In a meadow near the village of Musići, in the hills around Olovo in central Bosnia, stands a group of stećci, the great carved medieval tombstones that are unique to this part of the Balkans. They date roughly from the twelfth to the sixteenth centuries, and the people who raised them were Bosnian Christians, Catholics and Orthodox alike. The Musići necropolis is part of the group of stećci cemeteries inscribed by UNESCO in 2016, and its stones are among the finest: big slabs and house-shaped blocks decorated with spirals, crosses, vines, hunting scenes and strange, almost abstract human figures.
The setting is pure Bosnian upland. Wooded ridges of beech and pine roll away in every direction, small fields and hay meadows open up around scattered villages, and minarets and church towers appear in the same valleys. Olovo takes its name from the Slavic word for lead, which was mined here from medieval times, and the town is also known for a Marian shrine that draws Catholic pilgrims every summer. The Krivaja river, which cuts a deep green gorge nearby, is beloved of anglers and rafters.
The main road between Sarajevo and Tuzla passes through Olovo and is the logical way in. It is a proper mountain highway, two lanes with long climbs, tight bends in the gorges and plenty of heavy trucks, and surfaces range from good to rough. Overtaking needs patience and good judgement, especially on blind bends. The side roads up towards the villages are narrower and steeper, sometimes with broken tarmac and gravel patches, and in places sheep or cattle claim the road. Autumn is spectacular, when the beech woods turn and the air smells of woodsmoke.
Olovo has petrol stations and a few cafés serving strong Bosnian coffee in little copper pots, and grilled ćevapi are easy to find. Vareš and Kladanj, a bit further out, also have services. Respect the stones: people still regard these fields as burial grounds, and the carved surfaces are fragile. One practical note for the whole region: some hills in Bosnia still carry the risk of landmines from the war of the 1990s, so stick to roads, paths and obviously used ground.