Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina
We left Dubrovnik early Saturday morning and got an uber back to the airport to pick up our rental car as parking outside of Dubrovnik is a real headache and pretty expensive. A couple hours later we had crossed the border into Bosnia-Herzegovina and were parked reading to explore.
Mostar - population 105,000 - fills a basin surrounded by arid mountains and split down the middle by the emerald-green Neretva river. “Bosniaks live mostly on the east side of the river and croats in the modern sprawl to the west — though the populations are beginning to mix again.”
On the way to the city I read the history the the area to Chris. Bosnia was in the news every day when Chris and I were graduating and before we got married. It was interesting and sad to re-learn the history and contemplate everything that happened just 30 years ago. It’s never a place that I thought I would visit, but here we are. A new country for all of us.
We didn’t get very far down the cobbled Turkish-feeling Old Town before we found a place to eat. We chose one of Rick Steve’s recommendations and were thrilled to sit down in the courtyard immediately. We were definitely ready to eat. The server recommended three different dishes and we wholeheartedly agreed. Grilled chicken, and different meats with roasted red pepper and zucchini, pita bread and different cream cheese and sauces and it was one of the best meals we had the whole trip! And much cheaper than downtown Dubrovnik. Delicious!
The view from the famous Mostar Bridge…
Luke and Matt pictured below on the bridge. The stone was so slippery that I needed a hand walking on it. The stone ridges all the way across made it easier to walk on.
The Old Bridge is one of the most stirring sights in all of the former Yugoslavia. This iconic bridge spanned the Neretva River for more than four centuries. Dramatically arched and flanked by two boxy towers, the bridge has been considered the point where East meets West - as symbolic as it is beautiful.
Before the Old Bridge, the Neretva was crossed only by a rickety suspension bridge, guarded by mostari (“watchers of the bridge”) who gave the city its name.”
Commissioned in 1557, and completed nine years later, it was the longest single-span stone arch on the planet — a technological marvel for its time.
400 years later the bridge was still sturdy enough to support the weight of the Nazi tanks that rolled in to occupy Mostar.
In the early 1990’s, the city became engulfed in war and the Old Bridge frequently got caught in the crossfire. Croats began shelling the bridge from the top of the mountain (where the cross is in the picture above) and then it tumbled into the river - partly strategic and partly symbolic - the destruction of a bridge representing the city’s Muslim legacy.
After the war, city leaders decided to rebuild the Old Bridge to look the same as it had and was overseen by UNESCO. It was finished in 2004 and was embraced by both the city and the world as a sign of reconciliation.
All information taken from the Rick Steves book
It was fun to wander up the cobbled marketplace - but we had to really watch our step to not twist an ankle. The stalls filled with colorful patterned carpets, fancy tea sets, copper trinkets and Turkish delight reminded me of visiting the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul last year.
We wandered out of Old Town to see where the modern Bosnians live and shop. Definitely fun to see the contrast and quite moving to see the city park turned into a graveyard during the 1991-1995 wars when the park was the safest place to bury people without getting shot by a sniper.
After wandering through town we decided to head down to the rocks below for a picture and then a quick boat ride up and down the Neretva River. So many boat companies ready to take our money. Such an interesting day trip.
