Banja Luka, a slumbering little city in the Northern parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the Republika Srpska (Serbian Republic), with a cafe dedicated to Putin in the city center, and a grand Communist-era museum with the ambient background noise of water leaking through the roof; colorful buckets strewn out across the floor....
That's where I've been this time!
It was nice - nicer than it maybe sounds! And adventurous.
Once again I was there with good buddy Bear, on a brief weekend visit.
We landed at BLIA (Banja Luka International Airport) late on a Friday night, shared a taxi with a couple of other Swedes I got to talking to on the plane, got dropped off by an apartment building somewhere in the city, managed to get directions via helpful shop owners who barely spoke English to an ATM (in difference from Albania they have no service fees!), then to a little kiosk that sold SIM cards (cheap!) and finally with said SIM card we were able to call the motel we were staying at, find our way to a bus station, and head to said motel!
It was situated just outside the city, by a river, with lush mountains on both sides.
We missed the motel stop and had to walk back to it, on streets without street lights, littered with trash, with stray dogs on the side, and cars streaking by at uncomfortable speeds...
But the motel was nice! They had free tea/coffee by the reception, we had a good room, and beyond that the entire motel to ourselves!
March is apparently a bit off-season in Banja Luka.
Anyway, pictures!

Read on...