Mostar

We left Dubrovnik on Sunday for Mostar on the 8 am bus. It doesn't seem terribly far between Dub and Mostar however there are now major highways and it is a very windy route through very hilly land. Bosnia is not part of the EU and as such the infrastructure including the road system doesn't seem to be that well developed. We had to stop for a border inspection and what I found amusing was that we spent more time on the Croatian side leaving Croatia than on the Bosnian side entering Bosnia. We continued on our journey and with all of the hills and turns, I became a little nauseous by the time I arrived in Mostar. It really didn't seem as prosperous as Croatia and Andrew observed that all of the houses and towns were flying the Croatian rather than the Bosnian Herzegovina flag.

Please forgive this explanation as I find understanding things here is a little confusing. The explanation for this is that BH is a conglomerate of three religious groups. The Croats (Catholics)were to the south along the border with Croatia, the Bosniks-Muslims were in the centre and the Serbian population-Orthodox Christain formed a crescent to the north. This distribution is attributed partly to the fact that the Balkans was the interface between the Austria Hungarian, Ottoman and Russian empire. Under Tito and Yugoslavia things were stable but when Yugoslavia started to break up in the early 90s all hell broke loose and there was major sectarian violence with the Bosnian population seemingly getting the worse end of the stick. Torture camps, ethnic cleansing, mass Graves, 2 million people displaced 40000 civilians killed. This was not a great place to be. Mostar was on the front line as in the 19th century the Neretva river separated the Austrian Hungarian empire from the Ottoman empire and as such it was a battlefield waiting to happen. Croat forces took the high ground above town on the west side of town and lobbed artillery down on the Bosniks

The Ottoman empire had controlled the east side of Mostar for hundreds of years and as such the old town has abundant stone mosques and the buildings have a Turkish flair to them. Much of the east side of town had been damaged during the 90s by shelling and these buildings had not been rebuilt. It was very touristy with lots of tacky tourist shops leading up to the old bridge. Who buys this junk. It really distracted from the ambiance of the old town. Mostar is known for it's iconic arched stone bridge built in 1557 by an Ottoman Sultan. The largest single span stone bridge in the world. As soon as you see my photo you will know the bridge . Of course during the civil war Croat troops artillery destroyed it. After the war it was important for Mostarians to rebuild and it was rebuilt over a decade and completed in 2004. It was just swarming with tourists. As like with all things it was more beautiful from afar than near. Other than wandering around the old town, we visited a Mosque which was built at the same time as the bridge and visited a horrific museum that chronologicaled many of the terrible atrocities committed during the civil war. They had display cases containing personal items of people from the war some had survived while many had not. It was very sad.

After lunch I went in search of an ATM that didn't charge a one time fee. MF bank was located in the West part of Mostar and Gemini said it didn't charge the 15 dollar fee. I walked around the West part of Mostar and was it ever pleasant. No destroyed buildings, no tourists, bus trips or glitchy shops. It felt very Austrian. It seemed that the town had given up the east side to the tourists and the west was where the locals hung out and lived. Rick Steves had poopooed the west side of town but I really found it very pleasant. We went back to eat supper at a restaurant named for Pablo Neruda the famous Chilean poet whose house I had visited in Santiago Chile. Before supper we had the opportunity to visit a Franciscan monastery literally across the street from where we were staying Destroyed and rebuilt in 1997, I had low expectations but was it ever beautiful inside. Beautiful mosaics and paintings covered the walls. I sat and listened for 30 minutes one of the monks perform some organ and guitar music. It was very nice.

Today we are off to Sarajevo.Read more