For The Love of Travel

First stop, a historic three-storey 15thC Sufi monastery, built during the Middle Ages at the base of 240 metre towering cliffs, next to the source of the river Buna. You can take a boat ride into the cave at the side of the monastery. There are a number of restaurants and stalls with local produce, lining the banks of the river, with views across fast-flowing water. Great weather for it today, only 26 degrees after the storm that deluged last night. Time and rock slides have led to extensive repairs and reconstruction of the buildings. A lovely calm, quiet, beautiful place to experience. Dogs were enjoying the beauty as well 🙂 But quite gruelling on my knees, its a Voltaren night!

20 kms further on was a lovely little historic fortified/walled town on the left bank of the river Neretva, Pocitelj. The story is that the settlement of strategic importance was built by Bosnian King Tvrtko 1, sometime in 1383. Hungarians and the Ottomans conquered the town during the 15thC-19thC. The town suffered extensive damage and the town’s people were ‘ethnically cleansed’ during the Bosnian Wars 1992-95. It now has about 800 residents, 59% Bosniaks, 39% Croats, 2% Serbs. Here’s a couple of settlement views – facing the river from the settlement walls and facing the town from the river looking up the escarpment.

The last 100 kms of driving today to get to Dubrovnik, through the Ostrvo mountains and past Svitavsko Lake…very pretty scenery, but narrow back roads so lots of concentration and quite tiring. And then I got to the outskirts of Dubrovnik, to be greeted by this scene.

An early start with a fab brekkie, consisting of a personal buffet offering of cheese, meats, tomato, cucumber, olives, rolls, jams …and coffee. Followed by home made syrupy, gooey-sweet baklava.

Mostar, nicknamed the “City of Sunshine”, has a rich history characterised by the peaceful co-existence of three peoples: Muslim Bosniaks, Orthodox Serbs and Catholic Croats. The city is most well-known for its iconic UNESCO-designated Old Bridge (Stari Most), from which local divers plunge 24 metres below into the icy Neretva River below (after collecting 100 Euro or so from the crowd).

The Old Bridge was commissioned by the Ottoman ruler Suleiman the Magnificent in 1557 when Mostar was a frontier town of the empire. Today, the bridge connects two distinct areas of the city: the Catholic Croat side west of the river, and the Muslim Bosniak side to the east.

Bazar Kujundziluk is an Ottoman-era market on either side of Stari Most – the cobblestone streets and ancient edifices are picturesque but jam-packed with visitors. Souvenirs range from textiles and tourist trinkets to beautiful lanterns, traditional tea-ware and ceramics.

A few minutes’ walk north of Stari Most on the Muslim side of the river, Koski-Mehmed Pasha Mosque is exemplary of Ottoman mosque architecture and dates back to 1618.

I decided I had to visit the Museum of War and Genocide which covers the history and atrocities of the Bosnia War of 1992-1995. With over 657 concentration camps; 120,000 civilian deaths; a few hundred thousands wounded; over 2 million displaced persons and refugees; 25,000 rape victims; 30,000 missing…this war was the worst since WW2. The museum is run by the victims of the war. We said ‘never again’ after WW2, yet genocide and massacres have continued around the world. Visitors have posted ‘peace’ and ‘harmony’ notes in one of the rooms.

First stop, the medieval Fortress of Klis, situated above a village bearing the same name. From its origins as a small stronghold built by the Illyrian tribe, becoming a royal castle that was the seat of many Croatian kings, to its final development as a large fortress during the Ottoman wars – Klis Fortress has guarded the frontier, being lost and reconquered several times throughout its more than 2,000 yr old history.

Had a fair wait at the Croatia/Bosnia-Herzegovina border at both the Customs and Police booths….hundreds of cars lined up and only one booth operating. Arggh!

Next to Kravica Waterfall, in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Its a large tufa cascade on the Trebizat River, about 28 metres high with a 120 metre radius lake. Unlike Plitvice, swimming is encouraged! And the water never heats up to more than 20 degrees, so super refreshing on a day like today of 35 degrees!!

Drove past Medugorje village and didn’t stop…its been an unofficial place of Catholic pilgrimage since the Virgin Mary allegedly appeared on Apparition Hill in 1981. Reminded me too much of Lourdes. Ask me about that story one day!!

Arrived in Mostar and I’m staying in the Old Town area again, just a hop, skip from the Mostar Bridge. More about that tomorrow.