Mostar, ancient bridge between cultures

Mostar is famous for its medieval bridge, Stari Most, that joins the Muslim and Christian sections of the city over the very cold and deep Neretva River. It was also among the bloodiest sites in the 1990s Bosnian War.

For four centuries, the bridge was a symbol of co-existance among Bosniak-Muslims who are shaped by Ottoman culture, Roman Catholic Croats with their Western European culture, the Eastern Orthodox Serbs with their elements of Byzantine culture, and the Sephardic Jews. (Bosnia was one of the few territories in Europe that welcomed Jews after their expulsion from Spain. Most Bosnian Jews were killed during WWII; some escaped; few remain.)

The Old Town's narrow pedestrian stone roads were filled with little shops selling mostly generic items. The boys bought yet another soccer jersey for their collection! Some shops showed the beautiful work of local copper artists. When we visited, the Mostar Old Town was very full with tourists.

We swam in the cold river to escape the heat and tourist throngs. There's a tradition of bridge jumping in Mostar, where local men - and tourists who get trained for a fee - jump off the 24 meter high bridge into the icy Neretva River below. We got some shallow diving tips from the local jumpers while we jumped from the river edges.

Our other highlight of the day was visiting a local coffee roaster who took the time to sit down and give us instruction on the proper drinking of Bosnian coffee. After some back and forth chatting, he also shared his reflections on living in post-war Mostar. He was a child during the war, and one of his memories of that time is of his family going out at in the darkness to collect black-packaged food rations dropped by American airplanes - him hoping for the kind that had cookies! He remembers the fear, the lack of food, the darkness during air raids. His parents carried far more of the burden, which shows now in their memories and injuries from protecting the town during the siege. We watched a video before heading out that morning, of what turns out to be his mother, talking about life and death in the war. https://youtu.be/AvzgrgWqNH8

He mentioned how Mostar used to be the most mixed-marriage city in Bosnia. Then, when the war came, you were forced to choose sides - your mother or father's. Your first name or last name. And if you didn't, others would choose for you. There was palpable anger when he talked about this. And then it deflated as he lamented that he, and his whole town, are living with PTSD from the war. How will we move on, he asked?Okumaya devam et