Digital Playground by Stanko Beronja

Trip to Bosnia 2020

15. july | frankfurt, germany

Ready for the next trip to my hometown in Bosnia – last year was the blast, this time I’ll consider me be lucky to get there at all. It feels almost like in those completely unpredictable war times 25 years ago when you wanted to travel to Belgrad and had to deal with certain degree of probability lying at the very lower end to get there. Not to mention that always it was a matter of life and death. 

Well in these times its not that dramatic of course, but still its going to be excited. So wish me luck and lets games beginn 🙂.

16. july | zagreb, croatia

Well, little did I know the first bump on the road came a bit earlier then expected: I missed my connecting train in München for 4 minutes (thank you Deutsche Bahn), so either I stay for a night here in Bavaria or I take a night train. As adventurous as I (think) I am the night train it is. What to say: we were only two in whole department so I slept almost the whole trip. Thank you Deutsche Bahn. Really. Then came border to Croatia, which was painless as it can be: 

You in transit? 
Yes
Have a nice trip.

Now I am sitting in a jazz cafe in Zagreb, which I discovered by pure chance. If you ever happen to be in Zagreb you have to visit this place: the atmosphere here is simply amazing.

17. july | novi grad

My hometown Bosanski/Novi Grad is known for its exceptional summer feeling, when all go to the river Una and enjoy sun, company of familie, friends, neighbours, and beer of course. Lots of beer. However, rainy days have also beauty of its own, especialy if you take that god view and fly like the bird over the town of you childhood, youth and adoloscence. 

The exploring of own roots is continuing:  Welcome to my hometown.

18. july | novi grad

Still exploring the rainy side of my hometown…

19. july | novi grad

Second time in row means we established our ritual, and thats Indir  and Dzeneta Merdanovic picking me up and going to interesting places regarding photography and video. This time we climbed up the hill above our town, and o boy, that wasn’t an easy task at all. But the view was worth evey pain in the foots and legs and we managed to shoot some nice photographs. And drink beer of course by enjoying the breathtaking skyline of Bosanski/Novi Grad.

20. july | novi grad20

Rainy days can be beautiful here, no doubt about that. But the real “highlight” of Bosanski/Novi Grad is definitely summer, when the temperature rises and the river Una becomes the place to be. So lets get that sunny side of my hometown.

21. july | novi grad

“Summertime and the livin’ is easy
Fish are jumpin’ and the cotton is high
Your daddy’s rich and your ma is good lookin’
So hush, little baby, baby, don’t you cry”

Ella Fitzgerald

22. july | novi grad

Greetings from Ada – watching sunset here is just beautiful…

23. july | novi grad

Sunset is beautiful here, no doubt about that, but the sunrise is trully breathtaking, especially on a very hot summer day, when the city and the river is completely covered by the fog early in the morning and the sun comes bit by bit slowly through. Whoever shall visit this little town in the west of Bosnia should at least once get up early in the morning and take a walk along the river: it is simply amazing.

25. july | novi grad

There is nothing compared to that feeling when you jump into the river una by 35 degrees and dive through those seemingly infinite water bubbles, that feeling of levitation and having no weight in your body, no worries in your mind, no sorrow in your soul… we grew up here happily and gratefully, there is no doubt about that…

23. july | novi grad___ ivana golubovic

“A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself.”

Hvala Stanko Beronja ❤

23. july | novi grad

One of the most exciting “features” of river Una is its variety. It is enough to go with boat only 1 km up the river to the place we call “stadion” and the hobbits kind of enviroment emerges. There are small island everywhere which look very natural and untouched by human hand, and the best part is going to swim or dive between these islands,which can be pretty intense as the river is sometimes very deep and very strong here. But thats exactly what made us all in Bosansi/Novi Grad excelent swimmer and diver: we swam for our lifes. Kind of literally. We love our river Una unconditionally, but also we have respect for it. A strong one.

23. july | novi grad

We went another 1 km up the river with the boat and the scenery changed almost completely: small natural whirlpools, tiny  waterfalls and grass fields in the middle of the river. Some people build expensive jacuzzi at home, we just come here and throw us in those bubbles.

23. july | novi grad

Now if you think the night life in this small town is completely ruined because of corona virus – well think again. After spending the day on Una driving with boat up and down we came to beach bar m for a drink and were heavily surprised with the music, energy and especially the setting. If you get too hot dancing no problem – just take those stairs down and in about 5  seconds you can get refreshed by diving into the water. Actually a prefect location for a party in hot summer. Yes, corona hit us hard as everyone else in the world, but we didnt give up the summer. In contrary.

28. july | ramsko jezero

On our way back to Bosanski/Novi Grad we stopped by OstrožacCastle, just outside the town of Cazin, near the village of Ostrožac. The castle dates back to the 13th century when the Ostrozac was part of property of the noble house of Babonic in Hungarian Croatian Kingdom. Ownership of the castle is still disputed, but citizens of Cazin and Ostrožac are permitted to use the castle grounds for local concerts and entertainment. The castle is slowly being repaired, well extremely slowly,  and it is rumored that it has been sold by the government to a private owner – something which happened sadly often enough in Bosnia after the civil war between 1992-1996. 

30. july | jajce

Meet Jajce – a small town located in Central Bosnia Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The town is famous for its beautiful 22-metre (72 ft) high waterfall where the Pliva River meets the river Vrbas. We came here after visiting Ramsko Jezero (Lake), and it was worth every inch of wet clothes you instantly get by coming down here: by 34 degrees an absolute pleasure and gratification. Except for that very slipy ground: almost fell about 6 times in about 3 minutes. Well no risk no fun.

Now waterfall was a big highlight, but that wasn’t the only one. They installed two ziplines 250 m long over the small canyon, and sliding over the waterfall and watching your foots dancing in the air was even more exciting then staying in front of waterfall and getting wet. And yes, you are supposed to hold steady with both hands on that zip thingy, but somehow I had to hold my camera. It was a bit risky but I survived Obviously.

31. juli | kozara

One more trip outside of Bosanski/Novi Grad: welcome to Kozara national park that was proclaimed a protected national forest in 1967 by Josip Broz Tito. It is situated between the rivers Una, Sava, Sana and Vrbas, in the Republika Srpska entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. These 33.75 square kilometers of dense forest and hilly meadows have earned the nickname ‘Green Beauty of Krajina’.

01. august | strbacki buk

Back to Una, but up the river, really up – about 100 km. Near the town Bihac is situated Strbacki Buk, a 24,5 m high waterfall belonging to National Park Una. Did I mention our river Una can show its natural beauty in many different faces? This one is where you stay in front of it and can’t help but feel that infinite power and and true awe and admiration filling you up completely. Our love for our river Una is endless, and there are endless reasons for that.

01. august | about 5 km from strbacki buk

Now a waterfall filling us up with awe is a beautiful thing, no question, but as it was hot like in hell or in Hawaii (34 degrees)  we needed a refreshment, A real one. Unfortunately going to the top of the waterfall and jumping down into the water and deadly rocks you can’t see at all was forbidden strangely enough, so we decided to go up the river a couple of miles and look for the spot we can go for a swim. And we found it. Now the temperature of river Una is during the summer in our town Bosanski/Novi Grad  very comfortable, you can stay in water for one hour without any problems. But here, hundred kilometers up the river there is completely another story. I dived into it with a big fat smile on my face, and about 7 seconds later I flew out of water trembling like crazy. So we looked for a real refreshment, and we found it. But really. 

01. august | japodski otoci

After getting filled with awe and pure admiration at Strbacki Buk we decided to go down the river and explore further our river Una. Only 30 km away we came to Japodski Otoci: The five islands intertwined with waterfalls and the river Una  are a fairytale scene of natural beauty. Yes, breathtaking is really  the best way to describe this place. Best thing: here you can also camp. But one warning though: if you want to go for a swim, which you have to if you come here, be prepared to experience very similar thing like above described: getting happily into the water and escaping like out of hell. I mean Antarctica.  However, that feeling getting into the sun after the cold shock: priceless.

01. august | ostrožac castle

On our way back to Bosanski/Novi Grad we stopped by OstrožacCastle, just outside the town of Cazin, near the village of Ostrožac. The castle dates back to the 13th century when the Ostrozac was part of property of the noble house of Babonic in Hungarian Croatian Kingdom. Ownership of the castle is still disputed, but citizens of Cazin and Ostrožac are permitted to use the castle grounds for local concerts and entertainment. The castle is slowly being repaired, well extremely slowly,  and it is rumored that it has been sold by the government to a private owner – something which happened sadly often enough in Bosnia after the civil war between 1992-1996. 

 

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trip to Bosnia 2020