A sneak peek into ethno village Ljubačke Doline

When in amazing Banja Luka, you will certainly not miss a chance to explore mesmerizing Vrbas River Canyon and its adventurous offer, such as rafting, climbing, dayaking (just to mention some of them). On the top of this, you must experience the best view of one of the most beautiful canyons in Europe. For that, you need to pin the small village called Ljubačevo on your bucket list. This place is worth paying a visit, because it also hides an ethno village “Ljubačke Doline”, with its valuable collection of antique & traditional artefacts. Here is a sneak peek into this time-machine.

Unique natural phenomenon

This traditional complex is situated in the village Ljubačevo, 17 km from Banja Luka, in northern Bosnia & Herzegovina. It is actually nestled in a pretty hillside meadow, more precisely in several hundred meters deep natural depressions in the land, a phenomenon that doesn’t exist anywhere else in Europe. One of a kind marve is a perfect setting for an ethno village that witnesses old ways of living in this region.

Open-air museum

Ljubačke Doline is a charming place that preserves and presents valuable cultural heritage. A sort of open-air museum with numerous restored traditional buildings, it shows how the architecture, and life in general, looked like in the 19th and 20th century. Within the complex, there is also a real museum with more than 5000 objects exposed in different collections, such as Ethnological, Antique and Numismatic. All the artefacts are authentic, mainly originating from various locations from former Yugoslavia, but some of them come even from other continents.

Rustic concept

All sorts of buildings that used to exist not that far ago, can be found here. From old sleeping houses, barns, a pantry, a shepherd’s cottage, an apiary and a distillery to blacksmith, carpenter and cooper shops. Most of those workshops are actually functional, demonstrating different old skills of making clothes and items, almost forgotten nowadays.* The central place in the ethno village is given to the market, surrounded by one tavern, and a tailor, a barber, a pharmacy, etc. *Overall, there are around 30 traditional constructions here.

Authentic cuisine

After you get a sneak peek into this cultural treasure, your time travel should finish with an authentic meal in the tavern of this village. From their completely traditional menu, absolute must tries are lamb on a skewer or under the sač (cooked under the ashes and burning coal), homemade buckwheat pie and cicvara. What concerns drinks, don’t leave this place before you try famous *Šljivovica (a brandy made with plums)*. In a case that this drink affects you a bit too much, don’t worry, at Ljubačke Doline you can sleep over in one of the traditional houses.