Day 11: Mostar to Sarajevo via Tjentište

Our road trip around Bosnia was due to end today with a short drive from Mostar back to Sarajevo airport. The journey on the main road between the two cities takes under two hours and would lead us alongside the scenic Jablanica lake. I had planned for us to make a stop in Konjic, another town with an impressive Ottoman bridge.

Unfortunately, none of this was meant to be. Some of the worst flooding which has taken place in Bosnia over the past week has been precisely along that Mostar-Sarajevo route, and the roads are either completely closed or open only to emergency vehicles.

That presented rather a challenge for us, as we had a hard deadline of 3pm on Tuesday for handing back our rental car at Sarajevo airport ahead of catching our flight back to Stansted. After a considerable amount of time spent staring at the map of Bosnia and googling the status of different roads, I eventually planned an alternative route. The alternative route was scheduled to take between four and five hours - so it really was quite the diversion - but it looked like it ought to be scenic.

We checked out of our apartment in Mostar shortly after 9am on Tuesday and set off, initially driving south before turning eastwards. It was a beautifully sunny day and we had some lovely views straightaway.

As we climbed higher into the mountains, we began to encounter some cloud...

...and also the odd obstruction on the road.

At one point I thought we'd found a scenic mountain lake, but it turned out just to be a flooded field. Pretty, though!

After a couple of hours of driving, we reached a town called Gacko which probably qualifies as the ugliest place we've seen in Bosnia. There was a big coal mine, next to a large power station. A sign alongside the road warned us not to take photographs!

By this point we were close to Bosnia's border with Montenegro. Our route turned northwards, taking us along that border, and after Gacko the scenery improved significantly. Just outside the town we found this attractive lake...

...and then we began to drive past increasingly impressive mountains.

We were driving into the Sutjeska National Park, Bosnia's oldest national park.

The park is home to the highest mountain in Bosnia, Mt Maglić, as well as one of Europe's few remaining primeval forests.

Our plan was to make a short stop in the village of Tjentište, within the national park.

Tjentište is home to a famous Yugoslav monument, which commemorates the Battle of the Sutjeska in WW2.

We parked the car alongside a restaurant and began climbing up towards the monument.

A steep series of stairways leads up towards it.

Eventually you arrive at a memorial area with a commemorative plaque.

Then there are a few more staircases to climb to reach the sculpture.

The Battle of the Sutjeska took place here in spring 1943 and it was a key battle in determining the fate of Yugoslavia during the Second World War.

The Axis powers were attempting to encircle and destroy the Yugoslav Partisans.

The Partisans, led by Tito, suffered heavy casualties but ultimately managed to break out of the encirclement. This is success is regarded as being one of the turning points of the war.

While the monument itself is rather concrete, the surrounding scenery is absolutely gorgeous and it was well worth stopping to admire.

Afterwards we had lunch at the mountain restaurant in Tjentište, which gave us a new winner for "cheapest meal of the holiday". I had a cheese pasta, Tim had goulash, plus we both had drinks... and the bill came to around £14. Wow  

After lunch it was back in the car for the final stretch of the journey; another two hours of driving out of the national park and into Sarajevo. Although we got stuck behind some rather slow lorries on winding mountain roads, everything went to plan and we handed back the rental car almost exactly on time at 3pm. Phew!

This hasn't been the most classically relaxing of holidays - it's been a bit of a challenge and adventure at times - but overall we've had an amazing trip. Bosnia is a spectacularly beautiful country and it's also spectacularly good value. I have a feeling this won't be the last time that we're visiting