Monday, June 15, 2015

On the Bosnian Seaside: Visiting Neum

Bosnia and Herzegovina is a maritime country. Even though, the stretch of coastline is very short, there is one prominent city there worth exploring: Neum. The city of Neum, lies on the Adriatic Sea, and is a very popular tourist spot, not only visited by travelers from all over the world, but also by a lot of Bosnians. I visited Neum with a couple of friends this past weekend, and in this post I want to share some impressions from the Bosnian and Herzegovian seaside.



click on the images for a bigger view


Arrival

You can get to Neum by car, driving down the Adriatic coastline from Metkovic. Neum is very close to Mostar, as well as Dubrovnik, which makes both cities a nice destination for a day trip, or Neum the other way around. Neum is located on hillsides, and you will have to get used to streets constantly going downhill and up again. There are many hotels here, most of them new or renovated. Of course private accommodation can be found at every turn. We stayed in the Vila Mirela.



The Blue of the Sea

We arrived about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, and there was already nicer light in the surroundings. This was my first visit to the seaside this year, and I really missed the blue color of the sea. We went for a swim immediately. The apartment is a bit away from the city (only 5 minutes walking though), which is actually nice, since you don't have crowded beaches. Mostly you have the sea here for yourself.


In the shot above you can see Neum, as the sun is slowly setting. The beaches still had some visitors, and if you don't like these stone beaches, you can walk a couple of minutes towards the city and visit one of the usual ones.




A Nightly Stroll through Neum

As the night set, we we went out for a walk in the city. I brought my tripod with me, so that I could take some long exposure shots of city at night. The two coming up were taking from the balcony of our apartments.


I went for a pitch black look of the dock at night. The Canon 6D is very good at low light, and I think it really shows in this next shot. You can see hints of deep dark green on the bottom of the sea, and the boat blurred out by the motion of the water. Exposure was 30 seconds, f 5.6, 50 mm.


Some of the houses on the far west end of the city. This was taken around midnight. There were some people out in the streets, but not many. The reason for that is, that the swimming season hasn't really started yet. Most people are still work bound until July. You can expect more visitors in the peak of the summer season.




I love long exposure shots of water. This next one was 20 seconds, and I love the milky water effect you can achieve. When you add the surrounding lights to that, you can almost get a painting-like result.


The Next Morning

After a good nights sleep in our apartments, we woke up to a beautiful day outside, The sea is so clear and blue here, and with the house we stayed in, being so close to it, you could catch glimpses of the turquoise waters from a lot of spots. We had a great weekend here, swam a lot, grilled, walked, until eventually returning home...






I hope you enjoyed this little excursion to Neum, and that you give it a chance if you happen to visit Bosnia and Herzegovina.


55 comments:

  1. A grand set I always enjoy your night time shots.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Adrian. These were a lot of fun to make.

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    2. Hi Mersad
      , I'm so glad you enjoyed your visit to Neuf
      , looks a good place to eat.
      Lovely shots too..
      Best wishes,
      Di.
      ABCW team.

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  2. Beautiful photos! It looks great there :)

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  3. Habe noch nie was darüber gehört. Wie schön sommerlich ist es. Die dicke Raupe hätte ich bestimmt makromäßig fotografiert. Ich mag das vierte Foto sehr. Liebe Grüße

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    1. Das mit der Raupe glaube ich dir. Hab leider keine Makrolinse.

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  4. Such beautiful blues. Looks like a dreamy destination for a getaway.
    And your night time captures are wonderful!

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  5. I like the night time shots, too. Your post makes me feel like flying out to see the whole scene for myself.

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  6. Hello Mersad, what a beautiful place for a vacation. The town is lovely and the water color is gorgeous. My favorites are the beautiful shots at night, I love the colorful reflections. Great post. Happy Monday, have a great week ahead!

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  7. 14 is my most favorite, i do love your night shots so much. i love the plaid chair, i love the stunning views and water, and the houses all stacked up amaze me. i live in flat flat land, we can only see a few blocks and out of the water is nothing buy sky/water

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    Replies
    1. The terrain is mostly hills and mountains here, you won't that much flat land.

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  8. What a beautiful place and your captures are superb as always, Mersad!! They are the next best thing to being there myself!! Wonderful night shots and beautiful water!! Hope you have a great new week!! Thank you so much for sharing your trip!!

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  9. I'm with Adrian---- especially liked the night shots!

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  10. Beautiful shots of a most beautiful place. The color of the water is so pretty. Your work with long exposures resulted in some great water shots. Thanks for sharing your trip with us.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for visiting and coming along.

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  11. I love all your night shots!

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  12. You're making it very difficult for us to avoid the temptation that is Croatia!

    Worth a Thousand Words

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    Replies
    1. Neum, as the title suggests, is in Bosnia and Herzegovina, not Croatia. But it is located on the same stretch of the Adriatic Coastline as Croatia.

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  13. I think as close as I may get to you is Slovenia and Northern Italy...unless someone gifts us with lots of money and lots of time. I love the night images.

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    1. Slovenia and Bosnia are not too far apart. :) I think there is much more to do and see here then in Slovenia for example.

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  14. I enjoyed it very much Mersad, thank you for the tour. It is amazing how blue the water is!

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  15. All your photos are beautiful, but you DO excel with the night shots. It seems all your readers agree on that.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Linda. I love doing them as well.

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  16. Oh ja, und wie es mir gefallen hat....so langsam bekomme ich Lust auf Urlaub ;-)

    Herzliche Grüsse

    N☼va

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  17. Beautiful place. I think, one day I will go there :-)

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  18. What a gorgeous place to visit!

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  19. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  20. Fantastične su fotografije. Konačno da neko uradi kvalitetnu foto turu kroz Neum. Nisam ranije primijetio ovu crkvu iznad hotela Sunca, je li ovo nešto novijeg datuma? Izdaleka mi se jako lijepo uklapa u ambijent, samo ne znam da li je izbliza predimenzionirana.

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    1. Pomalo je predimenzionalna i nedovršena je, tako da predpostavljam da je novijeg datuma.

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  21. A wonderful photo essay. Very good, congratulations.

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  22. Amazing pictures. Really beautiful.

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  23. beautiful night shots, but i love the blue waters of the day!

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  24. Beautiful!
    Thank you for sharing at http://image-in-ing.blogspot.com/2015/06/island-welcome-labadee-haiti.html

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  25. Bosnia and Herzegovina is on my "bucket list" and if I ever get there I will visit Neum.

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  26. Thank you for the lovely tour of Neum. The blue is breath-taking. Those night shots are excellent.
    MB

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  27. the water's particularly beautiful

    ROG, ABCW

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  28. The night photos are marvelous, Mersad! Beautiful set of photos!!
    Have a Wonderful Day!!
    Peace :)

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  29. What great scenery! Your photos are excellent, as usual.

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  30. I love those night shots!

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  31. Really nice to see the Bosnian seaside. As beautiful as the country's interior. Gorgeous shots!

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  32. Wow... Mersad.. all the shots are wonderful, but the night ones are just amazing. Thank you for explaining the technique. I should get out my tripod and use my Canon to its full potential. Not that I could take photos like you do, but I should experiment...Michelle

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  33. This looks a lovely place to wander around. Your shots remaarvellous as usual.

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  34. Everything was just lovely here. The blue skies, the blue water, the lovely balconies, the flowers, the pretty lights of the city at night....sigh, made me wish I were there.

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  35. My interest is piqued. I love your nighttime shots especially.

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  36. Beautiful! I learn so much visiting here. This is a perfectly beautiful coast and no wonder it is a popular tourist destination. Nice to have the city nearby as well.

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  37. Love your beautiful photos of this port city! As always, so stunning! Really loved the night shots, and the balcony railings with the sea and flowers are so beautiful!

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  38. That is a very beautiful place, so peaceful looking and very clean. I can't imagine how used water from the households are treated before going back to the sea. And of course i always love your photos, and i envy and decipher how to get a semblance of yours. Long exposures of waters i love too, but not reliable yet.

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  39. What a great excursion. I bet staying in a private villa was very nice. I would love to do that someday.

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  40. oh that sea is a beautiful color. I love the images with all the lights and reflections. Just stunning.

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  41. HI my husband used to own a home in Nuem before the war. It is one of his biggest regrets to leave it behind. I would love to give him a photo of Nuem for his birthday. Would you be interested in selling any of your images. please email me at erin@erinderic.com

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