Una is unique! It's not just an easy to remember and effective marketing slogan, it's simply the truth. After enjoying the beauty of Unaland in May 2022. I couldn't wait for the opportunity to visit Una again, and that happened in June of this year. Even though we visited Una two years ago from mouth to source, the whole of Unaland offers so much content that you have something to explore there for weeks and you should return to this destination again and again. Our hostess Ada also boasted to us on our three-day Una press trip that they recently had a group of Germans stay at their hotel Emporium for a full week, which points to the fact that Bihać and Una are slowly becoming a destination for a full year's vacation, not just a weekend anymore. destination.
Coming to the Una this time, I modified the route a little in order to pay attention to both banks of this beautiful river. I entered Bosnia and Herzegovina at the crossing Hrvatska Dubica – Kozarska Dubica, and not to GP Dvor - Novigrad like the last time, so for the first time driving along the road that goes along the river, I get to know the new fifty kilometers of the right bank of the river, along which there are numerous picnic spots and holiday homes.
Rights Una magic then it starts somewhere at Bosnian Islands where I enter the Una-Sana county of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is about ten kilometers from Otoka to Krupa, and then another thirty kilometers to Bihać. It is also the most visually attractive part because you are driving through the Una river canyon constantly cutting the route Una railways which once connected Zagreb and Split with the fastest railway.
Arriving in Bihać, in Hotel Emporium I was refreshed by the excellent Preminger beer from Bihac, and then at dinner betrayed – sour pasta soup that resembles crumbs; great regeneration after a long journey. This was followed by other delicacies from the hotel kitchen, which harmoniously combines local, ambient gastronomy with contemporary culinary trends. At the same time with our guide/skipper Edin from the agency Una Kiro rafting we are arranging the details of tomorrow's rafting. In addition to rafting, this agency based in Golubić, five kilometers from the center of Bihać (you should not confuse this Golubić with the one near Knin) also offers accommodation services in a camp, three villas (Una, Ena and Ina), and in a facility called Big House which has ten rooms.
We are in safe hands, (besides on our home river, Edin honed his rafting skipper skills on African rivers as well), and we will see for ourselves tomorrow when Edin puts one of our rafting crew members into the boat after capsizing. Neoprene shoes and clothes, together with a protective helmet, and falling out of the rafting boat make it a non-traumatic experience, and a touch of uncertainty pumps up the adrenaline dimension of the whole story. And when something unforeseen happens, you are actually safe. When you are in the right hands of course.
In the comfortable room of the Emporium Hotel, morning came quickly. It's on the program, of course Rafting as the first must be activity during the stay on Unaland. The rain is pouring down like a cable, which does not instill a bit of optimism. Edin holds all the strings in his hands, follows the most current weather forecast and says that there is no delay; we are leaving only an hour later than planned, the rain will stop by then... And it really was. After the heavy rain, the sun shone, Una swelled and her color is not bright turquoise like last time. It is beautiful and dark turquoise, with leaves that the wind took off from the surrounding trees and brought to the surface of the water. It immediately occurred to me that Una should be experienced in all four ages; after all, like Plitvice, which is only forty kilometers away from NP Una.
My first encounter with Bihača and Una happened about fifteen years ago, when in June, halfway to the sea, I stopped and slept in Plitvice for the Plitvice Half Marathon. Otherwise Lika and Bosnia are separated by the Plješevica mountain, and the Croatian part is quite bare, so one of the peaks of that mountain is called Gola Plješevica. On the Bosnian side, however, dense forest on the slopes of the mountain is the rule, not the exception.
The rafting tour itself starts, of course, at Strbačko noise. With its height of 24,5 meters, it is the highest waterfall in Una National Park, and it is essentially a complex of three waterfalls that are located at a relatively short distance. At the starting point of the agency Una Kiro rafting near Štrbački buk, there are concrete supports of the former bridge on one and the other side of the river, and there is also a wooden hut in which the equipment is located, which also serves as a changing room where "civilian clothes" are changed to neoprene equipment that is disinfected after each rafting tours.
There is also a luxuriant elderberry bush growing in the scent of whose flowers I enjoy between light stretching and applying sunscreen to the parts of the body not covered by neoprene. The sun was dangerously hot and the morning rain, which was pouring down as if from a cable, now seems like a long-dreamed dream. Exercising and lubricated, and intoxicated with the intoxicating aromatic nectar of the elderberry, I lie on the slanted wooden pontoon that connects the shore with the water and enjoy closing my eyes and merging with nature. Rafting adventure it just hasn't started, and the team is posing with a spacious rafting vessel that our hosts affectionately call the "sow". We start, but soon we go out. We leave for the viewpoints that continue to the educational path with wooden steps, from which there is an excellent view of Štrbački buk.
I am watching this scene for the second time in my life, in a way unfortunately but that in no way diminishes his attractiveness. While we curiously look at the beech from the comfortable vantage points, mixed with other tourists, Edin stands at the top of the waterfall, dives into the river to acclimatize himself for the upcoming jump, then looks down for a long time, keeping the onlookers in suspense, then the boat is thrown down the waterfall and then he throws himself down the buk.
The boat normally stands still in ideal conditions, but a large amount of precipitation has fallen, the river has swelled and therefore automatically speeds up, the boat moves downstream, and Edin swam well to catch up. A visitor in a burqa who, just like us, records it all with her cell phone is watching all this with delight. The boat is "saved", we continue our Una odyssey. On the way we stop at Jovica's caves which is located on the left bank of the river. At first it seems that it is a bunker from II. World War II, and then an inscription carved on a marble slab near the top of the cave reveals the secret of its creation: "this cave - dwelling was built in 1913 by a farmer and miller for himself and his family Jovo – Jovica Prtina from Štrbac.
We continue on and then after a little longer drive we arrive on the left bank of the river where a small one is waiting for us Robinson brunch; Hot dogs placed on sticks are quickly thermally processed on the fire, and tomatoes washed with Una water, which are "delivered" to the rock on which they are placed, are delicious with them. The members of the team, members of the fairer sex, also used that rock after lunch photo shooting, and we are also joined by a snake that carelessly crawls along the Una coast and our oars. We had a pleasant snack, but we shouldn't overdo it, a real dinner (pie & kebab) is waiting for us at the camp in Golubić. The rafting descent ends in Lohovo, after we have passed Dvoslap and Troslap.
The next day we started with an urban tour around the wider center of Bihać. Our guide Almir started his story about Bihać at the info board that talks about the people of Bihać Imperial or German gates. Along the way, we learn that he is also the author of the texts and drawings on the info boards. We are in good hands again. Bihać was a fortified city from its very beginnings, and from the beginning of the 17th century it was surrounded by double walls. The city was entered through three gates; in the north there was the King's White Gate, in the east the Bosnian Gate, and in the south the already mentioned German or Imperial Gate. They were named so because the road led through them to the Habsburg Empire, which was also called Germany.
Historical sources testify to this, but unfortunately it is not visible today, because by order of the head of Bihac from the end of the 19th century Dr. Lothar pl. Berks, the demolished remains of the Bihac fortress. We pass through the park Gelenders and very quickly we come to Captain's Towers which has the status of a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina. That tower was part of the Bihac fortress complex, and it survived demolition only because the authorities needed it as a prison. The Croatian-Hungarian king once stayed there while fleeing from the Tatars White IV. As a sign of gratitude, he gave Bihać the status of a free and royal city.
In the Captain's tower, there is also a museum of the Unsko-Sana canton, and material evidence of human activity in this area dates back to the Copper Age, and special attention is paid to the ancient inhabitants of this region - the Illyrian tribe Japodi. At the time of the Ottoman invasion, there were a handful of fortified cities around Bihać that made up an integrated defense system - at its peak there were about fifty of them. It is difficult to list them all, let's mention only Bjelaj, Vrngorac, Ostrovica, Ostrožac and Sokolac, which we will visit.
Next to the Captain's Tower are also peat, a 19th-century mausoleum built by the Austro-Hungarian monarchy in honor of the defenders of the city who fought against that same monarchy in 1878, all in order to please the resident Islamic population. In the immediate vicinity there is also The Bihać sarcophagus is also known as the Tomb of the Croatian Greats. It contains the remains of nine dignitaries from Bihać who died defending the city from the Ottomans. Their remains were buried in the old church of St. Anthony of Padua, which after the Turkish entry into the city in 1592 was turned into the Fethija mosque. Then these remains were thrown out of the building to a nearby plot, and (again) the Austro-Hungarian monarchy made a sarcophagus in which these same remains were buried at the end of the 19th century.
The tide of Turkish conquest of Croatian lands ended at Bihać. Bihać fell in 1592, it was conquered by Hasan – Pasha Predojević, but he was killed in the battle of Sisak the very next year; the battle that marks the turning point of the Croatian-Ottoman wars. As fun fact it should be mentioned that after the fall of Bihać, Karlovac became the main fortified Croatian city. There are a handful of layers of history in Bihać. When we talk about recent history, let's also mention that it was held there I. session of AVNOJ. It is also interesting that the old name of the town of Bišća changed over time to Bihać, but its inhabitants are still called Bišćani.
From the city center to Falcon towers it is less than five kilometers. It offers a wonderful view of the city and its surroundings. In an interesting way, Sokolac connects the Croatian noble family Frankopan and the German noble family Hohenzollern, which ruled Prussia and later the German Empire. Namely, Beatrice Frankopan the sister of the Croatian ban Krsta, after marrying ban Ivaniš Korvino, received Bihać as a dowry from her father Bernardin, where the young married couple moved. After eight years of marriage, her husband dies, and not long after, so do her children, and she remains the only heir to Corvino's huge estates. She then remarried to Margrave Georg Brandenburg from the Hohenzollern dynasty, and after her death he sold all the properties he inherited from her, becoming one of the richest people in the country and spending that money on buying properties in Silesia. Sokolac was recently renovated and you can climb the narrow stairs to two more floors of the tower.
After the historical sights, we wanted Una again, so we visited River dock. It is a restaurant that, as its name suggests, is located on the banks of the Una, in a suburban settlement The ripper which is known for the ancient Illyrian tribe Japodim who once lived there in the Sojenica settlements. There are also floor-to-ceiling windows on the wooden terrace, so fish literally swim under your feet, and ducks walk freely on the terrace, without fear of people. A special attraction they offer is lunch on an electric boat while you ride the Una and come right up to its waterfalls. Is there anything better than enjoying the delicacies of the ambient gastronomy and beautiful views of the turquoise Una water and restless beech trees while the tiny drops from the waterfall refresh the uncovered parts of your body? Quite a worthy farewell to the beautiful Una!
Photo source: Mario Jukić