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Published: September 15th 2011
A perfect hide out!
Neretva river - Konjic, B&HBack in the bus – the Sarajevo to Konjic drive
Our day trip to
Konjic which can be done either from Sarajevo or Mostar (one hour and half drive) took us in bus high up in the mountain along the Neretva river on a brand new narrow & curvy road. Having crossed the day before from Serbia to Bosnia, across mountains on road which felt like you were on for a free ride of roller coaster, but having felt extremely safe (guess it had to do with the great diving style of the bus driver), we left from Sarajevo quite confident. Right…well this time, we actually managed to get to our destination earlier than expected;
Crystal clear ...
Neretva river - Konjic, B&H thanks to the formula one style of driving of the bus driver! Actually, we really started to feel not so comfortable when even the locals were holding to the seat in front of them, every time the driver had decided to bypass a truck full speed ignoring every single traffic signage along the way … (aka the usual “do not bypass”, “slow down curve ahead”, “warning! rock fall” …etc)
Arriving in Konjic was quite a relief and right from the beginning, we knew there was a great day ahead ! We were welcomed by the rafting agency (which we can only recommend!
Badzo Raft) & the day started Bosnian style with a proper coffee, cigarette & chatting.
On for some rafting !! well…
One of the Badzo brothers, then decided not to keep us waiting for the rest of the group and gave us a ride to the river in his private car. Now if you can picture the scene in which the actor Jean Reno in the “deep blue” movie is driving his tiny car, you are starting to get a feel of our ride!
Bosnian music on, windows open, up and down the mountain,
Badzo, who barely fit in the car (picture a tall & built up men), was having fun, chatting (in Bosnian with a few words of English here and there & a lot of non verbal language), passing cigarettes and stopping here and there for us to enjoy the breathtaking views around us.
Now … a few basic rules about white water rafting in Bosnia: 1 - No points to be in a hurry – a few hours will have passed by before you actually hit the water
2 – A proper meal is required before going on the river – which in Bosnia implies a full Bosnian style barbecue (which does take time & know how to prepare but is really worth the waiting)
3 – You might in the meantime decide to go for a swim – again, no points to hurry, the water is very cold so you do it local style (aka 5 mn minimum before you fully submerse yourself). Ideally you have a drink first and then you go for a swim.
4 – White water rafting in Bosnia is all inclusive and it is worth to mention that “alcoholic and non alcoholic are
Nico, head first !
Neretva river - Konjic, B&H provided before
AND during the rafting” (aka the initial email the agency had sent me)
5 – Locals are simply great host and will make sure that all the above “rules” are respected
Keeping the above rules in mind, we indeed started after a
full meal, a taste of the local beer and a quick glance at the local homemade Rakia (distilled fruit based alcohol well above the 40 degrees) kept in what used to be a small bottle of water.
The alcohol, soft drinks & left over from the barbecue packed in hermetic boxes (
addendum to point 2: a proper snack involving meat is required half way too), all geared up, and yes…quite exciting at the idea of finally going for the rafting, on the river we went.
Rafting time ! This time for good !
The Neretva River at this time of the year being quite low, putting aside a few class IV rapids, it was overall a
beautiful relax scenic rafting afternoon. The water is simply crystal clear & plenty of fish can be seen. Going deeper in the canyon, you are surrounded by
dramatic rock formation and trees hanging here and there. A great way to discover this part of the country and for the adrenaline part, I am already planning to come back in spring when the place is over flown by lots of water!
As it was quite a relax rafting day,
the whole point of having drinks on board took all its meaning & toward the end once rapids were becoming a bit bigger, the small bottle of Rakia was turning between everyone before we would actually reach the rapid. At least, the splash of cold water, was prompt to make you forget just how strong the thing you just drank was !
We finished this great local style day out, by a very quiet ride back to Sarajevo… Don’t ask me how the driver was driving as we both slept the whole way!
Next blog entry: Sarajevo where we spent 5 nights, might just take a bit of time to get that one ready!
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