Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Today something about one of the most ethnically diverse cities in Bosnia – Mostar. I had a pleasure to visit this city in spring 2011, during my hitchhiking trip through the Balkans, the trip lasted around 3 weeks/1 month and it was full of adventures – but about this some other time, with one of my hitchhiking-related posts.

 

Why I think Mostar is important? First of all picture of Mostar originally made the cover of the Lonely Planet Western Balkans guidebook – that’s say something already.

Today Mostar  is suffering geographical division of ethnic groups (officially) but people from Mostar always find the ways to live together. The city is divided by different religion, but the atmosphere still is very pleasant.

 

About the history, which is important if we want to understand why Mostar looks how it looks – this city was the most heavily bombed of any Bosnian town during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina following the breakup of then-Yugoslavia. So as you can imagine a lot of architecture landmarks were destroyed.

 Here is an example what memories some buildings still carry:

Mostar has been most famous for  beautiful historic Ottoman-style bridge. It was destroyed too during the bombing. Built by the Turks in 1566, it was destroyed in 1993, but rebuilt in 2004.  Now bridge is the highlight of Mostar and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site

The Old Bridge has been rebuilt using some of its original pieces recovered from the Neretva river.

 Here i catch a guy taking picture on the bridge and…he was catching me i guess 😀 :

            Some other things worth seeing is a old mosque, that you can see standing proudly from every corner of the city, unique cemetery or little shops and street flee market, full of very strange things – from jewelry to carpets and old antiques.

 

Definitely visiting Bosnia you have to step by in Mostar, it’s as important point of this country as Sarajewo.