You don’t have to be an adventurer to appreciate the unique beauties of Bosnia and Herzegovina. While the name evokes memories of a war-torn past, today’s BiH is the country all the ex-humanitarian workers come back to visit again and again. Bosnia’s natural beauties and wonders are unparalleled. A country of rugged hills, mountains, rivers and lakes, eco-tourism has become all the rage here with opportunities for river rafting, mountain climbing, skiing and paragliding in an untouched, pristine natural wonderland. For more information about eco-tourism in Bosnia, check http://www.greenvisions.ba/gv/ an eco-tourism NGO founded by an American who fell in love with, and escaped to Bosnia 13 years ago. 

Bosnia’s capital, Sarajevo, does not disappoint. A city nestled in a valley, surrounded by hills and mountains; it’s the cool tourists’ new hot spot. The first thing that hits you when you arrive in Sarajevo is the feeling. An intangible, yet very real feeling that you definitely want to come back here or that you definitely don’t want to leave. Sarajevo was built by the Ottoman Empire in the fifteenth century and re-visited by Austro-Hungarian architects in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Following that, 50 years of “happy” socialism created a city that is a mix and mesh of different and sometimes contradictory styles and buildings.  Hailed as the Jerusalem of Europe, Sarajevo houses Catholic churches, Muslim mosques, a synagogue and Orthodox churches all within walking distance of each other. 

No other European city can boast such a thing and really, as you walk down the main street Ferhadija, and pass the beautiful Serb Orthodox church, the majestic Cathedral and the old Turkish-style Begova Mosque, all within five minutes, you realize that Sarajevo is Europe’s best kept secret. Sarajevo was home to a synagogue before any other city in Western Europe and, most incredibly, in a city that survived three and a half years of ethnic war, all of these structures remain unscathed.