Central Bosnia, an Agricultural Paradise Moving north into the Central Bosnian Highlands, the traveler leaves behind the rocky strata of Hercegovina and moves into high, rolling mountains and majestic old forests of pine, oak, white birch and maple. This is Bosnia proper, and before the war it supported a thriving tourist business that in 1984 hosted the Olympic Winter Games in Sarajevo. The forested hills look out over lush, green, alpine valleys that support the region's agriculture. Here you can still see people using horse-drawn farm wagons and cutting hay and grain by hand. Every farm has cows, chickens, and goats and the old-style center pole haystacks.
Folks here cure their own meats and sausages, make cheeses and gather eggs.
One delicacy made by Croatian farmers is a pork sausage prepared from the best cuts and slow-cured in hardwood smokehouses. Every farm also has its own fruit trees, usually plums. From these, many people distill local brandy, slivovica and rakiya. It has been suggested that this home brew has been the principle fuel for much of the scale and intensity of violence here. The mountains also yield the world's most sought-after woods for making violins and cellos, Bosnian Maple.