Stolac, Radimlja and Daorson

Blending authentic historical locations with open spaces and local cuisine is always a win, but doing that here is different. Southeastern Herzegovina is a tucked-away land ideal for explorers of the rustical and authentic places, uninfluenced by the tourism industry. Turning away from the main road connections in these areas takes you a century back, makes one`s eyes open in a distinctive way, witnessing people tough as a rock on which they live. Driving through a labyrinth of rivers, karst fields and rugged hills, we shall visit Hutovo Blato – a nature reserve on the Adriatic Flyway, the town of Stolac with a couple of nearby villages that hide intriguing historical sites. In Stolac, we climb the Vidoški fortress, walk through the old town and learn about its surprisingly rich history, afterwards enjoying some honest local hospitality at the river. Following lunch, only a short drive from Stolac, we shall continue exploring the area by visiting places that require accurate interpretation, impressively mysterious and appealing sites of Daorson and Radimlja. Although they are positioned next to each other, their storylines are very distant in every sense. Daorson is a prehistoric to ancient megalithic settlement of Hellenized Illyrian tribe named Daorsi. The site is a complex of three parts: the acropolis hillfort with its cyclopean walls, the below-positioned terraces and the residential area. Everyday life and Illyrian culture is much of a mistery to us to this day, making this site very interesting to interpret. However, there are substantial mentions of Illyrian people in scripts written by the ancient authors that will give us the opportunity to contextualise this place to a certain degree. Travelling the line from Illyrian to Slavic cultural transformaion, we shall descend to Radimlja – one of the most valuable sites of the medieval period. The necropolis of Radimlja consists of very well preserved stećak tombstones, medieval gravestones found only in the narrow Western Balkan area. Dating from the 12th to 16th centuries CE, they represent a remarkable historical value, which is why UNESCO enlisted them as a World Heritage. are laid out in rows, as was the common custom in Europe from the Middle Ages. The stećci are mostly carved from limestone. Carved from local limestone, they feature decorative motifs and rare inscriptions, thus representing locally distinctive traditions, but also iconographic continuities within medieval Europe. You will enjoy in variety and representation of all basic forms, relatively high artistic quality, the richness of plastic decorations, reliefs and inscriptions mentioning historical figures, just enough for a highlighted closure of this unique tour. The trip back to Mostar takes less than an hour.