I opened the curtains to a glorious view of the sun lighting up the peaks of the snowcapped mountains we can see from our window.
The train to Mostar (the same one as yesterday) is not until just before 8:30 a.m. so a more relaxing start today.
A group of young schoolkids arrived at the station - so it is likely to be a noisy journey; we aimed for the back of the train hoping it would be less crowded. No such luck. Poor buggers had to stand just like I did (MF got a seat). And of course the train arrived late …
Great scenery - through dirty train windows …
It was a scenic walk from the station to the hotel. It is still the Neretva River here - emerald green.
Hotel where we are staying looks pretty classy. MF very impressed: it’s got the first lift/elevator we’ve seen this trip. We are here for 2 nights.
But we don’t have access to our room yet as it is still morning; we leave the bags at reception and head off: first to coffee by the river - and yummy pancakes! We make this an early lunch as 1. They take credit card and 2. It saves the bother of looking for anything else!
We don’t really have a plan as such today. I have made contact with Toni, our tour organiser for this next part of our trip which is riding the Ciro Trail. We have a walking tour organised for this evening. Of course, as I thought might happen, we do a lot of the sights ourselves - AND walk 8.2 kms into the bargain …
We enter the Old Town and the deeper we go in, the more crowded it becomes: bedlam really with tour groups dominating the narrow cobble-stoned streets; and it is only early May! (Imagine what it is like at peak season).
We stopped by the Karadjoz Bey Mosque and paid 4€ each to go in which was a waste of money really.
 |
At the famous old bridge (Stari Most) - which is famous for the bridge-jumping (you’ve probably seen it on TV) which dates back to 1664 and now there is a competition held every summer - there are two young locals in swim shorts perched as if they are going to jump, but they don’t and it seems they are just offering themselves as a spectacle but I can’t see what they get out of it; do the nearby shopkeepers pay them to attract a crowd? There are certainly hordes of people crowded on the bridge.
Built nearly five centuries ago, the Stari Most was destroyed during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1993. The Croatian units bombed it for two days until it collapsed into the river. It has been painstakingly rebuilt and re-opened in 2004.
In fact we were looking for the War Photo Exhibition I had read about. We were nearly taken in by a hustle which involved handing over 10€ (which we didn’t) and being offered a video. We declined and the 2 guys looked decidedly unhappy! A local shopkeeper further along told me the exhibition had closed!
Anyway, the good thing was she said the little cafe upstairs had good coffee - and it did - Bosnian style plus a piece of very nice home-cooked baklava; AND we had excellent views out over the bridge in a quiet spot away from the maddening crowds.
From here we weaved our way through the markets in the Old Town brimming with souvenirs, trinkets of copper, glassware, woven cloths, etc.
I notice here that (as elsewhere) the zebra crossings are just for decoration …
And there are dogs sleeping in the sun - everywhere.
It was pretty hot by now and we paused in the shade by the Crooked Bridge (Kriva Cuprija) and waited for the tour groups and the selfie-takers to pass, then grabbed a photo in a short gap when it occurred.
After more markets, we escaped up into an area out of the Old Town and walked to Lucki Most: another bridge which has a great vantage point from which to see back along the river to the iconic Stari Most and there were some jumpers (but not from the bridge; they jumped off a diving apparatus further downstream).
We headed back to the hotel past buildings that were destroyed; some other buildings were still in use but you could see the damage from the war.
 |
Shells and mortars rained down on the city from the surrounding hills and on the streets that divided east from west. That is why we saw so many destroyed buildings today along the Bulevar which is the major north-south axis of Mostar, a 3 km long "boulevard" that runs parallel to the Neretva River from the Spanish Square in the north to the outlying district of Kolonija in the south. Today it marks the "border" between the east and west of the city and was the main front line during the 1993-1994 siege. All buildings on either side were damaged. Despite reconstruction efforts, several ruined and bullet-scarred buildings remain around the boulevard.
 |
Basically the Siege of Mostar was from 1993 to 1994 when Croat forces besieged Mostar and 75% of buildings were destroyed, people were cut off from food, water, electricity and humanitarian aid.
After a rest back at the hotel, we were met in the lobby at 6 pm for a walking tour. Despite having already walked most of the old town, we had not previously seen the Spanish Square quite close to our hotel and we had only seen the attractive and brightly-coloured secondary school from afar.
 |
We also passed by the catholic Franciscan church of St Peter and St Paul which was destroyed during the 1992 war and was rebuilt in 1995 with an enormous 107 m-tall belltower.
We continued into the Old Town which by now was remarkably quiet and quite tolerable as a result. The buildings were draped in a lovely evening light making it quite picturesque.
The tour finished and we had dinner at Urban, recommended by our guide. It was on a terrace overlooking the river and the Stari Most. As the sun set, golden light streaked across the stone buildings and slowly the lights twinkled on. Very pretty. And the food was yummy - dolmades with baked potatoes and grilled vegies.
A family enjoyed dinner with the 2 kids entertained by Peppa the Pig (in Bosnian) on an i-pad.
We walked back for a relatively early night.
Walked 12.4 kms.
Beautiful photos.
ReplyDelete