Travnik & Jajce: the back story

About Travnik & Jajce: the back story

By the ULTIMATE Sarajevo Editorial Team

North-west of Sarajevo, two small towns hold a great deal of Bosnian history. Travnik was the seat of the Ottoman viziers of Bosnia for over a century; Jajce, on its rock above a waterfall, was the last capital of the medieval Bosnian kingdom.

The town of the viziers

From 1699 Travnik was the seat of the viziers who governed Bosnia for the Ottomans, and foreign consuls lived here too. The town keeps its fortress, its Coloured Mosque and the cold springs of Plava Voda.

Andrić’s Travnik

Ivo Andrić, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1961, was born in Travnik in 1892 and set his novel Travnik Chronicle (also published as Bosnian Chronicle) in the town of the consuls. His birthplace is a small museum.

Jajce has a waterfall in the middle of town. Few places can say that.

Royal Jajce

Jajce was the seat of the last Bosnian kings until the Ottoman conquest in 1463. Its walls and fortress crown the hill, and the town keeps catacombs, the bell tower of St Luke and Ottoman houses.

The waterfall and the lakes

Where the Pliva meets the Vrbas, it drops over a ledge of travertine right below the old town, a waterfall of about 20 metres. Upstream, the Pliva lakes are lined with tiny wooden watermills.

Our advice: make a long day trip by car or bus, stopping in Travnik for coffee and lunch at Plava Voda and continuing to Jajce for the waterfall and the mills; or stay a night in Jajce to see the falls at dusk. Stop at the fortress of Vranduk on the way if you are driving.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Travnik & Jajce: the back story before you go.