Pentecost in Bosnia

Meeting and registration at Budapest-Keleti railway station. Travel through Hungary, Croatia and Bosnia with multiple locomotive change. With interactive on-board programs, we can learn about the history and interesting facts of the affected railway lines, settlements, landscapes and our destination. The train has a dining car and a bar car. Arrival in Sarajevo in the early evening, walk or transfer to the accommodation.

After breakfast, we will go on a sightseeing walk, where we will get to know the history of Sarajevo with the help of our local guides. The city’s diversity lies in its wealth of ethnicities and cultures, which allows us to get to know the different religious traditions and lifestyles of the city’s inhabitants. The impressive monuments of Ottoman architecture harmonize and contrast with the public buildings of the Monarchy and the various religious symbols in the city, so they are guaranteed to impress all visitors. During the sightseeing tour, we will also visit the site of the assassination of Ferenc Ferdinand, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne. In the old town, we will visit the Gazi Husref Bey Mosque. After that, we will discover the hookah bazaar world of the Bascsarsija quarter, where special ornaments and culinary specialties await us. Our walk ends in the bazaar.

Free program in the afternoon or participation in our optional program.

A) optional program: Bus trip to the tunnel of Hope and the bobsleigh track

First, we visit the Tunnel of Hope, which became a symbol of survival during the siege of the city. We can learn about the history of the secret tunnel and its role in the defense of the city. Afterwards, we will visit the ruins of Sarajevo’s bobsleigh track, which was one of the iconic venues of the 1984 Winter Olympics and is now a symbolic memory of the city’s past. On our way, we will stop for a coffee break in a cafe operating in the building of the newly renovated Bistrik station of the former Sarajevo-Visegrad narrow-gauge railway with a wonderful view of the city. The program ends at the hotels.

After breakfast, walk or transfer to the train station. Travel with the Continental Classic Express special train through the Neretva valley to Mostar. During the journey, our train passes through 89 tunnels - 46 of which are located in the 25 km section between Bradina and Konjic - and many bridges. In Mostar’s beautiful, medieval-style Ottoman old town, a five-hour free program awaits its guests, during which they can see the fascinating sights of the old town, among others, the symbol of the city, the Old Bridge, which also inspired Csontváry in the spring of 1903. The bridge connected the two banks of the Neretva for more than four hundred years, but it did not survive the South Slavic war of 1993; a Croatian tank destroyed it within a few hours. Since then, the bridge has been rebuilt and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

In the afternoon, we return to Sarajevo. Free program for the rest of the day.

Breakfast, then all-day free program, or participation in one our optional program.

B) All-day bus trip to the Sargani Eight:

We leave early in the morning by bus to Mokra Gora. The hotel provides us with breakfast packages. After the 2.5-hour journey in Mokra Gora, we board a diesel-hauled train and travel along the world-famous Sargani eight. The train ride is interrupted by numerous photo stops. Our program continues in Visegrad, where we will see the bridge spanning the Drina and built in 1571 by Buda Pasha Megmed Szokoli, which has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2007. This bridge is the subject of Ivo Andric’s work, "Bridge on the Drina", for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. We will have lunch in Andricgrad. The idea of building this part of town can be linked to film director Emir Kusturica, who initiated its construction in memory of Ivo Andris. The district was built on the basis of what was described in the novel Bridge on the Drina and contains all the architectural styles of the former Yugoslavia. After the program, we will travel back to Sarajevo by bus.

After breakfast, transfer to the train station, then return home with the Continental Classic Express. On board programs, a dining car and a bar car are available on the train. Arrival in Budapest in the evening.