Built in the 1720s and reinforced in 1816, Vratnik Citadel once enclosed a whole area of the upper city. Patchy remnants of wall fragments, military ruins and gatehouses remain. The urban area is appealingly untouristed with many small mosques and tile-roofed houses, and there are several superb viewpoints. Start a visit with a 3KM taxi hop up to the graffiti-daubed Bijela Tabija fortress ruin-viewpoint (or take buses 52 or 55 to Višegradski Kapija gatehouse) then walk back.
To descent from the Višegradski Kapija, walk five minutes down Carina, turn left beside the fire station on Džanin Sokak, right again by the attractive reconstructed white mosque, then first left down cobbled Bijela Džamija lane. This takes you past the ever more overgrown ruins of the once-impressive Jajce Baracks (Safet Hasžić Kasarna) to another brilliant viewpoint staring down the river and over the City Hall. Three minutes' stroll below you can get almost as good a view and enjoy it (in good weather) over a coffee at the Yellow Bastion . To return to the city centre walk past a new but traditionally designed Tekija (sufi house) and follow the edge of a movingly dense graveyard, taking pedestrianised Kovaći past quaint workshop-boutiques to return to Pigeon Sq.
