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After we had seen the beautiful Croatian coast it was time to head to Mostar, which is the fifth-largest city in Bosnia & Herzegovina, and famous for its old bridge “Stari Most” that was built in the 16^th century during the Ottoman era.

When we arrived to the city we were not quite sure what to expect, and the first thing that caught my attention was that there were still scars of bombings everywhere, even though the war had ended over 15 years ago. It’s kind of funny how you feel a little sketchy in a new place if the surroundings are not clean, new and polished everywhere, or maybe that’s just me as a Finn, but I found out very quickly that there was nothing to be afraid of.

Strolling around in the city

All the people were really polite, and the bridge looked really beautiful from every angle (of course we headed right there when we arrived to the city). There was also a funny big group of Italian tourists that seemed to be on our way all the time, not to mention the German father that had obviously forced his wife and two children to wear same kind of silly looking beige sun hat as he wore, while they strolled in the narrow streets of Mostar. The old town had to be quite small because we bumped into this family like six times.

I bought a local badge (like the flag of Bosnia & Herzegovina), which I attached to my back pack – I try to find one in every interesting country I visit, and I still have a lot of space to cover in my back pack – and enjoyed the different atmospheres as we walked around the city.

Where’s the history book when you need it?

There are a lot of mosques in Mostar, and to be honest, I didn’t know everything about the history of Balkan and former Yugoslavia, or about how many different religions are trying to live there, before the trip, but during and after the visit I felt a huge urge to find out what kind of history that area holds. It’s very interesting, to say the least, and not very nice read because it sometimes makes you wonder what’s wrong with human beings.

The beautiful bridge had just been reconstructed a few years ago, because in the Balkan war the Serbs bombed the historic monument into the river. There were signs telling “never forget ‘93” almost everywhere, and it’s not difficult to sympathize the locals who have witnessed the madness with their own eyes.

It would be very interesting to talk with some locals who experienced the war to see their point of view about what happened back then, but during the trip we didn’t unfortunately have time for that.

It seems like the city is quite strongly divided in two parts – Bosniaks (muslims) living on the other side of the river, and Croats on the other side. Because of the bloody history, Serbs Cyrillic texts in the traffic signs had been sprayed over, but we didn’t know that when we saw them for the first time. Only later I found out that Bosnia & Herzegovina is actually kind of divided into two areas: Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Sprska, which constitutes mostly of Serbs (about 88%).

Damn. Facebook would say that it’s complicated, and it really is.

Anyway, I took a lot of photos in Mostar because I found the controversies amusing. There were signs of the bombings everywhere and often they had renovated only one part of the building, leaving the other side just like it was left after the war. It’s almost heartbreaking to see, but at the same time it’s a great way of not forgetting what has happened. I think the best way to avoid war is to remember the horrors of last wars.

There was also a big cemetery which once again made me quiet as I saw that all the people had died during the same two years. It’s so sad that innocent people always suffer the most when big leaders get mad.

Mostar is really beautiful where everything has been reconstructed, but I just could not focus on anything else but the history because you can just feel it while you walk there.

Watching the sun go down behind the mountains

We drank a glass of local red wine in a nice balcony where you could see the whole river and the bridge while the sun was setting, and later ate local cepapi, which is some sort of kebab (and sometimes sausages) with bread. It was really good – try it if you go there.

Our initial plan was to spend one night in Mostar, but because we had seen the old town very well already and were really curious about Sarajevo, we decided to change our plans and book a hostel from Sarajevo for the same night and start driving there already in the evening.

I’m not sure if it’s wise to drive there during the night because it was partly really dark, but hey, we only live once and it wouldn’t have been the worst possible way to end one’s life anyway. If I could choose, I would probably want to die while I’m in a really happy state – just like when I’m traveling.

I was supposed to write about Sarajevo in this same post, but this is already kind of long post, so I’ll leave Sarajevo for the next time.

Here are some photos I took in Mostar:

If you liked the little story or the photos, you can thank me by telling your friends about this post as well. Thanks!

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