mostar, bosnia

we decided to take a detour from the coastal walled cities (after dubrovnik, really, what could be better?!) to inland bosnia. mostar is just a few hours from dubrovnik and afforded us a new view for our drive north. and yes, there was one world heritage site in waiting and one official one to cross off the list. pete enjoys crossing things off lists and now that he has all the continents, we are in search of a new list. despite our success on this trip, i am not certain the world heritage site list is attainable in one person's lifetime...

our crossing into bosnia (a different crossing than our coastal drive-through) was quite interesting. for those of you who have crossed from san diego to tijuana you know the starkness of the change. we went from well-to-do coastal croatia into poverty-stricken bosnia RIGHT NOW. the contrast was so drastic. but the countryside was beautiful and included a herd of cows, a flock of sheep, tobacco farms, and lovely vistas. we made a quick stop at pocitelj, a historic ottoman city (tentative world heritage site #1). 

bosnia countryside views

tobacco drying shed (we think)

pocitelj, bosnia

we arrived in mostar, found a room above the shops in the old city and set out to explore the town. unfortunately for me, bosnia is quite a meat-y country. but the food was the best we had had on our trip. we told our server at the restaurant that the food was much better in bosnia than croatia, to which he replied, "yes, of course." who would have thought. 

mostar was the site of many battles during the croat-bosniak war and many building and landmarks were destroyed, including the mostar bridge, stari most (world heritage site #6). stari most was build in the 16th century during the ottoman empire. it was destroyed in 1993 during the war but was rebuilt in 2004. the old city is a collection of shops and restaurants and spill into the streets from sun up to sun down. 

 the restored stari most (old bridge). the building on the right
housed a museum with photos from the war - a sobering view

 the old city on one side of the bridge

 the bridge surface was really slippery and the marble steps were well 

worn, seeming like they had been walked on since the 16th century

 a bar with a view...

 evidence of the shelling in the 1990s

 some of the shops in the old city

the meat-y menu in mostar