A trip to Western BiH

We took a 48 hour trip to the eastern part of BiH last weekend.  Our main goal was to hit the popular plivice lakes national park across the border in Croatia.  It was beautiful and packed with tourists.  We did the 2 hour walk and the boys were trooper--especially with the promise of ice cream at the end.  We were surprised at the sites we passed through in BiH.  There were beautiful water sites and lots of green, and no tourists to boot.  We started off in Cazin where there is an old fortress called Ostrozac.  No tourists here, we had to call a local guy to even open the fence door for us. Then we stopped at a beautiful restaurant in Bihac.  That evening we stayed at a farm stay an hour away called Čardaklije.  It was perfect for the boys, there were roaming puppies and horses, goats and some great food for us.

We then took an adventure to Martin Brod, a small town about one hour away.  For about a half hour the roads were only gravel as we went through the Una National Park, we almost turned around, but we were happy we didn't.  We had stopped and had fresh fish (literally pulled out of a tank full of water from the river drifting by) and then pay $1 to go and see the beautiful waterfalls. What a hidden gem.  The ride back to Banja Luka didn't disappoint either, huge expanses of rolling green and even more surreal when we stopped and heard Serb music coming from a local church.