Sitting back down in front of my laptop after a couple of weeks off, I couldn’t feel more excited to be back blogging! Stepping back for a little while is often the best way to refocus and reset. This time off has also been a reminder for me of what I want to be blogging about – and it’s as much about travel as it is food. I’m therefore hoping to get a better balance, especially since I’ve been on some amazing trips this year that I have yet to blog about at all (Costa Rica for a start!). I feel positively brimming with ideas and have a few changes and maybe some new blog series in mind, so stay tuned!
In the meantime, I hope you’ve enjoyed getting to know some of my favorite cruelty-free bloggers – if you missed them, you can find them and past blogger interviews in my blogger spotlight section.
The title of this post might be a bit of a clue about what I’ve done with this time off: for the past two weeks, I’ve been traveling around Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, through national parks, mountains, villages, towns and cities. It’s been a beautiful trip in a beautiful part of the world and I can’t wait to share more about it.
If you follow me over on Instagram then you might have noticed lots of updates over there, so I thought a quick recap and reflection on the things that made them such great countries to travel in would be a great way to get back into the swing of blogging. Here are eight very good reasons to visit Bosnia and Serbia:
1. The Waterfalls
Bosnia and Herzegovina has got some seriously beautiful national parks and, better yet, there’s a chance you’ll get them pretty much all to yourself. Both Una National Park and Kravice waterfalls near Mostar demand a visit and, if the weather’s good, you can take a dip in the clear waters below Kravice.
2. The Mountains
You can’t miss them even if you try: Bosnia is almost entirely mountainous – even its capital Sarajevo creeps up around the surrounding hills – and the Dinaric Alps stretch over the border into Serbia, which also boasts its fair share of mountain ranges.
3. The Food
Almost everyone you meet will tell you that there’s very little for non-meat eaters here. Now I’m not going to pretend that being vegetarian in Bosnia and Serbia is always a varied experience, but dishes like these spinach and cheese borek and vegan ćevapi (found in Sarajevo) were unmissable.
4. The Street Art
Belgrade, in particular, has a vibrant alternative scene with both legal and illegal street art all across the city.
5. The Creativity
As well as street art, there are signs of creativity in so many places with interesting venues in various cities and the delightful village of Drvengrad built the Serbian film director Emir Kusturica for one of his films.
6. The Villages
I love a trip that combines big cities with the countryside and both Bosnia and Serbia are dotted with villages and rural areas well worth a visit. The area around Zlatibor in Western Serbia has plenty to keep you busy for at least a couple of days.
7. The History
Though the 90s and communist Yugoslavia prior to that are more likely to come to mind for most people, the countries have a long, rich history and you’ll find fascinating remnants of both Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian rule as well as the more recent past. Absolutely take the opportunity to learn about all of these as you go.
8. The Views
Everywhere!
Have you visited this part of the world? What reasons would you add to this list?