Trebinje

Trebinje sits in the warm karst country of southern Herzegovina close to the Adriatic, and it has a Mediterranean feel that the rest of the country lacks: plane trees shading the square in the small walled old town, cafés under them, and a farmers' market on Saturdays selling figs, honey, olive oil and wine from the surrounding hills. The Trebišnjica runs through the middle, crossed downstream by the sixteenth-century Arslanagić bridge, an elegant Ottoman span with two large and two small arches that was dismantled and rebuilt downstream, near the town centre, when a dam flooded its original site 5 kilometres upstream. Above the town, on a hill with a wide view, stands Hercegovačka Gračanica, a modern church built as a copy of a famous medieval one. The region's wines, from the local žilavka and vranac grapes, are the best in the country.

History

The town's old name, Tribulium, may mean place of three hills, and the region of Travunija appears in the 10th-century De Administrando Imperio; it commanded the road from Ragusa to Constantinople, taken in 1096 by Raymond IV of Toulouse and his crusaders, and passed from the Serbian rulers to the Balšić family in 1373 and to Tvrtko I of Bosnia in 1377. The Ottomans first took it in 1465 and finally by 1478, and built the Kastel on the site of the medieval fortress of Ban Vir; the Resulbegović family built the walls, the square and two mosques early in the 18th century, and Mehmed-Paša Sokolović built the 16th-century Arslanagić bridge, originally at the village of Arslanagić 5 kilometres north of the town (Wikipedia, Trebinje).

What you'll find

• The old town - the small walled quarter with its plane trees and cafés.
• The Arslanagić bridge - the sixteenth-century Ottoman span downstream.
• Hercegovačka Gračanica - the hilltop church with views over the valley.
• The wine cellars - žilavka and vranac from the surrounding karst hills.

When to go

April to October is warm and pleasant, though high summer is very hot in this karst basin; spring and autumn are ideal. The Saturday market is the best morning to be in town. It is a short drive from Dubrovnik, which makes it an easy day trip across the border.

Practical notes

It is small and quiet, and half a day covers the old town, so it works best with a wine tour or a night's stay rather than a rushed visit. Summer heat here is intense. Crossing the border from Dubrovnik can involve queues in peak season, and hire-car agreements sometimes restrict taking vehicles across, so check.

Nearby

Dubrovnik is half an hour southwest across the border; Mostar and Blagaj are two hours north.

Key facts