Bosnia and Herzegovina - Mostar and Sarajevo

When we arrived in Mostar, our host Teo told us that there are two things that Mostar is know for; the 'Old Bridge' that isn't old and the 'Glass Bank' that has no glass and isn't a bank :) I like this place already. 

The main attraction of Mostar. the old bridge that isn't old as it was bombed in the 90's but has since been rebuilt. They jump off this bridge many times a day mainly when the tourist bus of people come along. traditional we believe that the young men of the city jumped off the bridge as a part of a coming of manhood ritual. now they seem to just do it for tips, but out of the tourist season there may still be some genuine jumpers and traditional behind it. 

The river doesn't look it from the photos but it is quite a fast following river. 

old town with lots of handmade stall goods. it felt like walking through an ancient bazaar. even though a lot of the things are souvineery type things, they are mostly handmade. there is also a lot of metal worked things, which is a strongly followed craft in this region. 

The View from the bridge

The other view from the bridge, looking out towards the Muslim side of the bridge (the river separated 2 parts of Mostar, the Muslim side and the Catholic side. Whilst everyone here is very open and everyone mingles without issue, the architecture on the left is filled with Mosques and the right with churches, the architecture of buildings also differs slightly on each side) 

The view from where they jump off. Bec was up for a swim but Nic wouldn't let her :( 

'fez's are cool' 

At one of the Mosques

The scared graveyard by the mosque

Public water fountain, they have many of these throughout here and Sarajevo where anyone can come and drink/use the water that flows down from the mountains, so it is very pure

The inside of the Mosque

One of the best views to the bridge

The hill overlooking Mostar, on the catholic side naturally

Another jumper

over to the right side with a church in the background

us being touristy

No kissing at the Mosque :) 

A Bruce Lee statue. Why Bruce Lee? The Bosinan people are not sure either,they were down to the last bit of money they had after the war (the rest was apparently spent on rebuilding) the two sides of the river couldn't decide on what to rebuild so the government decided to order a statue of Bruce Lee because, well everyone like Bruce lee right? Well maybe not, in the weeks after the unveiling (where the gvt said Sylester Stilone would do the unveiling to bribe the town to come- shockingly he didn't show as he was unveiling another Bruce lee statue in Asia-just so close) anyway the statue was grafittied and damaged so much that they had to remove Bruce and send him to Croatia to be repaired. He was gone for 5-10 years and has only just been returned, fully repaired. The locals seem to have gotten over destroying him and have just taken it as a funny story to tell. Well played Mostar Gvt, Well played.

None of these at the park, but guns are ok :) Ball sports can get dangerous in Mostar apparently 

old building left for nature

the fence coloumn has bullet holes in it. most buildings still have these in them

Looking over to Mostars second main attraction- the 'glass bank' its not a bank and doesn't have glass, really it is an old building along the front line that has never been repaired, it is just abandoned but can be climbed up for some great views of the city

the main road where the front line of the war was

'Singing in the rain' tra la la... ok so Bec was singing... but it still counts as she was the one getting wet :) 

old hotel

old shopping mall

So many buildings are still in pretty much the same state as in the 90's. 

more of the front line

A fairly new church. they have built the tower but it doesn't have a clock yet

 

a memorial built after the war, but it now needs some love, I'm not sure why they thought they just needed to build it and not maintain it but it was very pretty to walk around and definitely not on the main tourist trail as there were only a couple other people the whole time we were there.

 

 

 

 

mmm Lamington. the best Lamington we have ever eaten. we were so surprised to find it here and haven't seen one since but it was AWESOME! Mainly because the day before we were talking about food we missed eating and this was one. the world wanted us to have one :) Also we are out of Vegemite, sad days for us :(

Burek - some yummy local food. It comes in meat form  as the main type but they also have spinach, Potato, cheese and so may other varieties, and for a buck we are having trouble saying no :) the meat one tastes exactly like sausage rolls and the spinach is very similar to spanikopita.

Once we spent a few days exploring the town of Mostar, we headed on a bus to the capital Sarajevo.
The scenery between the two was beautiful to look at :)

Michael, its been a while, there werent many trams in Croatia but aall is well as they are in Bosnia :) 

Trams that people were consistantly hitching a ride on the back. The trams were not going slow either

Another Local cuisine - Cevapcici.

 This one was more for Nic than Bec as it is meat in bread.

But the Bread was nice and baked over coals. Bec tried what everyone seemed to be drinking in the restaurant- liquid yoghurt, strange choice and it pretty much was just runny yoghurt but everyone had them so 'when in Rome' 

We paid a visit to the Sarajevo Museum which luckily had only reopened a few days earlier after being closed for years due to lack of funding to pay the staff. luckily it was opened now so we got to have a look. Whilst it wasn't one of the flashiest museums we have been to it has a lot of things you don't really see in other countries museum, and naturally it has a strong focus on the countries history. we also felt it was important to support this museum so that it can stay open long into the future. as it had only just opened again and it was a weekday we pretty much had the place to ourselves. 

The home of the Haggadah. An illuminated manuscript that contains the illustrated traditional text of the Passover Haggadah. It is one of the oldest Sephardic Haggadahs in the world, originating in Barcelona around 1350.

This book was saved by one man during the WW2. The Germans came to steal this book but the man lied and said that some other German came 30 mins prior yelling at him to give the book over. They left and the book was saved

 

 

Lots and lots of rocks

Bec is super excited by rocks. We have never seen this many different rocks in one location and we have been to a lot of museums in our time.

 

Therewas also an interesting section on local flora :) This museum has everything we needed :) 

Smile :) 

We stayed in an apartment slightly up the hill, about 15 mins walk from the new city centre... Nic loves hills :)

Nic have a shop here. We recommend it for all your coat needs

 

 

These "roses" are scattered throughout the city. Highlighting where every Serbian shell was dropped during the war.  

 

 

Sarajevo prides itself on being a truly multi cultural city. They have three main sections of the city which represent the different stages and cultures of the people of the city. They are all very district and the architecture literally changes on the line. To the right of the line are Austro-Hungarian buildings which are very tall and much like the church above (there are also a few Jewish synagogues which were strongly targeted in WW2 where 90% on the Jewish population of Sarajevo was murdered) To the right of the line however it feels like you walk into an old Turkish bazaar. this felt a lot more like the old town of Mostar does, with lots of hand crafts and metal works. The third section is the new town with new metal and glass buildings and many flashing lights, It felt a lot like London's Piccalilli Circus with all of the lights. 

A Mosque in the town. at this Mosque, they still use the old traditions of climbing up to the top to call for prayer 5 times a day. They also have clocks using the old Indian numerical system and the moon cycle to tell the time

 

The bridge where Franz ferdinand was assassinated. this assassination started WW1. He had asked his carriage driver to turn left onto the bridge but the driver thought he said right and turned right..

The old ruins of the old town market . 

The eternal flame remembering the victims of WW2 in Sarajevo

  

 

The current town hall. In the 1992-1995 war, this was a library, the Serbs bombed the building and destroyed over 2 million books and records. only about 35000 were saved 

Soo many pigeons!! 

Our time in Bosnia and Herzegovina drew to an end and we boarded a small bus to Montenegro for what was really an exciting trip. It is about 6 hours all up along some of the rockiest roads we have driven along so far. not to mention the whole trip to the boarder is pretty much on dirt roads big enough for on and a half cars along the side of a mountain that goes straight down. and it was raining. it was AWESOME :) (according to Bec anyway, Nic didn't have as much fun) But it is definitely something to experience especially when there is an oncoming truck and the driver is chatting away on his phone :)  if anyone feels like taking this trip we recommend it and suggest you sit on the right hand side for the best views and experience. 

Here are a few rain logged blurry photos from our bus ride :) 

  

  

  

 

Us on the bus ride. Bec is having so much fun. Nic not so much lol

All in all, Bosnia and Herzegovina is a beautiful little country full of the most understanding and easy going people we have met so far where everything just feels more natural and genuine without the overindulgence of the western 21st century 'necessities'. They came through the end of a war 20 years ago and whilst the scars show through still, they are doing so much to move on and rebuild a wonderful country. We also have to make note that the young people here are some of the most respectful to their elders that we have ever seen. On several different bus trips we were on, every single older person was offered their seat by a younger person (most in their teens or early 20's) truly we have a lot to learn from them.

We are now writing this in Macedonia where we have based ourselves in the unassuming capital that none ever visits; Podgorica.  it is so looked over that it isn't even in our lonely planet book but we have found it to be a quiet little capital that has lots to offer and has many things to see just short day trips away :) 

That's it for now, Becola signing off :)