Last day on the Ciro trail along the Veretna river and a strange little canal. We arrive in Mostar, where the Ottoman sultan Suleiman the Magnificent commissioned architect Hayruddin to build a bridge over the swift running Veretna. It was the only crossing for hundreds of miles with guard towers on both ends. Most means bridge in Slavic language.
During the 1992-1995 war the bridge was destroyed by heavy Croatian artillery. It was rebuilt with the exact same construction techniques by 2008 under Unesco supervision. Giant stone blocks from the old bridge still litter the river beach below in memory of a bridge that could have stood the rest of time but not the test of man.
The bridge is the symbol of a divided city. We took a tour with Sheva, who had a unique perspective on the conflict, Yugoslavia, and his city. He was part of the conflict and he brought the long history and the recent war to life for us with his own photos. To this day the war is not over, it is merely a 30 year truce. 70% of Mostar was destroyed.
Posters, signs and spray paint and the division of all services from trash to cell towers persist. Separate versions of history classes are taught in schools for the three ethnic groups; Serbs, Croats and Bosnian Herzegivonians.
May 26 in Bosnia and Herzegovina ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C