Friday, March 18, 2016

Jajce: You won’t believe this is in Bosnia


We didn’t. We could not connect this beautiful place to siege-scarred Sarajevo we just left. We took a 4-hour coach ride from Sarajevo and meander round mountains with turquoise colour river running endlessly beside us. The leaves on the trees were turning fiery red and it made our ride all the more appreciative. We enjoyed the journey more than the town itself which is small and with limited attractions. The truth is we did not even visit the main attractions (fortress, catacomb, museum). We were recommended by the tourist office to get the pass for all the attractions. We debated for a while and decided not to as we were not impressed with the attractions. On hindsight, we should have just gone for it since we travelled halfway round the globe already. Don’t know what we were thinking. Since we planned this as a 2.5 hour stopover en-route to Zagreb, we did not have much time to spare. We dropped our luggage at the bus terminal and did a cursory tour which did not do Jajce justice.
 
Jajce waterfall is near the main bus station, so it’s literally the first thing you’ll see once you start your town exploration. As we crossed the bridge, we took time to admire the river and greenery below us.

Part of the fortress wall
Look at the battlement details. We could imagine people up there shooting arrows to defend their town.
Residential houses that are built into the defensive wall
One last lingering look before we left

Don't make the same mistakes as us. Take time to visit the main attractions. It's a small town and half a day is more than sufficient. It's a quiet place and compared to Mostar and Sarajevo, it's not glamorous enough for tourists. We discovered this town by accident as it was not on our original itinerary. We were moving on to Croatia but decided to google and check if there is anything more to offer other than the 2 cities we've been. We were glad we took the detour. We loved the atmosphere and could have easily stayed the night to relax. On top of that, the journey here was beautiful. There is also a not-to-be-missed attraction nearby - medieval water mills on River Pliva which is about 5 km from Jajce. It's totally worth a visit based on the photographs we've seen and we are so sorry to have missed that!

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