After a second nice night in Sarajevo watching a series called the Are Murders (Sweden) we left Sarajevo and its bullet riddled buildings behind and headed towards the town of Trebijne overnight with two stops along the way.

Before arriving in Mostar, we stopped at a scenic riverside for a toilet stop where we saw the traditional preparation of BBQ whole lamb over coals. It takes 3 hours. Interesting the back legs are left on, but the lower front legs are used almost like skewers to hold the flap in during cooking. A bit gruesome but looked and smelled tasty.

First proper stop was Mostar, a very beautiful old city on a brilliant green river. We parked near the mosque and walked down to the old city in the warm weather of the day. We had about an hour and a half to have a look around. Very busy and a very clear tourist set up that was a bit bewildering. At the bridge over the river there was a local who apparently, if tourists give him enough money, will jump the 25m down into the river below. The flow was very fast and he did not make a leap while we were there. We had a nice lunch though after eventually finding our way and had some nice pictures by the river too.

Next stop was at the site where a monastery has been located since the 12th century (not as impressive as some of the others we passed that were 4th century). It's claim to fame (called Blakaj Trebije) is that it is a naturally occurring spring that releases something like 30 cubic metres of water per second. It is naturally blue-green due to the calcite that it has filtered through. Geologists are not 100% sure where it comes from but it is highly reliable and unaffected by rainfall in a typical fashion.

In the area too it was a spinout to see hundreds of just getting leaves wild pomegranate trees. Very nice. Much of the drive was through hills of Karst country, with the typical shapes and textures of black limestone interspersed with semi dry looking shrubs and grasses.

Back on the bus and to Trebigne, another old walled city in Bosnia. We had a bit of a walk into the old town for dinner, arriving just before dark and a chance to see many cats inside the walls, some recently dug up streets showing evidence of much earlier stone buildings (Roman perhaps) some tourist shops and a real treat when we entered the orthodox church whilst a service was on. All the women on the left and men on the right whilst the priests gave the service in cantor style. Lots of incense and cool feels there. Lots of young people and apparently there is a current resurgence in identity that church belonging/weddings/baptisms in the younger generation in the Balkans. Perhaps a symptom of ongoing tensions and the need to take a position? Not sure.

Anyway, after a stroll back to the hotel and through the incredibly smoky bar, we called it a day, our last in Bosnia.