Konjic - and Tito’s bunker!

We get away by 6 a.m. and walk the 2 kms to the station - get there seamlessly (thank goodness for the ‘reccy’ yesterday!). We are way early but the bags have to be lugged up the stairs to the platform. And there are NO information boards - anywhere(!) - but we work out which plena (platform). 

People start boarding even half an hour before departure and Man in Seat 61 (the train guru) says to sit on the left hand side so we ‘nab’ our seats quickly. 

As the half hour counts down, there are hordes of people streaming up the stairs to the platform.

The train is an express (but by no means fast!) (a Talgo). We’ll be on this train again tomorrow to continue to Mostar. In the summer it continues to Ploče in Croatia. There are only 2 services a day.

There is a train from here also to Zagreb but not to Belgrade (surprise, surprise). If you want to go by train to Belgrade from Sarajevo, you have to go via Zagreb.

We depart on time. It’s a crystal clear day and you can see the snow on the mountains, although a mist is descending. We exit Sarajevo past rows of communist-block (literally) high-rise; there are a few modern buildings of big multinationals like Samsung.

We pass through several tunnels and it’s hard to see the scenery through the - by now - thick fog. 

But we eventually emerge into blue sky and sunshine - and amazing vistas of mountains capped with snow, forests and deep green valleys. In fact the scenery is better on the right until closer to Konjic.

MF counts 35 tunnels (5 whilst he went to the loo - I kept count for him😊). A railway such as this would never be built in Australia.

We arrive into Konjic a bit later than scheduled as our train had to wait for an oncoming one to pass at Blatna.

I wanted to collect our paper ticket in readiness for tomorrow morning’s departure and it took some effort to find a staff person. Google Translate to the rescue again: it seems I can come back at 17:00.

Google Map or MF can’t locate our accommodation and Harun comes to the rescue and walks us back (!) closer to the station from whence we had just come. Argh! 🤨

We leave our bags whilst the room is being readied and head off for coffee at a lovely place by the river. Konjic is a very pretty place.

As things turn out, Konjic is the place to visit Tito’s Bunker tucked within the steep Neretva River valley slopes of Bjelašnica Mountain about 10 minutes drive away.

Our Alison had alerted me on arrival in Belgrade that Dare, the father of her partner Alex had recommended it; in fact I hadn’t clicked on the link she had sent until a couple of days ago and then I realised the bunker was located in the Konjic area and would you believe it, we were to stay in Konjic (!).   

In between activities yesterday I got in touch with a tourist office here and they set aside 2 tickets for us - AND organised a taxi to take us there and back.

So, Josip Broz Tito was the former president of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1953 to 1980.

He ordered the building of a secret subterranean nuclear bunker (Atomska Ratna Komanda), code-named D-O. Hence the name ARK-DO. The idea was to have a defence system to house Tito and the country’s political leadership in the event of a nuclear attack. 

It was so secret that the teams of workers were replaced regularly so that no one would know too much about the bunker, and the workers were even transported there blindfolded so they wouldn’t know its exact location. 

FUN FACTS:

• Meant to sustain a direct 20 kiloton nuclear blast, this underground complex was constructed over the course of nearly 26 years, starting in 1953.
• The idea was to house a skeleton government of over 300 people for 6 months; its deepest point under the mountain is 280 m; and it cost $US4.6b to build.

• The ARK D-0 bunker was outfitted with what was at that time the highest and most advanced technology of the era, hosting an extremely impressive array of not only electronic systems and communication relays, but also water purification/recycling devices, air conditioning/filtration, power generators, and much more.
• LED lights were used here 10 years before they became available to the general public!

Here we are outside the gate waiting for the guards to let us in:

More photos: