VISIT KUPRES, A MOUNTAIN OASIS LOCATED IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA WITH ME!

Do you remember my posts about Blidinje? Well, on that same day we visited Blidinje lake, Hajducke Vrleti and church of Saint Elias, we also went to Kupres, a gorgeous mountain oasis located in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Today I'll show you what to see and do when visiting Kupres. This mountain area is more oriented towards winter tourism, being a skiing destination and all that, but it is also a great destination to visit in summer, autumn and spring. The nature is incredibly beautiful! Kupres is a place I definitely recommend visiting even if skiing isn't your thing. Personally, I'm not into skiing, but I liked Kupres so much I plan to come back in winter.

Ciao, cari lettori! Ricordate i miei post sul parco naturale Blidinje? Beh, nel stesso giorno quando abbiamo visitato il lago Blidinje, Hajducke Vrleti e la chiesa di Sant'Elia, siamo anche andati a Kupres, una splendida oasi di montagna situata in Bosnia ed Erzegovina. Oggi mostrerò a voi cosa vedere e fare quando si visita Kupres. Questa zona è più orientata verso il turismo invernale, essendo una destinazione sciistica diciamo, ma secondo me Kupres è un'ottima destinazione da visitare in ogni stagione (in estate, autunno e primavera). La natura è incredibilmente bella ed è un posto che consiglio di visitare anche se non siete pronti per i skiing (per esempio io non ho mai provato questo sport ma questo posto mi piace tanto che vorrei tornare anche in inverno).

Sjećate li se mojih postova o parku prirode Blidinje? Zapravo, istog dana kada smo posjetili Blidinjsko jezero, Hajdučke Vrleti i crkvu Svetog Ilije, otišli smo i u Kupres, raskošnu planinsku oazu koja se nalazi u Bosni i Hercegovini. Danas ću svima vama pokazati što možete vidjeti i raditi kada posjetite Kupres. Ovo je područje više orijentirano na zimski turizam, poznato je najviše kao skijaška destinacija i tako to, ali  ja bi rekla da je također sjajno odredište za posjetu u ljeto, jesen i proljeće. Priroda je nevjerojatno lijepa i to je mjesto koje definitivno preporučujem posjetiti čak i ako skijanje nije nešto čime se bavite (ja osobno ne znam skijati i nemam namjeru naučiti, nažalost tipična sam dalmatinka po tom pitanju, ali mi se jako svidjelo ovo mjesto i imam se namjeru vratiti ove zime).

MOUNTAIN CHURCH OF THE HOLY FAMILY IN KUPRES 

My husband warned me not to be startled by the size of mountain church devoted to the Holy family in Kupres. Do you know what? I was still startled by its size. I didn't expected it to be so gigantic. I was even more bewildered once I got inside. This church is enormous but the interior makes it seem even larger. It is quite majestic. We arrived there one day before the organized meeting of one thousand families, so it wasn't crowded at all, rather we had the place to ourselves. Last year there was a Guinness record meeting aiming for a thousand individuals named Ivan. The record was broken as more than 1000 individual Ivan gathered (I think they registered around 1700 of them). As I explained we arrived one day before the meeting of one thousand christian families.  I'm not sure if one thousand christian families were there to set a record, I think it was more connected with a mass they were celebrating. I'm assuming this mass with a thousand families was organized there because the church itself is devoted to the Holy family. Well, the church is certainly big enough to accommodate them all. 

KUPRES TOWN- A MOUNTAIN OASIS LOCATED AT ALTITUDE 1,200 M 

Kupres is a small town and the centre of the Kupres muncipancy.  Kupres town is located at an altitude of 1,200 meters. We strolled the town for a while and stopped for a cup of coffee in one of its cafes.  It is a very green town, exactly what you would expect from an European mountain town. If you like alpine architecture, you'll find this town charming. Similarly, the climate of this area could be described  a typical mountain one. Kupres is covered in snow for about five to six months of the year (so basically during the autumn and winter period). It is one of the most visited winter destinations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, perhaps even the most visited one. The majority of population in Kupres is of Croatian ethnicity, so the traditions and cultural events organized are mostly Croatian ones and as such representative of Croatian culture (Ganga folkore and Becarac songs, horse races and so on). The majority of Kupres visitors & tourists are also from Croatia, probably because of its vicinity to Croatian border.

KUPRES LANDSCAPE & KUPRES HOTEL 

The next thing we did was to drive around enjoy the surroundings. Kupres landscape is simply breath-taking. Eventually, we drove to Kupres hotel, possibly because it was the largest hotel we have seen to that point, so it attracted our attention. I think it's one of the oldest hotels in Kupres. We drove to Kupres hotel to check it out, but we didn't linger there. There are other hotels in the area and since I've never stayed in any of them, I can't give you a personal recommendations. When it comes to accommodation in Kupres, you actually have a number of options, you can rent private houses or apartments. So, if you plan on visiting, finding a place to stay should be easy.

RESTAURANT RECOMMENDATION: RESTAURANT JEZERO (LAKE)

I do have a dining recommendation to share. While we were driving around, we spotted this cute restaurant by a lake. It's called Jezero (lake). It's actually a hotel with a restaurant, but as we were only in search for a meal (we didn't plan to stay in Kupres) we ordered a meal and then continued our trip. The meal was delicious. I ordered fish and the waiter said that it will only take a minute for them to get it out of the lake. I don't know if that a joke or do they actually farm the fish in the lake, but at any rate my fish was fresh and well prepared, so I can definitely recommend this place. I don't remember what my significant other had for lunch, but I remember he was content enough. Another thing I loved about this restaurant was the amazing views it offered. Restaurant Jezero was such a serene and beautiful spot to enjoy a meal at. Where were we headed next? I will tell you some other time. This will be all for today, I hope you have enjoyed this travel post. I immensely enjoyed visiting Kupres town and the surrounding area, but I tried to keep my guide 'reader friendly' and not too long. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I organized my photographs in a collage to avoid this post from becoming overwhelming, but if you want to see more, I can write another post. Let me know.

Thank you for reading, commenting and visiting. Tell me how do you like Kupres?