Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Based on my days in places and the day I was to leave Europe at the end of my travels, I had "a few too many days" in Split/Dubrovnik for what I anticipated I needed to do. I started to search for options for day trips from either. Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina kept on coming up. I had not heard of Mostar before so started to do some research. It looked pretty cool. It was also a new country to visit and when would I ever visit Bosnia and Herzegovina again, or even know of anyone who has. So I checked and decided to go from Split to Mostar then to Dubrovnik afterwards. This proved to be easy and a good option.

A few days before I travelled to Mostar I was reading about some flooding in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Turns out this happened on 3-4 October 2024 (a week before I was due to be there) but not quite in the area where I was going, it was a bit to the north. I had contacted my accommodation to check if all was OK and it was, whew !!!

Omiš, between Split and Mostar

Between Split and Mostar

Promajna between Split and Mostar

Between Split and Mostar

Drvenik between Split and Mostar

Bosnia and Herzegovina isn't an EU member country so you need a visa to visit, I didn't need as I used my British passport which gave me access without one. At the border crossing the bus pulled up, an officer opened a boom, bus drove forward, everyone got off and went to a passport booth and got passport scanned & stamped then we walked to after a second boom. Once everyone was done (and I guess they checked the bus, wasn't watching that) the bus moved forward and we all got back on. There was a small delay as some guy got called aside with his luggage (he was hippy looking so dunno what the story was), he came back 5 min later much to relief of his partner. Bus then carried on. I thought I was then in Bosnia and Herzegovina, nope, was basically in "no mans land" which is called "an international boundary".

Croatia border post

We stopped at a second booth/boom, driver came and took everyone passports and took them to the office. He came back 5 min later and handed them back, boom was opened and we moved on. I was NOW in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina (no, the top line is not a typo, is in Bosnian)

Not long later we arrived in Mostar.

Bosnia and Herzegovina flag

Mostar is an old city that has an Ottoman influence. The main attractions are all in the old town area. There are 2 really nice bridges which are very photogenic. There is the main one over the Neretva River called Stari Most (Old Bridge) and then not far away is the Crooked Bridge.

Crooked Bridge

Crooked Bridge and Minaret's from a few Mosques

Stari Most was bombed in the Croat–Bosniak War in 1993 as you can see in this video

Dont Forget '93 stone

Sign indicating 20 years since Stari Most (Old Bridge) was rebuilt

Stari Most (Old Bridge), you can pay for rides on the inflatable boats

Stari Most (Old Bridge)

Stari Most (Old Bridge). Enjoying a Radler early evening

Stari Most (Old Bridge)

Cool small statue below Stari Most (Old Bridge)

On top of Stari Most (Old Bridge), Neretva River looking South

On top of Stari Most (Old Bridge), Neretva River looking North
The "steps" in the center of the picture was where I had my Radler in the previous photo and where the little statue was.

I found this plaque quite interesting (because it happened in South Africa):
The World Heritage Committee has inscribed
Old Bridge Area of The Old City of Mostar
on the UNESCO World Heritage List
on 29th Session in Durban, Republic of South Africa, on 17th July 2005

Stari Most (Old Bridge)

On top of Stari Most (Old Bridge)

Divers Club Plaque

On top of Stari Most (Old Bridge)
Stone buildings are the Divers Clubhouse

Another attraction in Mostar is the bridge divers. Basically guys wait until they have been given enough encouragement, in the form of tourists giving them tips, to jump off the bridge into the Neretva River. Quote from online: It is a tradition for the young men of the town to take the plunge from the 24 meter high bridge into the icy cold Neretva river below. This can be a very risky feat which only the most skilled and best trained divers will attempt, and the practice dates back to when the original bridge was built.

I waited for ages until I saw one go, I reckon I must've waited a good 30 minutes with them teasing that they will jump but didn't. The second jump I just happened to be there as he was about to go. I spoke to the lady who was at the clubhouse and she said 3 had gone that day, so I got videos of 2 of those. In summer I'm sure it is pretty frequent as Mostar gets very busy with tourists.

At one stage I just sat and relaxed and watched some ducks in the Neretva River

Street and Stari Most (Old Bridge)

Street

Francisian Church & Mostar Peace Bell Tower (can hardly tell there is scaffolding around it, nicely done)

Cathedral of the Holy Trinity

The Cathedral of Mary, Mother of the Church

Church

Karađoz Beg Mosque

Koski Mehmed Pasha Mosque

Minaret at sunset

Minaret's from a few Mosques

You can apparently go into and climb up The Sniper Town, it is fenced off with no entry signs etc. but there are ways in. I didn't want to risk it just to go up there. From the name of the tower you can guess what it was used for in the war.

Bombed building called The Sniper Tower

Bombed building

Mostar Secondary School

Egg in Park Zrinjevac

A bit of a fail in my research. I went to see the Snipers Tower as above and then wanted to see the Bruce Lee statue in Park Zrinjevac. You may wonder why a statue of Bruce Lee there, well here is the answer

Symbol of peace
The statue was intended to be a lighthearted way to show peace in an area with political tension.
Symbol of togetherness
The statue was meant to represent shared values and taste among people of different ethnic and religious backgrounds.
Symbol of solidarity
The statue was a symbol of solidarity in the ethnically-divided city.
Popularity of Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee movies were popular in Yugoslavia and after the war, and people could come together to support the statue.

BUT ... now the fail in my research. It was stolen in a heist on 4 March 2024, and was subsequently found, albeit cut in pieces. Noooooo. So all I got to see was the base.

Base of Bruce Lee statue in Park Zrinjevac

It should have looked like this:

Not to be outdone by thieves .... I bring you Mike Lee ... I decided to make my own ... yes I need some better photoshop skills etc. to sort this out (top of trees and sky), ag - for now this will do. I don't quite have the same six pack as Bruce Lee either.

Need to up my Photoshop skills a bit. No time for that right now.

Home of Herceg Stjepan Kosača

Cool clouds

Attractive mural

Asked hostess at Šadrvan restaurant for a photo
(the restaurant was super popular with tourists - I didn't eat there)

On one evening I came across this guy taking photos of people and then feeding them into his laptop which then printed the photos out in a sort of newspaper with all sorts of facts about Mostar. Was pretty cool so I did it.

Mostar Newspaper

I wanted to try a traditional Bosnian coffee while there so found a place called Café de Alma and had one there. After my coffee I sat chatting to a guy who worked in a bike shop and we traded bike stories and stuff for about an hour.

Cool sign at Café de Alma

Café de Alma, coffee roaster (as she said in the video above, it has a smiling face)

Café de Alma, raw beans before they are roasted

My Coffee

On the one day in Mostar I took a day trip with a guide outside Mostar, that will be in the next post. Before I decided on doing the day trip one Mostar attraction I wanted to do was to go up to the Fortica viewing platform above the city, the tour included that so I didn't need to walk up. Initially I was planning to do a hike up there. Once I saw where it was and the distance/height I am REALLY glad I didn't think of that. These few photos will show you why ... not a small hike

Photo taken from Stari Most (Old Bridge) with the viewpoint circled, you can hardly see it

Zoom

More zoom

Oh and you thought I had forgotten to mention ... webcams. Tsk tsk ... I wouldn't forget that. I had 2 from Mostar Webcam1 (this isn't always online) and Webcam2

Mike waving, other people probably thinking I've gone mad

The next image is from before the floods, not the same angle as the one with me waving, but you can see from the 2 the level and colour of the water after the floods.

In summary Mostar was a really nice city to visit. It doesn't take that long to see it all, yes you can spend more time if you go inside things I suppose. It was a very cheap city as well, they have their own currency but you can pay in Euro for anything and was a easy conversion.