Sarajevo

Today, we set out on a hiking day trip to the most remote and highest town in Bosnia and Herzegovina called Lukomir. It is one of the only surviving traditional Bosnian villages.

We met our driver and our guide, Alan, and made our way approximately 1 hour out of Sarajevo to the town of Umoljani.

Our driver dropped us off there and then we hiked the 7km mostly uphill to the town of Lukomir. Along the way and in the town, Alan was providing us with some facts about the area:
- Today, there are only about 50-70 people who live in Lukomir in the summer and in the colder months, all the inhabitants retreat to other lower towns or even to Sarajevo.
- Lukomir is called ‘the last Bosnian town’ because it is the only town to have survived the Yugoslav war and not be bombed/rebuilt. It has traditional houses made of stone which sloped roofs (as the snow gets up to 2m deep in winter).
- There are burial stones which are over 600 years old in the cemetery in Lukomir from the Bosnian kingdom. This area is therefore a really important archaeological site.

Once we got to the town, we explored at little and then went to the towns’ only restaurant for a traditional Bosnian breakfast of meat and cheese with fried bread - very yummy! We also shared a Bosnian coffee which was actually pretty nice (coming from 2 non coffee drinkers) and traditional handmade cherry juice which was delicious! It was quite hot during the hike so the juice was very welcome (and plenty of drinks from our water bottles!)

Alan also explained that during the summer months there can be over 500 tourists visiting the town per day due to its significance in being the last Bosnian village. Although the town can be reached via car, the roads are not easy and many tourists’ cars break down / get stuck trying to reach the town.

After lunch, we explored the town some more, including the cemetery and a very impressive viewpoint, before making our way back to our pickup point.

Usually we like to talk a lot on our hikes, but we took this time to soak in the natural environment and reflect on our incredible trip to date. We arrived back to Umoljani and then were dropped back in Sarajevo around 5pm, where we rewarded ourselves with an ice cream!

We returned to the hostel feeling pretty tired so we chilled out, played a new card game which was at the hostel (it’s called Travelin and is all about travelling around Europe which we loved!) We cooked some pasta for dinner and enjoyed a good night’s rest!Läs mer