Mostar, Bosnia

When heading to Croatia, Tony and I planned two day trips to neighboring countries Bosnia and Montenegro so we rented a car and picked up the morning of our first road trip, which would take us into the recently war torn Bosnia.  Our destination is the historic town of Mostar.

 

Mostar is roughly a 2 hour drive  from Dubrovnik. Interestingly, you pass into Bosnia twice along the way, as a small sliver of it reaches the sea, and the only highway passes through this section, then returns to Croatia before heading inland to Bosnia.




 


Along the way, you can see memorials to the young men and women who died in the recent conflict.  It is a sobering reminder of a time not that long ago.









Old forts and battle scarred buildings can be seen lining the highway.

 Some appear to be abandoned still.

Eventually, we arrived at the tourist center of Mostar, which has been mostly rebuilt since the war.  And having seen pictures of the warzone that this was a few years back, it has made a miraculous recovery. 










Much of the tourist area is centered around the 600 year old Stari Most (Old Bridge), which was blown to bits during the war.  It has been carefully rebuilt using the original techniques to be a close replica to the original historic bridge. 

 

 

There is also a reconstructed old main street done up in an homage to this countries Moorish history.  There is an almost Turkish Bazaar quality to it.

 

We stopped for lunch and had some wonderful Bosnian Sausages with some fresh authentic pita bread.   The Bosnian beer hit the spot as well.













After lunch, Tony and I climbed to the top of the mineret of the mosque closest to the bridge.  It was the first time either of us had been in side an Islamic temple, and though it felt different from what I'm used to as a church, many elements still felt similar.

 The staircase in the tower is the smallest, steepest staircase we've climbed in our travels. 

But the view from the top is amazing.  There is an almost fantasy/storybook quality to this town.

Tony and I walked to just outside the tourist zone to where the locals, who live downtown, live.  There are still some buildings that reveal damage inflicted in the war.  It is a little sad to see what war has done to what would appear to have been a regular home town where people had been just living their lives. . .












There is a somber cemetery that reminded me of the unnecessary loss of life war.  It wasn't just the bridge that was destroyed, but many young people.  It is sad to see so many headstones with the year 1993 on them. 





Many were young 20 year old men who either died in conflict, or as  victims of sniper bullets fired from the hills surrounding Mostar.

Seeing this sadness, we needed to get a quick coffee and pickup, so we found a shop serving some awesome Turkish coffee and baklava.  The coffee is served in these neat little metal pitchers, but you don't want to pour all the contents into your cup, as the coffee grounds are held in the bottom of the curved pitcher. 





Before leaving, we walked down to the bottom of the bridge to enjoy the view.  Suddenly, a chorus of Islamic calls to prayer emanated from several of the minarets including the one we'd climbed.  It was the first time I'd ever heard an Islamic call to prayer in person.  I had to sit down and listen.  There was a wonderfully exotic quality to it that I found otherworldly and wonderful.  

If visiting Croatia, I'd highly recommend taking a day trip to Mostar.