Driving the Neretva Canyon   Spring, 2006

Virtually every drive out of S'jevo leads south-west over the mountains that surround the city down into the canyon of the Neretva River.  The Neretva begins somewhere in the north-west of Bosnia, flows down into Konjic, and then merges with the Bosna, turns west, and flows hard and fast down to the Adriatic.  Its milky-green waters have cut a long and beautiful canyon thru the layered rock of the Bosnian mountains with turns that ricochet off the steep walls and warm, green vallies.  Spring was just breaking as we drove, with fragile new green buds on the trees and tentative yellow and purple wildflowers emerging from the browned winter fields.  The road follows the cliffs above the river, diving thru some 16 tunnels as it goes. Spectacular!

They say the chalky green color of the water is caused by limestone in the water.  The snowmelt from the mountains seeps down into the limestone of the hills and and collects in caves.  It emerges full-blown in the spring as a brilliantly clear but frigid river from caves down below the cliffs.  Never seen anything quite like it.  At least three rivers here are born like that - the Bosna (near Sarajevo), the Buna (near Mostar) and the Neretva, below, into which the first two flow.  So by the time the Neretva makes its way down into the flat farm land near the border with Croatia, it has become very wide and quite reedy,  And there it feeds Bosnia's huge bird sanctuary and wildlife refuge outside Metkovic. The steep hillsides hold numerous scenic red-roofed villages with lots of bee hives, and fresh fruit honey in dozens of flavors is sold by babushka-clad women at tables set up along the roadside. In some 20 transits, it's never gotten boring.

The winter's snows still cover the mountains at Easter time.

A mountain town with its fruit trees in blossom

The Neretva narrows & deepens as it enters the town of Mostar