Day 4: Jajce

The apartment we're staying in is only a 10-minute walk from the centre of Jajce, so there was no driving involved in today's sightseeing. We had a relaxed start to the morning before setting out to explore the town. We didn't have to go very far before we got our first glimpse of Jajce's fortress on the hill above us.

The river Pliva runs through the middle of Jajce.

We crossed over it on a bridge...

...and walked alongside it on a pretty path, passing several weirs.

The water in the river was incredibly clear.

The weirs were pretty but Jajce is famous for the Pliva waterfall, which is located just outside the old town. We couldn't see the waterfall itself from this viewpoint, but we could see the spray generated from the water going over the edge.

As we went round the corner we saw some more weirs...

...and then got a glimpse of the side of the main waterfall.

In order to see it properly we needed to cross the river and climb up to a higher viewpoint, which is what we did next. Wow!

This really is a spectacular waterfall and it's so unusual that it's more or less inside the town.

We decided to pay to visit the official viewing platform, which is closer to the falls. The ticket cost 5 KM each, which is around £2.14.

I'd say it was well worth the money

There was a lot of spray off the waterfall so we got a bit wet here, but it was really cool to see the waterfall up close.

Once we'd finished admiring the waterfall, we walked towards the centre of town.

Jajce seemed like a pretty little place.

We started climbing up towards the fortress.

Bosnia seems to involve a lot of walking uphill

As we got higher we were rewarded with some lovely views of the surrounding countryside though.

Admission to Jajce fortress was a bargain; just 2 KM each (around 85p!).

The fortress here was built in the 14th century.

Jajce was the last place in Bosnia to fall to the Ottomans, holding out until 1527.

Today you can walk around what remains of the walls...

...and get some beautiful views of the surrounding countryside from up here.

We're lucky that the weather has been nice and sunny again today

Once we'd finished exploring the fortress we walked back down into Jajce.

We got some pizza for lunch at a little cafe just outside the central mosque.

After lunch I really wanted to go and see another sight which Jajce is famous for: the Pliva watermills. It was a bit of a walk - around 5km outside the town centre - but a really scenic one.

The route went alongside the Pliva river, passing small waterfalls from time to time.

After a while the river widens out into a lake.

It was quiet here today but it looked like in summer this might be a popular beach area.

There was a big weir...

...with some more small waterfalls above it.

After that the path turned into a wooden walkway, leading around the side of the lake.

The views of the surrounding hills from here were really lovely.

The watermills weren't too much further from here.

There have apparently been water mills here since medieval times.

The ones that are here today date from the Austro-Hungarian period.

They were historically used by farmers to grind wheat into flour, with lots of small mills being built rather than one big one because the flow of the water is so spread out here.