Hillbilly travels: Mostar, Bosnia Hercegovina

Thurs 17th July

Bosnia. The name stirs up visions of shot up buildings, bombs exploding and children dying in the streets. But according to Lonely Planet, the only thing you have to worry about nowadays is straying off the pavement and stepping on a landmine. Maybe camping wasn't a good idea, but it did give us an excuse to stay in a hotel for a few days.

Since the van had been acting up in Croatia, we opted for a bus ticket from Dubrovnik to Mostar, then planned to continue on to Sarajevo on the local transport. Feeling a bit nervous from the beginning, it certainly didn't help that it took six passport inspections to travel into Bosnia! (You cross each border between Croatia & Bosnia three times along the main road.)

How silly of me to be worried! The countryside is beautiful, the people are the friendliest we've met on the trip and Mostar is absolutely teeming with tourists. The bus station is swarming with locals offering you private rooms in their homes, all smiling and showing photos of housing that looks nicer than most of the flats I called home in London.

Locals cooling off from the extreme heat

Everyone is flocking here to check out the bridge, which sadly was destroyed in 1993 by Croat shelling. Mostar's story of destruction and rebuilding is remarkable and the newly rebuilt bridge (2004) is a symbol of the city's determination to co-exist in peace.

Mostar's claim to fame -- the bridge

Long story short, fighting between Muslims & Croats erupted in Mostar in 1993 during the Balkans War. The two ethnic groups had previously lived peacefully for hundreds of years but nationalism swept through the Balkans and the two groups who were fighting Serbs as a united front in other cities suddenly started fighting each other across the river in Mostar. Most of the city was destroyed, but the bridge and old town have since been rebuilt and tourism is running rampant again.

Mostar's old town along the Muslim side of the river

Despite the obvious beauty, it's still impossible to overlook the damage. Walking from the bus station into town, nearly every other building was riddled with bullet holes or barely standing with bushes and trees growing through the windows. The city's cemetery is filled with young faces on the gravestones, each with the same end date: 1993.

Destroyed building in downtown Mostar

What's even more amazing is that the same people who were shooting at each other just 15 years ago must now live literally next door to their former enemies. As of 2003, most locals still did not cross the river but with the new bridge connecting both sides it was difficult to tell if this separation still exists. Needless to say, it was mostly covered in tourists – a good sign that this city is recovering with strength.