Mostar & Sarjevo

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September 28th 2008

Published: October 17th 2008

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Intrepid Sicilian

Mostar

Cobblestone Streets of Mostar - Old Town

Mostar & Sarajevo

Saying good bye to Dubrovnik I took a 6 hour bus ride to Sarajevo, stopping first at Mostar for a four hour period, to explore and view and walk across the slim, elegant Stari Most (Old Bridge) - Mostar's icon. I've seen this bridge in many publications and travel shows and always wanted to visit, the opportunity was there - Here I found a young diver earning a living (as many do) from tourists by plunging off the bridge 21meters into the icy river below. On this day he seemed to have cold feet and would procrastinate the plunge or simply the tourists did not want to part with their money - the wait was to long to hang around.

There is more to this place than the bridge - here among the cobblestone streets are small shops and cafes. merchants selling all types of souvenirs and It's hard to believe the surrounding buildings and The Old Bridge has since being rebuilt following the end of the Balkan war in 1996. The level of detail and craftsmanship is a testament to the re-builders of the old town.

Later it was time to welcome Sarajevo, for

Mostar

Cobblestone Streets of Mostar - Old Town

a city that has suffered so much in the Balkan conflict (as i can still vividly remember the televised images splashed across the tele), it has certainly come a long way in the past 12 years. Today rattling old trams circle around the city center, and rebuilding of many new and old building is very evident with the amount of construction work in progress around the city. You can still find old skeletal buildings and indentations of shell impacts from the war on few remaining standing buildings which serve as a reminder of the gruesome war that took place over a decade ago. All things look positive for the Sarajevans, as they are very much proud of their multicultural past and city as our young tour guide, Harris explains.

Harris a young 21 year old runs and owns the hostel I stayed in and invited his guest's on a personal tour of his city, detailing his accounts before, during and after the war. And boy, is there a lot of it, Mosques, churches, cathedrals, the Bascarija Bazaar - an ancient trading place with artisan workshops, coffee drinking dens, restaurant and trendy bars, you can surely lose yourself here. He

Stari Most - Old Bridge

also pointed out the Latin Bridge where world history took a fateful turn precipitating WWI (an assassination of a prominent Austrian leader took place on the bridge - something to look up in the history books for later as this was news to me), and later showing us the Tunnel museum - a tunnel extending some 800meters under the airport into free Bosnia State serving as their life line during the conflict. Then later taking us up into the hills to the vantage points used by the Serbian army - shelling onto Sarajevo below, all the while given his personal accounts of what it was like as a young boy growing up in the conflict.

One thing Sarajevo is proud of and hold deep within their hearts is when they held the 1984 winter Olympics (gees i can remember them - Torvill and Dean performing the Bolero, I'm getting to old), the stadium since being rebuilt after the conflict acts as their treasure museum and represents a modern monument for the city to prosper and move forward.

A place well worth visiting unplanned.