bright orange roof tiles are new ones from after the city was bombed during the Yugoslavia conflict. There are still some old tiles left – see the church on the left.

Yes – another sunset:)

Lovrijenac fort protected the city from the Southwest side. If you buy the ticket to the city walls you can also visit it. From the top there is a nice view on the old town.

Old customs house. It is situated just behind the city walls at the old harbour where all the trade was going through. This guy probably just saw a ghost.

The Onofrio fountain. It used to be the main freshwater supply for the old city and the water is surprisingly still drinkable. Very refreshing in hot Dalmatian summers.

St. Blaise. The protector of the Dubrovnik town. You can see a model of the city he is holding in his hand.

I visited Dubrovnik many times and I still like to come back. Despite the heavy traffic, virtually no available parking places and throngs of tourists it is worth to stop here. Even for only a few hours or better two or three days. In summer there are always open air concerts and street theatres going on and the streets are full of artists that are joy to watch or listen. so make sure to include Dubrovnik to your itinerary!

If you want to see more photos of the city, visit my gallery. If you are interested in photos, you are welcome to contact me.

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A brief encounter with wild boar family

Luka — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 09:41:36 +0000

Wild boars are really fun to visit at Bavarian forest national park. You can actually get into their enclosure and observe them eye to eye. The enclosure is huge and the boars are not always to be seen, but if you visit them two or three times you have a good chance to come across them.

The third time I visited them they were finally close enough to make some photos. The family was numerous, there had to be at least twenty boars. No big males though – I guess they could be pretty dangerous to visitors.

Some of the boars were resting in the warm fallen-off foliage.

Nosy little piglet. What a cute animal!

What are you looking at?

Mama boar and her piglet.

It was fun to watch piglets running around. The forest was a playground for them and they were annoying other boars all the time. They were still suckling, but they tried everything they came across – even the dead leaves.

My sister photographing a boar. It was amazing experience to be with the boars. We spent almost an hour just sitting on the ground and watch the animals around us. The boars did not mind our presence at all.

Check also other posts on Bavarian forest national park.

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Wisent – the giant of the European forests

Luka — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 12:43:15 +0000

Wildlife is one of my favourite type of photography. Being in nature on the fresh air and observing the animals of all kinds is a rewarding enough by itself and if I manage to get a decent shot -what would I wish more? Unfortunately it is also one of the most difficult kinds of photography, the animals are unpredictive, usually hard to find and even harder to find in a real photo opportunity position.
Animals in captivity are much easier to photograph, but usually the setting is man-made and it doesn’t look appealing as a true wilderness is. At Bavarian forest national park (Bayerischer Wald National Park) there is a part where the animals are kept in large enclosures that look like a natural environment. The place is called Tier-Freigelände and is situated near Neuschönau village. They keep most of the European wild animals, wolves, deers, wild boars, bears, lynx, otters, several species of birds…

One of the most attractive animals is definitely a Wisent – European bison (Bison Bonasus), which was almost extinct, but they successfully reintroduced it to the wild. They roam freely now in the forests of Poland, Ukraine, Belarus… I’ve never seen those beautiful animals before so I was eager to finally encounter them.

The first two visits to their enclosure was a big disappointment as it is huge and the animals were hiding at the other end of it among the trees. It was impossible so see them even from the viewpoint above the enclosure. On the last day when I was already walking back to my room there they were! The day was ending and there was no people around so they moved closer to graze. I carefully approached them to the fence of the enclosure and prepared my camera.

An intimate sight of a mother and a calf.

The father was smelling the air for potential danger.

The adult bull. Magnificient animal!

Hey you funny looking animal, get away from my herd!

This bull obviously did not appreciate my presence. He approached me threatening, so I backed away and just observed these beautiful creatures from the distance.

I will post some more photos of the visit to Bavarian forest with the next posts.

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The Wonder of Plitvice lakes

Luka — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 23:16:23 +0000

Plitvice lakes national park lies somewhere in the middle between Zagreb and Dalmatia coast in Croatia. Higher altitude, dense forests and clear waters make the air pleasant even on a hot summer day. A good reason to stop for a day to relax a bit. I visit Croatia regularly and I’ve been to almost all of its coast but never managed to stop at Plitvice. Maybe i was ignorant because it is one of the top attractions of the country and there are always hundreds of tourist buses at the gates. I was sooooo wrong! The place is absolutely fantastic and so much different of the other highlights of Croatia. I arrived directly from the Hvar island where it was damn hot and humid and I was eagerly waiting for the temperature drop. At the Plitvice NP it was really a pleasant atmosphere almost 20 degrees Celsius lower than at the coast.

Unfortunately my time to wander around the lakes was limited – I had only couple of hours so i headed to the upper lakes part which is more convenient to visit. Nevertheless I managed to cover a wide area and I made a few decent photos in the mean time.

Robin. Birds are used to the presence of humans and they approach you hoping for some breadcrumbs. A nice opportunity for a bird photography. This photo was taken with my regular lens at 55mm!

The wooden pathways look great on the photos, but when you need stable ground for the camera tripod they make a lousy job. You can feel every step even if the people are walking far away. So here is a small advise – try to visit the park as early as possible or in the late afternoon when most of the people are already gone. Otherwise it is like trying to cross the main highway in Beijing. The above photo is a self portrait btw.

The autumn has already started to paint the trees with its warm colours. But for the full impressionistic experience we will have to wait for another two or three weeks – a perfect time to visit the Plitvice lakes again!

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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 » Europe

The bridge on Drina

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