Out on the high karst plateau around Kalinovik, south of Sarajevo, the land opens into wide pastures and rocky hills at well over a thousand metres, ringed by the mountains of Treskavica, Lelija and Zelengora. Here and there, half-hidden in the grass, lie stećci, the carved medieval tombstones that are unique to this corner of the Balkans. The necropolis at Gvozno is one of the sites included in the UNESCO listing of stećci, which spans Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia.
The stones date mostly from the twelfth to the sixteenth centuries. Some are simple slabs, others great blocks shaped like houses or sarcophagi, decorated with spirals, crescents, vines, hunting scenes, dancers and figures with raised hands, and a few carry inscriptions in old Cyrillic. Nobody is quite sure what all the symbols meant, which only adds to their mystery. Out here, with the wind moving through the grass and a hawk circling, they feel like the work of people who looked at the same hard landscape and decided to leave their mark.
Life on the plateau is tough. Winters are long and snowy, summers short and bright, and much of the area was badly affected by the war of the 1990s. Villages are small and scattered, many of them partly abandoned, and sheep and cattle graze freely. The roads across the plateau are a mix of good asphalt and rough gravel, with long straights broken by sudden curves where they drop into valleys. The descent towards Foča and the Drina canyon to the southeast is spectacular, as is the route through Sutjeska National Park with its primeval Perućica forest.
Fuel is scarce on the plateau, so fill up in Sarajevo or Foča, the nearest town of any size. Landmines remain a real hazard in parts of Bosnia, so stay on roads and well-used paths and heed any warning signs. Village cafés may offer a simple meal of grilled meat, cheese and bread, and the region is known for its excellent lamb. Bring warm clothes even in summer, as the weather can turn sharply on the high ground.