The stone bridge of Višegrad, where Bosnia tells its own story

There are bridges that serve to cross a river and bridges that cross the centuries. The one of Mehmed Paša Sokolović, in Višegrad, belongs to the second kind. Eleven arches of pale stone have leapt over the Drina since the late sixteenth century, willed into being by an Ottoman grand vizier born in these very valleys and taken away as a child. UNESCO recognises it as a World Heritage Site, but looking at it in the silence of early morning, with the mist rising from the green water, it seems to belong only to those lucky enough to be there.

Yet this bridge is anything but unknown to literature. It is the true protagonist of "The Bridge on the Drina" by Ivo Andrić, the Nobel laureate, who made it the silent witness to four centuries of coexistence and rupture between different cultures. Reading those pages before setting off, or sitting on the kapija, the wide central terrace where the townsfolk once paused to chat, turns the visit into something more than a photograph. Here the stone has memory.

Višegrad lies in the east of Republika Srpska, far from the usual circuits of Mostar and Sarajevo. You arrive calmly, along roads that follow the rivers between the mountains, and it is precisely this distance that shields it from the crowds. Beside the bridge stands Andrićgrad, a stone town-citadel dedicated to the writer: much debated, theatrical, but useful for stopping to have lunch and taking in the place without hurry.

The advice is to arrive out of season and walk slowly from one bank to the other, perhaps treating yourself to a boat trip on the Drina. No queues, no tickets: only the sound of the water and a work that has watched empires pass by. An authentic alternative to the bridge of Mostar, where you can rediscover the meaning of slow travel.

Getting there

Višegrad is reached from Sarajevo, whose airport is the reference gateway, in about two hours along the M5 road. There are a few daily buses, departing from the East Sarajevo (Lukavica) station. The bridge is pedestrian and crosses the town: you park a short distance away, near the entrance, and it is practically impossible not to find it.