After our brief overnight stay and a delicious meal in one of the magnificent riverside restaurants we drive for about 1 hour to the start of our four hour walk up and down to the fantastic viewpoint of Zljeb. Although incredibly hot and humid, the trees offered some shade and there were many fresh water springs along the way that you can drink from and refill your water bottles. Yes, it's true, you can drink the water in Bosnia, even from the streams. The view from the top was spectacular. After we return back to our vehicle, we then move on to one of the highlights of the week to stay in a small hamlet of a mountain village called Umoljani. Tucked away in the Bjelasnica mountains there are approximately 30 residents, a few sheep, wandering dogs and a small mosque. Our quaint fairly simple chalet style accommodation is gloriously set in the surroundings of the green mountains and our hosts although they had limited English are incredibly helpful. Here we enjoyed our peaceful surroundings, a hot shower and a home cooked meal of burek and vegetables. Starting with a noodle soup and ending with a Traditional Bosnian favourite Hurmastica (small syrup soaked sponge fingers). We spent two glorious nights here and enjoyed two fairly challenging walks for around 8 hours each. One over to the village of Lukomir where we enjoyed traditional pitta - Sirnica (spirals of pastry filled with cheese) and Kompiruša (pastry filled with potato) with a local lady and her mother. Lukomir is the highest village in Bosnia and sits at 1496m with only 25 residents, plenty of tin houses and one small village bar. They tend to live off the land here, very simply although you can already see some western influences like trainers, crocs (with their traditional dress) and modern clothing...as well as the satellite dish outside the village bar.

Approximately a two hour drive from Sarajevo, nestled amongst beech tree forests and rocky ridges, lay our slightly soviet style hotel in glorious surroundings. We arrived when the sun was setting which created a warm orange glow high up on the rocky faces of the ridges that surrounded us. Here they have a wonderful terrace to sit and relax, quaint rooms with great views and a few minutes walk away is one of the largest outdoor swimming complexes I have ever seen...if you're quick you get time for a dip! Sutjesku is different to any other part of Bosnia. It's almost like being in the rainforest with drastic cliffs everywhere you turn. You can see meadows growing on these as high as 1900m. Quite remarkable. We did two walks here approximately one hours drive there and back each day. The first followed a steep mountain road to the base of Maglic. Trekking up Maglic is very weather dependent and unfortunately as we were expecting afternoon thunderstorms so the decision was made not to trek the peak that day. Maglic is sheer, dramatic, imposing and beautiful all at the same time. It's a tough climb and there are some cabled routes where the scrambling is exposed. You definitely need a head for heights as well as good sturdy walking boots for this big giant. The walking here in Bosnia is quite captivating and the one thing I found is that each region offers a totally different landscape. The south is much hotter and drier, is a lot less green and has very dramatic limestone cliffs, whereas the northeastern and central Bosnia is almost Alpine like with chalet style houses, rolling hills and the national parks are full of green forests, huge beech trees, stunning waterfalls and windy mountain roads. 

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