roadside bosnia

bosnian village

somewhere we never thought we'd see

On our last day in Croatia, having already spent a few hours at the beach, Woz and I decided to take the short drive across the border into Bosnia & Herzegovina, to a lake which on the map looked fantastic, and possibly a venue for our afternoon swim. The drive there was amazing, our first diversion from the coast of Croatia and it seemed to get hotter, rockier and much, much, higher as we drove up into the mountains.

On arriving at the border we were denied entry as we weren't able to produce a green piece of paper which had something to do with motor insurance. We were told that we could buy this at another border control a few kilometres along the border so we headed that way. At the second border crossing our passports were checked three times but we were not asked to show our little green piece of paper. On the third check we were waved through and we were in! A little nerve-racking!

Driving to Bosnia was a spur of the moment decision and so we drove there without having researched whether as an Australian I would need a visa but on the border decided not to draw their attention to the matter. It seemed like the kind of country where if you asked if you were to pay a visa they would say yes and take a hansome sum for the privilege. So, no questions were asked and we were through. We spent only a few hours there, driving around, only getting out to take photographs. The lake was man-made, in a valley, surrounded by mountains, with a few villages scattered around it. Despite the heat, we saw not one person bathing, or even spending any time near the water. It was eerily quiet in the villages around the lake, with us only seeing other drivers and the occasional cyclist. After a few hours we headed back to Croatia to spend a few more hours at the beach before we headed towards Italy.