Mostar

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Onto Mostar and Majdas hostel where I did a tour with Majdas brother Bata. As warned by other travellers coming from Mostar, Bata was completely crazy. It soon became clear why this was going to be a 13 hour tour when his introduction to the mini bus and what we could expect from the day lasted 40 minutes! Bata had an enthusiastic loud voice (think Doc Brown in Back to the Future) and he liked to talk a lot. He promised us a rollercoaster of a day, a reference to his driving and to the emotional journey he promised to take us on. When we finally got into the mini bus (complete with disco lights and a disco ball) he drove about 300m before stopping to talk to us about the new apartments and supermarkets which are currently taking over Mostar. The first hour or so continued on the drive for 2 mins, stop for 20 theme before we finally left Mostar, after stopping for the best borek I've tasted on my travels - the Bosnians are right, their's IS the best 😊 The rest of the day was a whirlwind tour of Bosnia: the Kravice (small cow) Waterfalls, Medugorje (the 3rd biggest Catholic pilgramage site where 6 teenagers saw the Virgin Mary in 1981), a 14th century still-inhabited city, and then a Dervish Monastery at Blagaj. Exhausted but happy, we returned to Mostar accompanied by some turbo-folk music.

The next morning I had time for a quick look around Mostar which is basically just a huge bridge, a beautiful river, and lots of touristy shops.

Once again, it was sobering to hear about Majda and Bata's experiences of the war and of leaving their home to claim asylum in the UK and Switzerland. The hostel we were staying in was their family home, which they had to flee from during the war and then fight a long legal battle to return to when the war had ended.

Majda is a great hostess and will cook you a fabulous breakfast no matter what time you get up. She also taught me a doughnut recipie that I will be trying out when I'm back home!

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