Great weekend in Banja Luka – they came as guests, left as friends

One merry group from Slovenia recently visited us. They arrived in Banja Luka on Friday evening and stayed for the weekend. And it turned out to be a great weekend in Banja Luka. We had an amazing time together and it would’ve been nice if we had a couple of more days to tell more interesting stories. To laugh together, tell jokes and enjoy the beautiful nature, food and drink.

For accommodation, we chose a wooden cottage, located on the bank of the river Vrbas. The peace and calm combined with the coziness and warmth of the cottage gave perfect conditions for a good sleep and relaxation. Saturday morning, after a good night’s sleep, it was time for breakfast which is the first part of our rafting picnic. The breakfast was really delicious. Actually, the homemade pie baked under sač was so delicious it melts in the mouth. After breakfast, we prepared for the main adventure, the rafting on the river Vrbas.

We arrived at the starting point of the rafting trip after less than half an hour of driving. The first part of our rafting trip was the safety briefing. We learned the basic paddling technique, how to behave when in the rafting boat, on water and how to swim in the wild waters. After the safety briefing and getting to know the equipment we could start with our rafting.

We had luck with the weather that day. The morning seemed like it was going to rain all day but in the end, it turned out to be a great day for rafting and a great weekend in Banja Luka. There was no rain and it wasn’t too hot.

Even the level of the river Vrbas that day was higher than usual so we had a faster rafting trip.

We enjoyed all the parts of river Vrbas, the slow ones and the fast ones, cascades and the beautiful canyon.

Since we got really hungry from all the paddling, we rushed for the lunch. The lunch on our rafting picnic was served on a beautiful picnic area on the bank of the river Vrbas. Beautiful nature, peace, calm, and clean air increase the appetite more. And in a location like this, the food gets tastier too.

Upon arrival, our host welcomed us with a cold homemade rakija. With lots of jokes and laughter, we drank our rakija which was a really good aperitif and sat at the table. The smell of the food was spreading around, the barbecue was nearly finished.

There was something for everyone. Ćevapi, sausages, skewers, rib eye steak, chicken, lepinja. And cold refreshments too.

After a great lunch, we visited the cascades of the river Krupa. We saw the mills, enjoyed the beautiful nature and made a couple of photographs to remember this great day.

With a lot of laughter and songs, we stayed until the evening hours. The next day we parted like real friends, and they promised to come back because Banja Luka is really beautiful to them and they want to experience it again.