Winter in Bosnia

I did not want to write too many blogs about Bosnia, but I can't resist. As you've probably read from my previous post, I spent one week in Bosnia during the Christmas holiday. One thing I noticed the moment I came back to Graz was the absence of snow and cold. In Bosnia, this was not the case. As Travnik is surrounded by a mountain called Vlasic you can obviously conclude that there was a lot of snow and cold as well. Just the mention of it makes me think of the beautiful landscape :-)

I'd like to tell you something about the very famous mountain "Vlasic", which I already mentioned above:

It's located (as Travnik) in the heart of Bosnia :-) 1,969m is it's maximum height.
Vlasic is a very  famous tourist attraction and winter destination for people of the Balkancountries. Every free gab or place was used by Bosnians, Serbs as well as Croatians to build cottages. In the winter months they use to stay there over the weekend and go skiing or do other winter activities. My family is currently building such a cottage house as well. Even if it's not a long way for us to the top of the mountain, we think it's pretty valuable to have one :-)
When you go more off the beaten track, into the wood, it's like a magical place. Everything seems so quiet and peaceful. You do only hear the scrunch of snow. There are loads of restaurants and hotels there as well. The main slope for skiing is long enough.
I do find it a very lovely place to go not only in the winter, but also in the summer months. There are unspoiled areas only few people have been to where you can go hiking.
 
Vlasic is almost more famous for it's cheese. Farmers use to rear sheeps and make white cheese of their milk. A common Bosnian proverb has it's origin from that:
"Bijel si k'o Vlasicki/Travnicki sir." --> This is said to someone who has a very pale complexion :-)

I wanted to show you some pictures I've made. The frost on leaves fascinated me a lot

On the following picture the frost has left a beautiful pattern on a window