A Week in #Bosnia | Day Two – Traditional Pig Roast, Wine Tasting, Banja Luka and Burek @ExcitingBosnia
A Week in #Bosnia | Day Two – Traditional Pig Roast, Wine Tasting and Burek @ExcitingBosnia
We wake up to our first day of our off the beaten track holiday in Bosnia.
It’s an early start as we head off up the hill to the farm where our pig for later has been prepared and put on the spit.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6CGrcvKEAk&w=560&h=315]
It is tradition that rakija is drunk when the pig is being roasted off. We are in a barn on the top of a hill with the most stunning view across the valley. The barn boasts a beautifully custom made spit oven and the gentleman you see in the video carefully tucking the piggy’s tail away, proudly returns with a plastic bottle containing a liquid of a colour not dissimilar to…well, I’ll let you image what!
This is the rakija he has made himself and is stored in another outbuilding. We are all given a glass. I am told is it to sip and savour and not be disposed of in the manner of a shot. I have to say if had done that, I’m not sure I’d have survived! *Handy Hint* if you empty your glass it will get automatically refilled!
Whilst the pig was slowly roasting we popped off to see a local wine producer. He has a few vines and produces very palatable red and white wine. He was driven out of Croatia during the conflict and has now started over again. He also produces a rakija which is herb infused with twelve different herbs. It’s delicious ice cold and the prominent flavours that come through are rosemary and sage.
After the wine tasting, we hot footed back to Cardacani and after a couple of drinks relaxing outside it wasn’t long before our pig arrived wrapped in a sheet.
It was laid out on the table and the pig was still hot having come straight off the spit from the farm up the road.
I have NEVER tasted a spit roast pig like it. We were encouraged to tear off the meat and the skin from the carcass, it was delicious and I recommend anyone coming to Bosnia that they have to have one of these pigs.
After about half an hour of standing around the pig picking off meat and the most mouth watering cripsy skin with a beer in hand, we are presented with a table strewn with pork meat, cabbage salad, bread and ivar, a sweet red pepper spread. Beer and rakija are also consumed…ooops!
Well, The Bloke and I need a lie down, so after all this indulgence we went of for a well earned nap.
Refreshed after an hour or two of a siesta, we were then en route back into Banja Luka. It’s a city that is quite hard to define. There are normal high street style shops and feels quite cosmopolitan, there are a lot of young people around giving it a certain energy. What is noticeable is the absence of international corporates, which is refreshing for an outsider but maybe not so for locals. You won’t find a Starbucks or Costa Coffee here, however as we walked among the streets there is one multi-national about to open in the centre of Banja Luka…McDonalds. Yep, the golden arches have arrived. This is seen as a good thing here as McDonalds will apparently only open it’s stores in countries that are economically stable or safe…we shall see.
Adjacent to the shops is a shopping centre and we head up to Penguin, a rather smart bar at the top of the building with an outside terrace. We were persuaded to have another Nektar, the locally brewed beer. Whilst supping on the beer in the balmy evening air, my hosts surprised me with a birthday cake. It was a lovely touch.
We were a little tired but were cajoled by Tam to have one more stop before we return to Cardacani.
We jumped in the car and headed away from the centre of the city to a residential area. We park up in a school car park. It is pitch black, there are no street lights but we could hear the murmur of people chatting and drinking. Closely following Tam we venture through an entrance in a hedge and we had entered a courtyard of people happily enjoying their drinks to candle light.
We stumble through the darkened door and find a table, as soon as we sit down, the lights come on. There had been a power cut that had taken out the whole area. In some ways this disappointed The Bloke as he thought it was pretty cool in the darkness with the candles. We were off the beaten track in a bar called Maraton. It’s a great place to go to be a ‘local’, you won’t find many tourists here.
Another pivo before we head back.
If we hadn’t had enough to eat and drink there was a last stop of the day, to pick up a burek. You can get them with meat, potato or spinach. The Bloke chose a meat one. I think he had bitten of more than he could chew in more ways than one! I have to say though, a very tasty Bosnian snack indeed.
Phew, finally back. What a day…just a quick rakija night cap then bed zzzzzzzzz…..
A Week in #Bosnia | Day Three – MEAT dinner @ExcitingBosnia
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To find out more about visiting Bosnia and Herzegovina go to www.holidayinbosnia.com
