Day 13 - Visigrad
Wednesday 5th July 2017
We set off from The Hotel Hayat in Sarajevo at 10am after a hearty turkish-style breakfast with Johno. He has hired a car for the next few days and is going to visit Srebrenica where he was stationed back at the end of the Bosnian War, and also the site of one of the worst atrocities in modern times when 8,000 Bosniaks (Bosnian muslims) were massacred by the Serbs.
Johno has been recreating old photographs of himself in various locations during the war. Srebrenica is going to be a tough one for him. We wish him luck and get on our way.
This is easier said than done in the warren of streets and alleys that surround the hotel. The satnav wants to turn down a narrow street that is half steps and half a 1-in-1 cobbled slope no more than a metre wide. I don't think so.
We end up going the wrong way, have serious trouble turning round on a steep slope paved with glass and finally end up back at the hotel to try a different (and totally counter-intuitive) direction. Finally we sort it out and head east out of Sarajevo along the river.
At first we are on a well surfaced road that winds through low hills towards a range of mountains in the distance.
The satnav has warned me that its road mapping is limited in this region and as we start a climb up into the hills we are confronted by roadworks and an unmade gravel track climbing almost vertically up the side of a mountain. It doesn't look good so we stop to scout it out and refer to the maps.
Fortunately a digger driver stops to see if he can help. We have no common language but once we tell him our destination he draws a map in the roadside dust. We have missed a turn for Goradze about a kilometre back along we way we have come.
So we backtrack a little way and sure enough there is a sign pointing left for Goradze. The satnav refuses to believe that this road exists and gets into its "...make a u-turn when possible...." loop. but I have faith in local knowledge and ignore this. It shuts up after a while.
So we climb up an astonishing twisty with lovely hairpins that are only marred by extravagant swirls of loose gravel on each apex. It's pretty damn good though and finally comes out of the forest to wonderful views over the next valley. A sign tells us that we are at 1168 metres above sea level.
We stop at the top to take photographs and generally have a rest after a strenuous and at times nervous climb. An old boy comes hobbling along a side track and stops for a natter.
We have a long conversation not hindered in the least by our failure to understand a word he has to say. He explains with animal noises and foot drawings in the dirt that he is a shepherd and that the town down in the far distance is Goradze.
Fortunately at this point a car pulls up. It has Swedish plates but it turns out that the couple in it are originally Bosnian nationals, now living in Scandinavia. They speak good English and can translate for us.
We learn that the old boy is 83 years of age and has been tending his flock here since shortly after WWII. Most of the events of the last 70 years have passed him by up here on his mountain top in the middle of Bosnia. He has been down to Goradze a few times but not much further than that. He smiles a lot though.
We say goodbye to our newfound friends and head down from the pass into Goradze, a small busy town in the valley below. Here we get our first glimpse of the Drina River. It is quite wide and eventually joins the Sava river which in turn joins the Danube at Belgrade.
From here it is a straight run along the banks of the river through a spectacular gorge and a series of tunnels to Visigrad, our destination for the night.
Visigrad was one of the first destinations I pencilled in when I began planning this trip. This is becase of a book I was given during the aforementioned wedding celebrations in Bosnia 13 years ago. It is called 'The Bridge On The Drina' by Ivo Andric. He wrote it while living under house arrest in Belgrade during WWII and it was published when that war ended in 1945. In 1960 Andric was awarded a Nobel Prize for Literature for his novels.
The book contains a series of allegorical vignettes spanning four centuries starting with the bridge construction by the Ottomans in the mid-16th century.
In those days the Ottomans staffed their extensive administrative and military bureaucracies by taking promising young boys into service in Constantinople for training. Although a form of slavery such 'apprenticeships' became a tradition for the families in the subject nations.
The Ottomans ran a very egalitarian system. A young Bosnian boy, Muhammed Sokolovic, becomes one such apprentice and rose to the very top, becoming Grand Vizier in 1565.
It had become a tradition for a Grand Vizier to secure his place in history by philanthropic gestures. Sokolovic, remembering his humble origins in Visigrad, chose to have this bridge built over the river in his home town.
The Mehmed Pasa Sokolovic Bridge was built and survived until its partial destruction during WWI. After the war the damaged span was reconstructed. Today it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a major tourist attraction in a country that cannot lay claim to many of those.
Our hotel is right next to the bridge and is named for the famous author. It is comfortable with good facilities including air-conditioning - the first we have come across so far on this trip.
Outside the hotel there are a few souvenir stalls and hawkers trying to sell us boat trips on the river. We are pestered by child beggars, a reminder that this is a very poor country.
We stroll over the bridge. It is only open to foot traffic these days. It is kept in immaculate repair. For me it is a 'bucket list' moment and I'm very happy to be here.
We have dinner on the hotel terrace, more kebabs, salad and chips. I enjoy a decent bottle of local wine and Mick has a few beers.
We set off from The Hotel Hayat in Sarajevo at 10am after a hearty turkish-style breakfast with Johno. He has hired a car for the next few days and is going to visit Srebrenica where he was stationed back at the end of the Bosnian War, and also the site of one of the worst atrocities in modern times when 8,000 Bosniaks (Bosnian muslims) were massacred by the Serbs.
Johno has been recreating old photographs of himself in various locations during the war. Srebrenica is going to be a tough one for him. We wish him luck and get on our way.
 |
| Getting lost in Sarajevo's backstreets |
This is easier said than done in the warren of streets and alleys that surround the hotel. The satnav wants to turn down a narrow street that is half steps and half a 1-in-1 cobbled slope no more than a metre wide. I don't think so.
We end up going the wrong way, have serious trouble turning round on a steep slope paved with glass and finally end up back at the hotel to try a different (and totally counter-intuitive) direction. Finally we sort it out and head east out of Sarajevo along the river.
 |
| On the Visigrad road |
The satnav has warned me that its road mapping is limited in this region and as we start a climb up into the hills we are confronted by roadworks and an unmade gravel track climbing almost vertically up the side of a mountain. It doesn't look good so we stop to scout it out and refer to the maps.
Fortunately a digger driver stops to see if he can help. We have no common language but once we tell him our destination he draws a map in the roadside dust. We have missed a turn for Goradze about a kilometre back along we way we have come.
 |
| Summit above Goradze |
So we backtrack a little way and sure enough there is a sign pointing left for Goradze. The satnav refuses to believe that this road exists and gets into its "...make a u-turn when possible...." loop. but I have faith in local knowledge and ignore this. It shuts up after a while.
So we climb up an astonishing twisty with lovely hairpins that are only marred by extravagant swirls of loose gravel on each apex. It's pretty damn good though and finally comes out of the forest to wonderful views over the next valley. A sign tells us that we are at 1168 metres above sea level.
 |
| 1168m a.s.l. |
We stop at the top to take photographs and generally have a rest after a strenuous and at times nervous climb. An old boy comes hobbling along a side track and stops for a natter.
We have a long conversation not hindered in the least by our failure to understand a word he has to say. He explains with animal noises and foot drawings in the dirt that he is a shepherd and that the town down in the far distance is Goradze.
 |
| Mick deep in conversation with our new friend |
We learn that the old boy is 83 years of age and has been tending his flock here since shortly after WWII. Most of the events of the last 70 years have passed him by up here on his mountain top in the middle of Bosnia. He has been down to Goradze a few times but not much further than that. He smiles a lot though.
We say goodbye to our newfound friends and head down from the pass into Goradze, a small busy town in the valley below. Here we get our first glimpse of the Drina River. It is quite wide and eventually joins the Sava river which in turn joins the Danube at Belgrade.
From here it is a straight run along the banks of the river through a spectacular gorge and a series of tunnels to Visigrad, our destination for the night.
 |
| The Bridge on the Drina |
 |
| From the hotel terrace |
The book contains a series of allegorical vignettes spanning four centuries starting with the bridge construction by the Ottomans in the mid-16th century.
In those days the Ottomans staffed their extensive administrative and military bureaucracies by taking promising young boys into service in Constantinople for training. Although a form of slavery such 'apprenticeships' became a tradition for the families in the subject nations.
 |
| Underneath the arches |
It had become a tradition for a Grand Vizier to secure his place in history by philanthropic gestures. Sokolovic, remembering his humble origins in Visigrad, chose to have this bridge built over the river in his home town.
The Mehmed Pasa Sokolovic Bridge was built and survived until its partial destruction during WWI. After the war the damaged span was reconstructed. Today it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a major tourist attraction in a country that cannot lay claim to many of those.
 |
| Hotel named after Andric |
Our hotel is right next to the bridge and is named for the famous author. It is comfortable with good facilities including air-conditioning - the first we have come across so far on this trip.
Outside the hotel there are a few souvenir stalls and hawkers trying to sell us boat trips on the river. We are pestered by child beggars, a reminder that this is a very poor country.
We stroll over the bridge. It is only open to foot traffic these days. It is kept in immaculate repair. For me it is a 'bucket list' moment and I'm very happy to be here.
We have dinner on the hotel terrace, more kebabs, salad and chips. I enjoy a decent bottle of local wine and Mick has a few beers.
 |
| From the eastern bank |
 |
| The kaplan in the centre of the bridge |
 |
| and more kebabs |
 |
| The bridge at night |
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