Vines, Tobacco and Minarets

Thursday we did a day excursion to Mostar in Bosnia Herzegovina.  What a complete change of scenery and culture from the coast.  The terrain, for the most part, was very rocky and barren with little arable land except in the river valleys.  It reminded me of northern Province (like the area around the Gorge du Verdun), the Burren in western Ireland and parts of BC around Clinton (if memory serves me correctly on that one).  It was difficult to get any photos decent photos of the countryside but the two below will give you some idea.

Our first stop, after the bathroom/coffee stop, was Kravice falls – we didn’t bother to walk down the hill to see them as we thought we had a pretty good view of them from the parking lot.  It did give us a chance to have something to drink.  Interestingly, even though Bosnia is not in the EU, it seems the preferred currency is the Euro (they do have their own but Euros were easier) so in order to get some orange juice that is what we had to use.  

Next, we got on the road to Mostar.  On the way, we were told that 45% of Bosnians are Muslim; 35% are Catholics; and the remainder are mainly Orthodox Christians.  Also, that in many of the Catholic areas, the tobacco crops have been replaced by vineyards but the Muslim areas still grow tobacco.  Interesting!   Also in many of the villages we passed through, there was a minaret - first time I had ever seen one - on one side of the village and a Catholic church on the other.

We reached Mostar about 1 and then we did a walking tour with a Bosnian who referred to himself as Yugoslavian, rather than any particular country of that former country, etc.  He was the first person I have ever heard say President Tito was a good man – a unifier of the various southern Slavs.  That was interesting coming from a younger man - he was probably only in his mid-twenties and wasn't born during that era.  Mortar, like many Bosnian villages is also divided into two sides – Muslim and Catholic. They apparently seem to co-exist without problems, according to our guide.

Mostar Old Town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.   Here is what that website says about it:

The historic town of Mostar, spanning a deep valley of the Neretva River, developed in the 15th and 16th centuries as an Ottoman frontier town and during the Austro-Hungarian period in the 19th and 20th centuries. Mostar has long been known for its old Turkish houses and Old Bridge, Stari Most, after which it is named. In the 1990s conflict, however, most of the historic town and the Old Bridge, designed by the renowned architect Sinan, was destroyed. The Old Bridge was recently rebuilt and many of the edifices in the Old Town have been restored or rebuilt with the contribution of an international scientific committee established by UNESCO. The Old Bridge area, with its pre-Ottoman, eastern Ottoman, Mediterranean and western European architectural features, is an outstanding example of a multicultural urban settlement. The reconstructed Old Bridge and Old City of Mostar is a symbol of reconciliation, international co-operation and of the coexistence of diverse cultural, ethnic and religious communities.

We entered the old town, and saw the famous bridge and the minarets.  Jumping off the bridge is a big thing apparently so our tour group collected 25 Euros just see a guy do that.  I was trying to get a video of it, missed getting the camera set and thus also completely missed the entire thing.  The guide said that the guy who jumped was a soldier from the war.  He was captured, tortured and given only a 2% chance of survival but survive he did!  The guide also told us the unemployment rate in Bosnia is 45% and that the average annual salary is 250 Euros.  No wonder the young people are leaving in droves for a better life elsewhere - and no wonder this guy jumps off the bridge for 25 Euros!

 

The guy who jumped off the bridge.

After the walking tour, we shared a lunch table with a couple from Kent.  The specialty was called Sultan’s Platter, a massive assorted meat dish which included roasted vegetables, fries, salad, and rice.  It was very good – better than any of the meals we have had in Dubrovnik.  The bonus was that the entire meal which included drinks for the four of us cost 10 Euros each.  That was a real bargain compared to what we have been paying in Croatia.  We didn’t have much time after lunch but we managed to walk out on the famous bridge – very slippery marble – and stroll through the bazaar.  Both here and in the countryside, you can still see buildings that were bombed during the war and, while places like Dubrovnik have been almost totally restored, that is not the case in Bosnia. 
 

One of the buildings damaged in the war that hasn't been restored

We left Mostar about 4 pm and were back in Dubrovnik at 7.  That made for a very long day on the bus.  We were dropped near the promenade in Lapad, the area where our flat is.  Even though we were tired, we weren't finished.  We wanted to check out the Cave Bar in the Hotel More that people had been telling us about.  We went there for a drink and it was pretty impressive – although my Aperol Spritz cost nearly as much as my lunch!  Apparently the cave was found during the construction of the hotel and they decided to "keep it" and create a bar around it. 
 

 

 

What better than an Aperol Spitz in a cave at the end of a long day?

 

 
We were certainly dragging ourselves home after that as we were bagged.  And to think I have another early day tomorrow.  This time I will heading south to Montenegro and the Bay of Kotor.