In a meadow above the Drinjača valley, a short way from the small town of Kladanj, a group of carved limestone blocks lies scattered among the grass and young trees. These are stećci, the medieval tombstones of Bosnia and the surrounding lands, and Olovci is one of the necropolises listed together by UNESCO as a single heritage site spread across four countries. The stones date roughly from the twelfth to the sixteenth centuries. Some are plain slabs or chests, others shaped like little houses with pitched roofs, and the best of them carry reliefs: spirals, crescent moons, vines, hunting scenes, a figure with a raised hand. Nobody is entirely sure who was buried under them, and the arguments about whether they belonged to Catholics, Orthodox or the Bosnian church have run for a century.
What strikes you on a quiet morning is the setting. The hills around Kladanj are densely wooded with beech and pine, and the air is cool and clean even in high summer. The town is known across Bosnia for its spring water, the Muška voda, which local legend credits with making men stronger, and you will see people filling bottles at the fountain. Beyond the hills, to the east, the land falls away towards the Drina.
The main road through here is the M18 between Sarajevo and Tuzla, which climbs over the hills via Olovo and Kladanj in long, flowing bends, with forest pressing in on both sides. Surface quality is variable: smooth new asphalt can switch suddenly to patches and ruts, and heavy trucks use the route, so overtakes need care. The side roads into the villages are narrow, sometimes gravel, and fun if you take them slowly. Rain makes the forest roads slick with leaves and mud.
One serious practical point: Bosnia still has areas contaminated by mines from the war of the 1990s, and although the main sites are cleared, you should never wander off into unmarked woods or abandoned fields. Stick to paths and tracks that are clearly used. Kladanj, a few kilometres away, has fuel, shops and cafés where a strong Bosnian coffee in a copper džezva costs very little, and Stupari is closer still for basics. Tuzla to the north is the nearest city if you need anything more serious, from tyres to a proper hotel.