Banja Luka

Road along the Vrbas

Today we went upstream of the Vrbas river which runs through Banja Luka for a look at some of the sites nearby.
  
The drive took us alongside the Vrbas river which sits at the bottom of a canyon which runs for 10's of kilometres and is nothing short of spectacular.

WSSC - World Stone Skipping Championship

Along the way we stopped at a place where the 2012 world white-water (canoe & kayaking) championships were held just a couple of weeks previous.

Stopped the car further on and climbed a small track to some 13th Century castles ruins which weren't much chop but gave us a great view of the valley below.

Further on again I claimed the world stone-skipping competition on the river and we then had some lunch opposite with the world's happiest waitress.  (Sort of like a Bosnian Fawlty Towers.)   

View from ruins.

After that we climbed some other hill to see the ruins of Castle Greben and the kids got chased by a donkey that lives there which was a laugh.  I thought it was a bit of a one-off but I was speaking to the tourist bloke a day or 2 later and he told me that the donkey chased them as well and is a bit of a feature of that place.

Searched for a non-existent monastery (at least we couldn't find it) after that and instead found a wooden church.  

Castle Greben - with donkey security

Nearby were a set of cascades that were quite pretty and have been harnessed via waterwheels and stone wheels to mill flour in the years past.  They are currently under renovation and are part of an EU cultural funding agreement and it was good to see one in action.

Finished the day off with a brilliant dinner in the Kastel Fortress back in Banja Luka by devouring half a cow for a grand total of about $80 AUD including drinks.  These Bosnians love their meat.  Just like our German friends, vegetarians would struggle here also.  

Wooden church.

Krupa na Vrbasu cascades