Mostar, Bosnia

August 22-25
Stari Most
Walking tour
Old market
Kravitka Waterfalls
Blagaj Monastery

Ah, Bosnia! This is such a cool and different place! The call to prayer heard through at least 5 minarets, a cool cobble stoned market with interesting goods, the mountains, flowers, old buildings with bomb holes in them - a fascinating city.

Stari Most (Old Bridge)

August 22-25 Mostar, Herzegovina

Stari Most

Free walking tour

Kravitka Waterfalls

Mepas Mall – bowling

Blagaj Monastery (boat ride)

August 22, 2018

                We meant to leave at 6am, then decided to leave at 7am then left at 7:30am. We were trying to avoid the long wait lines we’d heard about at border crossings. We drove to a border crossing that had no wait line. We found out from the guards who spoke no English that the road had no asphalt and it was a bad road. They said we had to go towards Split to get to Bosnia. One guard gave us his bag of fresh figs. They were yummy! This trip to the non-busy border cost us an hour. I was stressed we’d have to wait four hours at least at the border crossing. We got to the border with maybe 4 cars in front of us and sailed on through! It didn’t take more than 5 minutes! So we got to Mostar around 2pm. We checked in after collaborating with at least 5 neighbors trying to find out where the place Loga Mostar was. Turns out, we were all standing right next to it! Literally! Ha!

Our accommodations: Great! It’s a tiny apartment, but it was clean! There’s a kitchen table with benches and a chair, 6 bunk beds all with their own towels and pillows, a private bathroom and puzzles for the kids to do. There are tons of cats in Mostar! And there were a lot on our street which provided endless hours of entertainment for the kids. The beds were comfortable.:) She also left cookies and orange juice for us. No complaints.

                We went to see the Stari Most (Old Bridge) and the market on either side. We ate a traditional Bosnian lunch/dinner at Timi-Irma which was delicious! It’s sausages (cevarpi) and chicken and veal with tomatoes and cucumbers and cabbage and a yummy red sauce and a yummy white sauce, all placed on top of pita-like bread cut in triangles. It was incredibly delicious! It felt like a Thanksgiving meal though, one you shouldn’t eat every day. We ordered a plate for 2 and we had left overs after we had all eaten our fill. The markets had cool stuff! I’m not usually drawn to anything in markets, but these had a lot of desirable souvenirs plus every 10 feet was an ice cream stand. There was a massive surprise thunderstorm and we all got wet, but it was a warm, clean rain that everyone seemed to enjoy.

                While crossing the Stari Most to go back to our apartment we saw a diver getting ready to dive off the bridge! It was extra cool because we had been watching a video show over and over divers jumping off the bridge. It was cool to see it in real life.

                That night, after the kids were asleep, Dan and I walked to the down town and saw the bridge at night and the markets. It was romantic and interesting.

August 23^rd

A main mosque we visited on the walking tour plus a bar in a cave that is a disco at night

We went to the free walking tour at 10am. The guy who gave the tour was a local and helped us understand the war and showed us before and (now) after pictures of the town. We learned that Stari Most was built by the Ottoman Turks and in 400 years there was only ever one bridge because it was source of revenue. People had to pay to cross it so they didn’t want any other bridges built. Men had been jumping off the bridge into the freezing cold river for centuries to impress the ladies. It’s an old tradition. Many different countries have contributed to Mostar’s reconstruction efforts – a public pool by Italy, a school by Japan, city buses by Japan, etc. Mostar had been living harmoniously with Bosnians (Muslims), Croatians (Catholics) and Serbians (Orthodox Christians) for decades before the war started.

                That afternoon, I was brave and drove through the tiny streets to Mepas Mall to take the kids bowling while Dan worked on his homework. The kids had been complaining, especially Spencer, that I always plan what we do so he wanted to plan the day. They also played at a play place for kids. I was grateful the kids had such a great time just hanging around the apartment so they could enjoy the down time. They begged to watch a Translvania Hotel 3 at the movie theater in the mall even though it was in Croatian, but I told them it wouldn’t be a good experience.

We ended up eating late that night at a cafeteria-like restaurant. It seemed like a place straight from communism. The majority of the food was more like weapons than edible food. We laughed and laughed when the kids said how the restaurant was hidden and they wondered how many people ate there. We were wondering the same thing.:)

August 24^th

We let the kids play for a long time this morning and went to a laundromat. They insisted on changing the laundry over so we picked it up that afternoon after we visited Kravitka Waterfalls about an hour away. The water was freezing, but the landscape was magnificent. Dan and I swam across the lake to waterfalls at the other side. I absolutely loved feeling the oxygenated water. We hiked a bit and went behind a waterfall. It was so exhilarating! A cherished memory.

Talmage was so happy to get this massive cheeseburger!

                On the drive home, a fierce warm rain storm started up again. We picked up our laundry and headed home. That night we went for a final walk in Mostar. We saw the Crooked Bridge, reportedly the prototype for the Stari Most. There was a restaurant that looked so Jesus-like we wanted to eat there. The food was good but very slow in coming. We got to bed late (again), but enjoyed eating in a stone building next to the river with no windows. Very rustic.

August 25^th

                This morning we meant to wake up early and see the monastery before the crowds arrived. But the kids wanted to eat and then we ended up talking with our host about her experience during the war years. I had wanted to go to the war museum, but the kids wouldn’t stand for it, so I was very grateful to get the full scoop on the war. According to her, this is it: Two men wanted to be remembered as great men who created the Greater Croatia (Musolovich) and Greater Serbia. There was a census in1991 where people had to state their nationality. People started thinking about their ethnic origins. Many Croatians were told their neighbors wanted to harm them so they were forced to move near Mostar. Croatians and Bosnians fought against the Serbians in 1991 who were trying to take more land. Then the Croatians turned against the Bosnians (Muslims) in 1992! She said it was so sudden. They woke up to shelling one morning and discovered they were at war. She became a refugee in her own city because her home was close to the front line (the main Boulevard). She was moved a few blocks up the mountain and her home.

Bombed out bank on the fighting line

A newly rebuilt high school across the street from the above building

 The U.S. dropped MREs and they all became familiar with what numbers had the best meals. They were introduced to peanut butter and crackers were a special favorite. She was 17 at the time. Her then boyfriend (now husband) came to see her from the other side of the boulevard and was arrested by the Croatian police. The Muslims in West Mostar were forced to put white sheets in a window signifying they are Muslim. 4000 Muslim men were taken away to concentration camps. Some died, but most returned. The fighting stopped with the Washington peace talks. The mayor from East Mostar (Croatians) signed a treaty of sorts with the mayor from West Mostar (muslims). One mayor called the other and said that his driver would stop by and pick him up; they were friends! She said that some people even now teach their kids to be prejudiced. She makes sure her son interacts with all kinds of people so he is not biased. She is muslim, although not practicing. Her brother married a Croatian (Catholic). She said even though they are one city, they are still deeply divided. She says when you enter Bosnia, you leave behind common sense and enter the land of absurdity. For example, kids go to the same school but have separate curriculums – one from Croatia and one from Bosnia! I probably got a lot of details wrong, but that’s what I got.

                It was much later than we thought it would be so we packed up and then headed to the monastery. We never visited the inside of the working monastery - we heard the outside is much cooler than the inside.

Blagaj Monastery

We paid to ride a raft into the cave. We learned that this river was the largest fresh water source in Europe! The city uses the water unfiltered! I wondered if it ever tasted like rubber raft. The water source in the cave is 25 miles away under mountains, under ground until it pops up here. Interesting!

Boat ride into the cave

We ate lunch at a place called the Old Mill in Stolac. It was a working mill and we loved hearing the water nearby while we ate. I had a delicious chicken salad with tons of lettuce and vegetables and cheese with some memorable, freshly baked bread. It was very pleasant and the food was great!