The original bridge was built when the town was the provincial capital for the Ottoman Empire. Today there is a diving club that charges tourists to jump off the bridge (300 Euro) but if you really want to jump without paying you have to do it at 6am. There has been an annual diving competition off the bridge for 200+ years!
Up the slopes from the bridge are cobbled narrow streets in the preserved Ottoman quarter.
In the inter-ethnic wars from 1992-1995 after the collapse of Yugoslavia, Serbian forces shelled Mostar. Croats and Muslims joined to expel the Serbs but shortly after became adversaries. The Croat forces took over the western bank expelling Muslims and the city became divided along the river.
We saw several entire cemeteries full of people who had died in 1993.
We stayed in a wonderful hostel in Mostar. It was situated in a typical soviet style concrete apartment block but was so homely.
It is run by Majda who has turned her apartment into a hostel. Majda saw the first part of the war and then fled to London. Her brother helps out as well and he spent 15 years in Sweden. Majda's mother lends a hand as well preparing food and picking up and dropping off guests for the buses and trains. She even greeted us with a cuppa in bed.
Majda's brother Bata took 16 of us on tour and it was very interesting. He took us to the top of the hill overlooking the city and showed us how ethnically separated the city still is. It was easy to see where development in the city was taking place.
He told us about his experiences being a Muslim at this time. He also gave us examples of how today there are disparities in sport, health care, and beer depending on where you live- the Croatian side of the city or the Bosnian side.
We traveled through what used to be a small village called Medugorje, but is now a huge religious tourist resort for Catholics. In 1981 six teenagers claimed to have seen an apparition of the Virgin Mary. The place is pumping with tour buses, hotels, restaurants, and souvenir shops.
Spent the middle of the day at some waterfalls where the water was really cold as it flowed several kilometers underground before spilling from the rocks to the river below. The younguns enjoyed jumping from the cliffs on a rope and John became the oldest to give it a go!
Dervish Monastery and after the meal visited the monastery. We listened to the Dervishes chanting while we dressed to enter the building. Inside were two tombs of Visited an ancient town called Blagaj where the Buna River gushed out of the enormous cliff. We ate the local trout at a restaurant overlooking the TekijaTejik Dervishes. It was quite late so it was difficult to photograph the place but it was spectacular all lit up at night.
Bata showed everyone how to drink the special coffee that they brewed at the monastery. It came in a little handled pot with a glass of water and sugar cubes. the cold water was added to the coffee and stirred causing it to form white froth. The sugar was put between your teeth and the coffee sucked through it.
We had a great trip and didn't get to bed till about 1am!
