Lake above the clouds

Have you ever been above the clouds, but still on the ground?
There is a lake named Prokosko, only 60 km from Sarajevo, in the Vranica mountain. It's central Bosnia, heart of the country and old kingdom of Bosnia. Road is not so fine, but that explain why is this place preserved and so natural.
If you decide to visit it, be prepared for wild and beauty forest, with several streams before you reach the lake at the top.

Lake is with clear, drinking water, with a small village around it. Here is possible to eat some domestic food prepared on a traditional way. Altitude is 1.6 km so the appetite is just great. Meat pie is even better if you drink yogurt from the host pantry.

Hiking is possible in any direction, simply choose you way and enjoy variety of pure and unique environment. With enough luck, maybe it's possible to find some endemics of your own. Plant or insect named by you, you never know!

 



Search for crystals - Kreševo

When I was a kid, I use to look for small rocks which were different than usual ones, shiny and mysterious. I knew a few spots around where I can find it. Today I know it was calcite mineral, very common in Bosnia.
Last year I was on a fair of crystals in Kreševo, a small town near Sarajevo, with great people and interesting findings on surrounding hills. This area is known for different kind of crystals and beautiful minerals from ancient times, even before old Romans.

Next time I came here and went right on the spot, a small quarry with a lot of rocks, very interesting and exiting. Found some rare minerals, enjoyed fresh air and spend nice time in a mystic forest.

 

Magical Hutovo Blato

I was there one early spring, march or even February. Actually, it was a business trip and I was back from Adriatic coast, late that day, tired and in desperately need for some rest. Plan was to stay overnight in Mostar and Hutovo was on the half way there.
Just before Capljina I saw a sign and looks my car turned right by herself. After ten kilometres  found nice parking place and took a walk trough the national park of Hutovo. Two minutes walk and I discovered a space with so much magic for my tired soul and body. Peace and low intensity light. Magical peace, no sounds, nothing...

All tiredness disappeared. I forgot about hard day at work, heavy traffic on the highway, line on the border... This visit was so relaxing and efficient. Kept coming there later and later, years and years, in every season.

 

Jezernica

It was just an ordinary day when my friends pick me up for a "short" trip, some 50 kilometres from Sarajevo, to the heart of Bosnia. You pass Fojnica and then up to hill for a few additional miles.
After 15 minutes just turn off the engine, get out of the car and feel the forest silence. No traffic sounds, horns and buzzing of thousands vehicles, with different frequencies and intensities.
A few birds singing and a streamlet jumping over rocks old as time.
Everyone needs at least half an hour of this silence per day. Not possible in these days, but we should be happy that places with natural silence still exist and they are not so far from us.