Life is incomprehensible miracle, because it always dissipates and rashes, yet it lasts and stands firm as The Bridge on the Drina - Ivo Andrić, Nobel Laureate.
In the land of magnificent rivers, like nowhere else in Europe, Drina River is renowned as one of the most beautiful in Bosnia & Herzegovina. Eternal source of inspiration for visitors, it has been the best described in novels of Ivo Andric, Nobel Prize winner for Literature in 1961. Not surprisingly, Drina River canyon, with exceptional wilderness and untamed nature, is considered as a national treasure.
Once a natural border between Western and Eastern Roman Empire, through history Drina River was also dividing catholic from orthodox area. Nowadays it meanders through picturesque mountainous and plain regions of Bosnia and Serbia.
With a total length of 341 km, it flows through canyons and gorges in its upper course, while the lower course is wider. Marked by stunning mountains and canyon lands, the upper part of Drina River is perhaps the most rugged part of the country, yet endowed with so much beauty.
The most beautiful and the biggest canyon in its course Drina engraved from Zepa to Klotijevac, 24 km long. After the Colorado canyon in America and Tara canyon in Montenegro, the Drina River Canyon is the third the deepest in the world. The downstream of Drina River between Zvijezda and Tara mountains, passes through the deepest part of the canyon with some peaks rising over 1000 m. This breath-taking scenery is also the habitat of many wild animals, birds and fishes. In the remote hills, one can even hear the howl of wolves at night.
There is a saying in Bosnia & Herzegovina for its curved course “who can straighten curved Drina”. It enlightens how some job can be useless, similar to Greek-antique mythological story on Sisyphus. That is why Drina is mythological, historical and real picture of men’s living in these places.
The author
Ljiljana Krejic
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