Bosnia & Herzegovina Trip Part II - Banja Luka

Day 3 -  Banja Luka, July 3rd

The trip from Sarajevo to Banja Luka in Republika Syrpska was a lengthy four (or more) hour ride, but it was full of gorgeous scenery. This area of the world is often referred to as the Balkans, and it wasn't until studying for this trip that I learned that "balkans" literally means "mountains," which is definitely an appropriate geographic shorthand for the country. Coming from Ohio, perhaps the mountains seem even more dramatic, but there were no flat parts of the country stretching further than a few miles that I could find, and every inch of the countryside is beautiful.

The view from the bus on our way to Banja Luka.

This kind of view was pretty typical. Hard to complain about a long bus ride when you look out the window and see this.

There wasn't a whole lot to this day other than traveling and eating, although our stop at lunch was a restaurant with amazing views next to a river. Like everywhere we went, the food was outstanding. This time I had veal, although before you hate me, I will point out that their veal is free range and probably harvested within a 10-mile radius of the restaurant, so until I stop eating meat altogether I'm not going to feel bad about it!

You couldn't ask for a better setting for lunch.

The funniest thing at the restaurant was the portion size. Everyone was hungry, so most people ordered a "medium" Cevapćići, which apparently means you want the equivalent of 15 sausage links with an accompanying large pita bread! No one could finish an entire one, and the picture of Anne from the first blog post was actually taken here.

The veal dinner I ordered, which was pretty tasty.

Lots of extra food, but we did our best!

A couple hours later we finally arrived in Banja Luka, where we stayed at Hotel Bosna, a recently renovated hotel in the center of the city across from the Orthodox Church and City Hall. It was a smaller room, but very nice, and the hotel is attached to a casino and a few restaurants. I tried my hand at blackjack and thankfully only lost 15 KM (about $8.00), which could have been much worse! We had a light dinner at the hotel and processed everything from the last couple of days before preparing for our meeting with Banja Luka's mayor the following day.

Matt talked prepping the delegation for the packed agenda we had in store for July 4th.

After that we walked across the street to the Mac Tire Irish Pub, where the World Cup was on TV. It was a very upscale bar and served good food, although the fish and chips were not exactly what I'm used to! I'd still recommend it though for sure. We also had our first taste of the local beer, Nektar, which started out as a local Trappist Monastery's brew, but is now owned buy a guy from Ireland. I'd recommend it!

Nektar... it's good for you. No wait, that's Guinness...

After that we turned in for the night to get some sleep for our meeting with the Banja Lukan Mayor the following day.

July 4th in Banja Luka

Before our meeting with the mayor we grabbed breakfast at the hotel, which was quite good.

The view from the hotel balcony at breakfast, which is pretty good. They have really good coffee here...

...just watch out for the birds. They are like tiny little vultures and are unafraid of my hand.

After breakfast we started out the day meeting with Mayor Slobodan Gavranović and his staff at City Hall, where we heard an update on the opportunities and challenges of Banja Luka (BL). Their focus right now is on tourism and economic development, and as the second-largest city in BiH, they have a lot to offer.

Mayor Whaley, Matt Joseph, Kelly Gears, and Sam Braun in front of the Orthodox Church. Right behind it is City Hall, and both are about a three-minute walk from the hotel.

I should pause for a moment and point out that BL is in Republika Syrpska (RS), which is one of two states in BiH, the other being the Federation of Bosnia & Hercegovina, where the other two cities from our visit are located. As some of my former history students will know, the name Republika Syrpska generates some angst to this day for many (particularly non-Serb) citizens of BiH, as it is the same name used by the Serb forces that broke away from BiH and declared their allegiance to Serbia under Rodovan Karadzic, and which committed many war crimes during the Bosnian War. Richard Holbrooke later confessed that allowing them to keep the name after the accords was something he regretted. I'd highly recommend reading his memoir about the accords, To End a War, which goes into great detail about the entire process leading up to and after the signing of the Dayton Peace Accords. The past notwithstanding, I can't emphasize enough how welcomed we felt on our visit by the entire city, not just the mayor and his staff.


The city staff's presentation highlighted many of the areas they are currently trying to develop and for which they are seeking investors, including their burgeoning tourist industry, which includes world-class whitewater rafting. Check out their official tourism site, which lists many more things to do than we were able to accomplish during our short time there.

Mayor Slobodan Gavranović met with us in City Hall.

After listening to their presentation we were invited to attend a "police demonstration." I'm not sure what I expected, but it definitely wasn't what we saw, which was a major search and rescue exhibition whereby cantonal (county) level police officers/search & rescue teams, RS national guard soldiers, and the BiH Army showed off equipment and tactics they have put in place since BiH was rocked by major flooding back in 2014. It was an impressive demonstration and covered extensively by members of the press, and we got a personal tour by the mayor and members of the police and military.

We met up again with Mayor Gavranović at the demonstration, where we had a tour of the equipment being used by their search and rescue teams and disaster response units.

These sandbag filling machines were pretty cool.

Next up was a briefing from the BiH military on their collaborations with the cantonal-level search and rescue units and police.

After the tour and briefing on what we would be seeing, we watched from the balcony of the old castle wall (now an amazing restaurant with delicious appetizers, which I'll get to soon) as rescue operators repelled out of helicopters and dove into the river to find dummies hidden in the water ahead of time. They even pulled a car out of the river! It was an impressive demonstration.

I was busy taking a video during the demonstration, so I didn't get many pictures, but this is one of them.

Search and rescue teams repelled down the castle walls as part of the demonstration while we watched safely from the balcony...

...while we worked hard on eating this. I guess what I'm saying is it was a tough day for all of us.

After this we were taken on a tour of some of the city's cultural sites. The first stop was one of Amanda's favorites. They have renovated a building on the grounds of the Kastel Fortress to house four of BL's most famous artists. I wouldn't classify myself as a huge modern art fan, but I truly enjoyed the exhibit. I also loved the fact that it showcases the talent of artists from all of BiH's ethnic groups, with two Serbs, one Croat, and one Bosniak represented at the exhibit. The exhibit is entitled: On the Modernist Road: Misirlić, Simić, Ćurić, Staljo.

Outside the Stone Building, which is located inside` the Kastel Fortress walls.

Inside we were given a tour of the pieces on display in the sizeable permanent exhibit.

Amanda snapping a picture of her favorite piece, a self-portrait by one of the artists.

From there we had a short walk through the mall to the Republika Syrpska National Museum, although not before stopping by the famous Ferhadija Mosque, which only recently reopened in May of this year after being destroyed during the war. It's opening is a major sign of the city's commitment to reconciliation, as just 10 years ago the story was much different. You can read more about the historical significance of the mosque and its reopening in this story from Balkan Insights.

The minaret was too tall to capture in one shot, but the reconstructed version is beautiful. The original was built in 1579!

At the museum we were given a tour by the museum director. The museum does a nice job showing off the history (and pre-history) of RS and BiH in general, particularly ethnographically/historically. One exhibit that was very salient during the visit was the one dedicated to the experience of Serbs, Bosniaks, Jews, Roma, and political dissidents (including Croat ones) during WWII, where they suffered from major persecution and genocide at the hands of the Croatian Ustasha regime, which aligned itself with Nazi Germany. The exhibit serves as a reminder that many Serbs who were alive during the Bosnian War of the 1990s remembered the intense suffering and persecution they had faced under the Ustasha regime. As they say, "the past is prologue."

There are many artifacts from from throughout BiH's history.

These posters show the number of Serbs, Bosniaks, Jews, Roma, and political dissidents.

After the museum we walked past my favorite park on the way to our next stop. They have giant chess boards set up.

They have giant chess boards in the park. Need I say more? I'm ready to move...

Our next stop was the Banja Luka Museum of Modern Art. It took me a while to catch onto this, but the museum is full of pieces by an artist who was pretending to be someone else at the time. The real artist was Nikola Otaševič, but he created an alter ego to publish the artwork under named Ilija Dimić. Opening the exhibit in the 1960s, he claimed to have found the artwork by the late artist, Dimić, and even made up a biography and fake documentary about the supposed genius who was "ahead of his time." The exhibit is full of "Dimić" pieces, and interestingly enough (given our Dayton connection) he did a great deal of pieces relating to flight. I really enjoyed the pieces.

A portrait of the young (fake) artist, Ilija Dimić.

We were given a brief intro to the museum and its impressive history/collection before having the chance to see the work.

"Takeoff" (1933... except not really).

After this we had some free time, which Amanda and I used to try and visit the local Trappist Monastery. We successfully got there in time to get back to dinner, but unfortunately they were closed. Thankfully we visited the following day with the entire group, but Amanda had some time to at least sketch the church and I made a new feline friend while trying to call a taxi company to come get us.

Cute kitty...

Later on that evening we attended an ethnic music festival at the castle. It was a fun celebration, and we were guests of honor once more. It was great hearing the traditional music and seeing the traditional dress of the different communities in BiH and beyond, and I half-joked that next time we come we need to play some bluegrass at the festival!

Great dancing and music!

We were pleasantly surprised at the end of the evening when we were treated to a fourth meal of traditional Cevapcici and rakija by the city. After a couple of those we were all singing show tunes and cracking jokes with our new BL friends.

The food was delicious and rakija was in abundance!

We also met Dražen, a local tourism guru from the Banja Luka tourism board. He took us out for drinks afterwards and joined us the following days on excursions around BL. If you're at all interested in visiting let me know and I'll get you his contact information!

At the dinner we met Dražen Brdar, who works for the Banja Luka tourism board. He would be our guide for the next couple of days.

Day 5 - Banja Luka, July 5th

Our second day in BL began with a focus on our delegation's goal of connecting with folks in the city as we visited the University of Banja Luka. Our entire delegation met with the Rector (which is like our President) of the University and some members of his staff. We heard about the programs they have to offer and the opportunities and challenges that exist for the university and for their students. A lot of good connections were made between delegation members and the university. One thing I would love to see happen (and which I will try to help facilitate as much as possible) is an exchange of students and faculty, which our committee chairman, Hunt Brown, will be exploring through Wright State. If you're affiliated with WSU though and you're reading this and this idea intrigues you, please contact Hunt or myself!

The delegation with the main building of Banja Luka University in the background.

President Prof. Milan Mataruga, PhD, and International Relations Officer, Jelena Rožić with Mayor Whaley and Commissioner Joseph.

After the meeting we went to the Trappist Monastery as a group (and got in this time!). Once inside, the priest gave us the history of the monastery, which once housed over 250 priests. Now, there are just three. One keeps the grounds, the other makes the cheese, and the third (who gave us the tour) makes herbal remedies and spirits. They are apparently not too keen on the Communist years under Tito, as they lost a great deal of their land and their numbers drastically decreased, but the church's history is rich with service. They created the first hydroelectric power plant for the city and an electric street lamp system for the city (eight years before London had streetlights), as well as served as a boarding home for children of all faiths. The priest was a comedian as well, joking about how he gets to wake up "late" (at 4AM) for prayers when compared to other Trappist monks that wake up at 1 or 2AM. "It could be worse!" he joked. Don't skip the gift shop if you visit, and be sure to get some of the rakija and cheese at least!

The priest met us at the doors of the church, where Drazen and Matt greeted him.

We were treated to many stories about the church's history and more information about the Trappists, which I knew little about (other than the fact that they make beer too).

The priest was pretty proud of the beer they used to make there. Now it's called "Nektar," which I've already told you about.

The priest we met made all of this... most of it is rakija. He called a lot of it medicine as well, although when I bought my standard plum rakija, he just said "this is Bosnian medicine" and laughed. He was pretty hilarious the entire time.

His fellow monk made all of this cheese, and that guy is the only one with the recipe. They pass it down by oral tradition and never write it down.

After the monastery we were getting pretty hungry, and  didn't have a knife for the the wheel of cheese we all pitched in to purchase, so we were all ready for lunch when we arrived at another gorgeous outdoor patio restaurant along the side of the road, right next to one of the (slower-paced) canoe/tube rental spots along the snowmelt-fed river. I forget the name of the restaurant, but it had an amazing assortment of bread and cheese appetizers. They even cut ours up after watching us hack at it with dull knives for a while. Next they brought out the main dish, which was grilled trout on a stick.

There was a beautiful view from the patio seating area to look at...

...and great friends to share a meal with.

These cheeses and whatever these puffy little bread balls are were delicious! I couldn't sop eating them.

The main course - fish on a stick!

Since we had voted that day to do the monastery instead of white water rafting (they offered us both as options), after dinner I went down to stick my toes in the water to see what it was like... it was freezing!

The water may be cold, but I couldn't complain about the view.

Because we were a little slow, we had the nearly impossible task of going back and eating dinner within two hours of this meal. Our final night with the BL mayor and his staff was spent back at the restaurant where we had watched the search and rescue demonstration, only this time we had a four course meal at the Kazamat, starting with an assortment of appetizers, salad, meat, and dessert.

Walking into the restaurant you feel like you're going into an old castle... because that's what you're doing.

We were all full from lunch, but that really didn't matter once we saw how good the food was.

We sat right next to the kitchen, where you could watch them preparing the meals.

They brought out some of the appetizers we had when we were watching the demonstration, and they were just as good the second time.

After a salad came an amazing meat platter. I believe it was pork and lamb, perhaps some veal too but I'm not sure.

A light dessert was perfect.

Before leaving we exchanged gifts, as was our custom with the mayors on the trip.

Day 6 (Part I) - Saying Goodbye to Banja Luka, July 6th

After saying our goodbyes, we went out for one last night on the town before heading in for the evening and leaving the following morning. While I'm on the topic of Banja Luka, I want to mention that the following morning, before we left, the city arranged for us to have a quick visit to the Orthodox Church that was in between us and City Hall. It's a beautiful church, and one that replaces the original, which was destroyed by the Ustasha during WWII.

The view walking over...

The communists who took over after WWII under Tito built a memorial on top of the church's former grounds, making it impossible to rebuild in its original location until the 2000s, when they moved the monument and began rebuilding.

The local priest gave us a short history of the church and talked about its renovation, explaining that no expenses were spared in the rebuilding of the church. This includes solid marble pillars (unlike most, which are marble facade with concrete filler) and a gold plated dome, which was paid for with help from the Russian Orthodox Church.

The view from the front steps...

Walking inside the front doors...

And greeting the priest...

Looking up at the beautiful panels inside the church...

And even further up past the chandelier to the ceiling...

Then back down, where worshipers come to pay their respects.

The people of Banja Luka are some of the friendliest I have ever met, and their hospitality towards our enormous delegation was incredible. I can't wait to go back and do some whitewater rafting next time, and I hope the friends we made, like our guide Drazen, will come visit us the next time they are in the U.S. He even followed us on our bus for a while to show us the waterfalls we missed the other day, where we got some great pictures before heading to our final destination: Mostar!

Beautiful.

Great selfie spot too! See you next in Mostar...