Mostar, Bosnia

I got a bit of grief from caring friends when I mentioned my interest in taking a bus to Bosnia while I was in Dubrovnik and while I appreciated their concern, I figured this was a once in a lifetime chance. Thankfully, there were a couple of others interested on the hike so we booked a private car to take us for the day. The price was unbelievably cheap-200 Euros and gave me some sense for what is a good part time salary in this nation as if you did the drive every working day of the year you would make under $70k a year before expenses - gas was about $5-$6 a gallon. Working that much is impossible - the season starts as part time work in May and then full time June-August and then part time again in September and maybe some in October. Our driver was educated as a merchant officer and worked for a time in the shipping industry that is a smaller part of his nation's economy. This tour driving was viewed as a good job - especially as his small company - three of them - established enough of a reputation to be on US travel websites as a company to call.

The drive was up the penisula to a river bed that fed miles of farmland, quite the site in a country where so many farm plots are so small. In order to get into Bosnia to see the sites, we had to cross from Croatia into Bosnia once, then drive about 12 kilometers and drive back into Croatia and then drive for about 20 minutes before crossing into Bosnia for good. This is because the Dubrovnik Republic gave a 12 kilometer stretch of coastline to the Ottoman empire so that they would serve as protection from the Venetians. That probably happened 600 years ago and despite all the other border changes in the area, that border still stands.

Once into Bosnia, we drove along the river and immediately saw the results of the war in buildings destroyed by artillery fire. Many buildings remain destroyed or have lots of bullet holes in the sides of them - even more evident here because so much is built out of concrete. There is some new construction as well but as the Bosnian's have less industry than Croatian, they have less money for rebuilding. Curiously enough they reported are rich in minerals but are still waiting to figure out how to properly harness that wealth. Another interesting thing about Bosnia is that the signs are all in both the Latin and the Cyrillic alphabets and that in many rural places, the Cyrillic words are spray painted out. The Cyrillic alphabet is still used in Serbia so this vandalism is a political statement.

We stopped in the town of Pocitelj which had ruins from an old fort and a mosque in it. The fort was well positioned to guard a valley. Once out of the car, it was obvious that we had left Catholic Croatia. Many of the women we saw were dressed in Islamic head scarves. The men were also dressed in a less Western way. We briefly walked around the town which gave us a good sense that we had entered a different land. I actually took a picture of the street as in addition to finding the road less than even to walk upon, I was amazed that a functioning community with what seemed to be an active mosque, still had roads made of stones like these. Then it was on to Mostar - a town where Croatian Christians live on one side of the river and Bosnia Muslims on the other. The bridge that spans the two sides is very symbolic and after being destroyed in the war, has been rebuilt. Mostar sits in a river valley which meant that during the Homeland Wars, each side occupied a hill top on one side of the river and just kept shelling the hell out of the town. Around the bridge is a Turkish type market with lots of little stores, many with Turkish and other Arab type goods. We stopped for lunch in the restaurant our guide recommended, with girls in native costumes who speak perfect English and can explain the menu and how they accept three types of currency, Bosnian Marks, Euros, and Croatian Kunas. They also have pictures on the menu so you can see what you are ordering. They are all set up for tourism, despite the fact that they are not a top tourism spot. We ordered their native meat sampler, I ordered their native rice and veggies dish plus their chicken soup - which they called bey soup and we had grilled vegetables. All good.

Shopping in the market was interesting because only about one in ten stores took credit cards. In one store, I needed to show the clerk how to work the credit card machine so that I could make my purchase! I got some pashmina scarves at a fraction of the NY price and some necklaces made by local women. The necklaces are both embroidered and made out of scarves. Somewhat simple but rather interesting and I love the idea that they came from Bosnia. Left unsaid is that after the war, the women's income may have largely depended on their necklace sales. We didn't stay that long and after lunch drove around to see both some new construction - a Mall that would fit into many US cities and still blocks of buildings that had been absolutely destroyed by the shelling.

Now we are back in Dubrovnik and headed for a swim before dinner. (See told you it was safe!)