Mosts in Mostar
Trip dates: March 9, 2017 - March 10, 2017
After a fun day road tripping, we finally arrived in Mostar. We stayed at a little inn right by the Crooked Bridge so we explored a little bit and had dinner before tucking in for the night. We were told by our Croatian friends that the cevapi is better in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and it was totally true!
The next morning, we walked around Mostar and checked out the sights that we saw the night before. The Stari Most (Old Bridge) is the main bridge and highlight in Mostar. The bridge is pretty cool but the steps are uneven and not very fun to walk on at all. We saw some ladies walking across it in stiletto heels - did not look fun!
We also tried to visit the War Pictures exhibition but we couldn't find it; so I guess it's only available in the summer/peak tourist season. As a result, we didn't feel like we learned very much about the Bosnian War besides what we had read on Wikipedia the night before. For instance, we had read that you shouldn't off road or walk off paths anywhere in the country, due to the many many mines that still remain undetonated. You can see remnants of the war all around you still. Many of the buildings have bullet holes or scorch marks, and you can see building ruins throughout the country.
The Bosnian people, such as our inn hosts, were very warm and friendly when you talk to them. But in general, the country has a much more somber feel, especially compared to Croatia. It seems like the war is still very fresh in people's minds (it was early 1990s) and they're still struggling to recover and move forward. As mentioned earlier, it seems like the tourist industry is growing here but very slowly and there's still a lot of infrastructure needed.
The other thing we learned about BiH that we didn't know before (granted we really didn't know anything) is that the country is mostly Muslim, as a result of the Ottoman Empire days. There are several mosques that you can see in Mostar. We ended up visiting the Koski Mehmed Paša Mosque, since you can also go up the minaret to get some nice views of the city. Plus, Eric hasn't been inside a mosque before (that he can remember) and since we didn't have time in Istanbul, now was the perfect opportunity!
After exploring Mostar, it was time to hit the road again! This time, we were heading to Kotor in Montenegro, with a stop at Blagaj Tekke along the way. Blagaj Tekke is a musafirhana (guest house) and türbe (mausoleum) that was built into the cliffs at the source of the Bune spring and supposed to be very scenic. I say supposed to be because we weren't super impressed.
There was an admission fee of 4BAM, which enables you to go inside the musafirhana and see the different rooms. There was a small set of stairs off the building where you can see the Bune river and the karstic cavern where the spring originates. But that was about it. There wasn't really any information available, such as what all the different rooms were and how they were used, or the history of the building, etc. The Bune river was a pretty green color but not too impressive otherwise.
We ended up having lunch at one of the places near the Blagaj before heading out. The highlight of our time there is probably the scaredy cat that hung around us, begging for bites of our trout, pouncing on ducks that came too close (the ducks were begging for bread), and running away to hide when there were big wind gusts that caused the water to crash up.
After eating, we headed south towards Montenegro. The town of Trebinje is at the southeastern part of BiH, near the border of Croatia and Montenegro, so we figured we'd make a pit stop there along the way and still have plenty of time to get into Montenegro. Well, turns out Google maps doesn't know the roads in BiH very well. Blagaj Tekke is located a bit off the main highways and, instead of heading all the way back north to Mostar to then head south again, we followed Google's instructions to just cut south on some smaller roads to get to the main highway that heads south.
The first road we took turned into a little goat/farm cart path that kept going uphill so... we turned around and headed back. We tried a second route that seemed like it was the right one. We got super close to the highway we wanted, but then there was a river and we couldn't actually cross it like Google thought. Third time's the charm! We tried the third and final route available and, while there was a portion where the road was more of a dirt path, we eventually made it into a town and were finally on our way south.
It ended up taking us almost an extra 1.5-2hours of driving so we didn't get to Trebinje until late afternoon. We wanted to park and walk around the town and check out the Old Town portion but 1) we couldn't really find the Old Town (it's really tiny) and 2) it was sooo windy out and much cooler than we anticipated and not great for walking around. Instead, we ended up visiting the Herzegovina Museum (which took us through the Old Town quarter coincidentally).
The Herzegovina Museum (5BAM to enter) included some archaeological findings, an ethnographic collection of dress and architecture, antique furniture (so random) and a tiny room off the antique furniture room that gave us quite a history lesson, albeit incomplete. Did you know that Bosnia and Herzegovina is really like two countries? And they're not Bosnia and Herzegovina? BiH is made up of two legal entities, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska (aka Serb Republic, which is not the Republic of Serbia). We learned that there's a fairly large population of Serbs that reside in BiH.
Unlike what we had read at Koski Mehmed Paša Mosque, the Herzegovina Museum recounted a history of repression of the Serbs by the Ottomans and how they were forced to adopt Islam and thus, had fled and hid during those years, waiting to regain their independence. The narrative continued through occupation from the Austro-Hungary empire to the formation of Yugoslavia, highlighting all the Serbs had always been oppressed and had a strong sense of independence and will to rule themselves. The history lesson ended around the WWII and Yugoslavia timeframe, and there was no more information about the more recent history and what happened in the Bosnian War and the impacts and outcomes of that war. We learned (via Wikipedia) that the Dayton Agreement of 1995 (why Dayton, OH?! So random!) established BiH in its current state, with the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska having separate and independent elections - with the exception of this tiny area, the Brčko District, which is independent but can choose to participate in the elections of either the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina or Republika Srpska. How confusing and crazy is that?!
I'm still super confused about what exactly happened during the Bosnian War, what started it, the impacts and outcomes, etc - but I feel like at least I'm starting to know what I don't know now. I'm also a little bummed that we hadn't learned this earlier so that we could have been more proactive about talking to the locals and getting their perspectives on the situation and the outlook. In my mind, how is a war not going to break out again soon considering this precarious balance of power and people? Anyways, enough of a history lesson - if you are more knowledgeable about the recent history of the Balkans though, I'd love to be enlightened!
Needless to say, we found the Herzegovina Museum to be very interesting, but really only that one room. It was so eye-opening just in how drastically different and completely opposite the narrative there was compared to that in Mostar.
By the time we finished with the museum, it was almost sunset time. We got in the car and rushed to Hercegovačka Gračanica, a Serbian Orthodox monastery that's located at the top of a hill overlooking the town, to try and catch the sunset. We made it up there in time, including a brief pit stop to photograph the Arslanagića Most/Perovića Most, which is the landmark bridge of Trebinje. BiH loves its mosts!
We ended up losing out on some time to see Kotor, due to all the driving around and detour into Trebinje, but we learned a lot about BiH. We would recommend stopping in Trebinje if you're in the area (it's super close to Dubrovnik) just to get an idea of what the Republika Srpska is like. It's not a very touristy town at all but I think there is a fair amount of exploring to be done and worth a day trip! With many many questions about BiH buzzing in our head, we finally left Bosnia and Herzegovina as we made our way into Montenegro and the city of Kotor.
