Page 21 - Eastern Europe

Downtown
Providing Fascinating Travel Experiences
Rich History
Conquered by the Slavs in the 7th century and then by the Ottomans in the 14th century, the region, the crossroads of East and West, was forged at the confluence of these two great peoples. The borders of Bosnia and Herzegovina never stopped moving, until the expansion at the end of the 19th century of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Despite the recent war and its destruction, despite the creation of two political entities within Bosnia and Herzegovina itself (one Serbian, the other Bosnian Croat), the mixed heritage is everywhere visible. A positive sign, mosques have been rebuilt in Republika Srpska, and Orthodox
churches renovated in the south, in the Croatian-Bosnian Federation.
Multiculturalism
Bosnia-Herzegovina is the archetype of the great Yugoslavian caul- dron, the place of all historical encounters and conflicts. Yet Bosnia- Herzegovina has not been in conflict for a long time. The country is no longer this no man's land riddled with anti-personnel mines. It is a country which is coming back to life, with scars certainly, but which is reclaiming what has for centuries been its originality: its multiculturalism.Bosnia-Herzegovina is the only country in Europe where, in the same street, the eye still hangs successively on a minaret, an Orthodox or Catholic bell tower, a synagogue wall ... Denominations
represent various identities.
Diverse Architecture
Ancient territorial conflicts have pitted the country with fortresses and castles. And in the old centers, the mosques of the 15th and 16th centu- ries, churches, madrasas and old Ottoman houses unfold a history as
turbulent as it is surprising.
Amazing Nature
What makes Bosnia and Herzegovina so charming is not only its cultural contrasts and its built heritage. We also discover wild spaces: primary forest, karst riddled with caves and canyons, tumultuous rivers with emerald waters, falls and cascades in shambles, altitude pastures.
Why Bosnia & Herzegovina
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