When visiting Bosnia, our friends (that live in Sarajevo for a few months now) prepared a surprise for me and my friend Laura. They didn't say much, just that we'd spend a night in the last village in the world.
We took off from Sarajevo on a sunny October afternoon and drove towards the mountain of Bjelašnica where some of the Winter Olympics‘ disciplines took place in 1984. And then we continued a little further when my friends took the car on a narrow, mountain road.
The first thing we saw were cows. On the road. And they wouldn’t move. And they would look at us as if we were complete idiots. But finally, they moved away and we could continue to the tiny village of Umoljani, where we left our car.
Immediately, an older lady approached us and offered to sell us her knitted socks made out of sheep wool. But we were in a hurry so we would make it to our final destination before sunset because, no kidding, nature can be quite wild in such a mountainous country and the last thing we wanted to meet on our way was a bear or a wolf. So we promised to buy some the next day, quickly changed into our warmer clothes and hiking shoes, stuffed our backpacks with necessities (such as a bottle of true Bosnian honey liquor), and took off.
The whole journey was quite pleasant, there were no crazy steep hills to climb. At first, we walked through a wide, grassy valley, but then we took a narrow path to the top of a hill and found ourselves on the edge of a wild, beautiful canyon. The sun was slowly beginning to set so the opposite side of the canyon was bathing in golden light, enhanced by the gold and red leaves of October trees. I was speechless. And I swear to God, I’ve taken like a hundred pictures in that canyon!
As the sun was setting, the light and scenery were changing, but the temperature was still quite pleasant. As we were climbing the last bit of the journey, the sun finally set and left us with a beautifully colored sky and the dark silhouettes of the beautiful, wild mountains.
When we entered the village of Lukomir, it was time for the villagers to put sheep back into their enclosures. And not only sheep but also goats and at some point, we found ourselves in the middle of their horde and yes, we confused them a lot. But they eventually made it where they were supposed to and so did we.
We were staying at this big mountain lodge that could house around 20 people and it was all just for the 4 of us. As we were visiting in October, it got quite chilly very quickly after the sunset and the lodge was quite cold. So we all decided to sleep and stay in this one tiny room for 4, as we had a portable heater in the room and four people to breathe warm air.
But before we spent an evening there, we went for dinner. Our hosts prepared baked chicken with rice & potatoes and brought us a bottle of local beer and I swear to god it was the best meal I’ve ever had. And then, we went back to our lodge. Our plan was to drink that liquid honey we brought and snack on the loaf of cheese we bought at a local market in Sarajevo but although there was a kitchen in the lodge, there was absolutely no knife. None.
So I came up with a genius solution. Since Bosnia isn’t in the EU, we had to buy SIM cards with free internet and I still had the whole card from the SIM in my wallet… so I cut the cheese with that. :D the cheese slices were as thick as a slice of bread but we didn’t care. That is, after we stopped laughing about the fact I have cut cheese with a SIM card.
And then we proceeded to play games (that we also carried on our backs all the way to the village), drink that honey liquor (it was very good!), listen to music and have a great time. Such a great time that our evening lasted until around 1 am.
In the meantime, we had this bright idea that since we were staying in such a beautiful place, we could get up earlier and see the sunrise. That sounded like a terrible idea considering we went to sleep after 1 am, but since the sunrise was around 7 in the morning, it wasn’t that bad in the end. Although if I hadn’t gotten up first, nobody else would (as they told me afterward).
So a little before 7, we got up and dressed up in everything we had as it was almost freezing outside. Nobody else in the village was awake so it was only the four of us and a cold wind howling in between the old houses. We found the perfect spot: the sun rose just between two mountains in front of us. It was breathtaking, and our experience was once again enhanced by the golden colors of October nature.
We were getting hungry so we went to our hosts‘ place once more for breakfast. What they served couldn’t have been more typical: local donut-like pastry but from a different dough, with homemade jam, cheese, and coffee made in the typical pot. The coffee was terrible in taste but the whole experience made it taste much better. And while we were eating, it was time for the villagers to let their sheep out of their enclosures to the meadows and it was so cool to watch! Pretty much every household had plenty of sheep (could’ve been around a hundred each) and multiple hounds to look after them. As there were so many, they filled the village streets completely! It was magical.
After breakfast and some more time spent looking around from the village’s viewpoint, and a little packing our stuff, it was time to hike back. This time, we took another road on the other side of the mountain, which, in my opinion, wasn’t as attractive as the first one, but was much more comfortable. But it was nice anyway and we could watch one of the villagers herding the sheep in the wild, with her dogs running around and putting the sheep together. It also got pretty warm: I needed to strip down just to my tank top which was quite unusual for me, considering it was the middle of October which, in my country, marks the time for coats and sweaters.
This whole Lukomir experience was my favorite in Bosnia. And as my dad pointed out: we might’ve experienced the last of the true, unspoiled Balkan. And in a way, it makes me sad.
Would you like to stay in a village at the end of the world? Is there anything you’d like to know about this experience? Let me know!
