A British Officer in the Balkans; The Account of a Journey Through Dalmatia, Montenegro, Turkey in Austria, Magyarland, Bosnia and Hercegovina (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1909 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER XXVI CLIMATE--LEAVING BOSNIA Best time to visit Bosnia--Resorts for summer--Severe winter--Summary of our weather experiences--Best times for Dalmatia, Montenegro, and the Hercegovina--A good winter resort--A good land route--Best day to travel--Train accommodation--Poor buffets--Zenica--Vranduk--River gorges--A fire--Maglaj--The castle of Doboj--Agram--Its sights--Croatian peasant costumes--Back to the Kant--A snow country. BOSNIA has practically only two seasons, like South Africa--a summer and a winter season, but of course at the usual times of the year instead of being reversed. When one ends the other commences. There is scarcely any period of transition as in England. One jumps from summer into winter, and the reverse. The best time to visit Bosnia is between May and October, the summer season, though speaking of the country as a place of residence it must be said it has a good climate all the year round, certainly a better one than its neighbours, Dalmatia and the Hercegovina. From the beginning of May onwards till the commencement of winter a brilliant sunshine can be counted on. The percentage of cloudy days as compared with more northern lands--Austria, for instance--is very small.' In the valleys the summer climate is too hot to be bracing, however, even at Sarajevo, although this is about 1600 feet above sea level. But on the mountains, among the pinewoods, or on the breezy uplands, there are numbers of places where the air is pure and cool--in Jablanica, for instance, Ivan about 3000 feet high, Pale about 2000, the Alpine heights of the Zelengora, 6000 feet, and Livno in the Bugojno district. At the higher stations amongst these the climate should also be bracing. GoraJda, a town in the south of Bosnia, on the...