Mostar is in the H part of B&H, and is situated on both sides of the Neretva River. They have an 'Old Bridge' spanning the two sides that was completely destroyed during the war and was painstakingly reconstructed. Men still jump off the bridge now as they did pre-1990s, with it being 24 metres high it's no easy feat! They had an interesting museum all about the bridge and how they rebuilt it that we whiled away some time at, as well as checking out the local burek (Balkan version of the pie) and one of the best dinners we have had yet - the 'Herzegovina plate' - that was so large (and meat-laden) we had to take the remains home in a doggy bag... (and for those who know Adrian, that's pretty incredible we couldn't finish it off between us!)
Our hostel in Mostar was the highlight though, Majda's Rooms, where Majda told us all the best places to go, made us feel right at home, and ferried us to and from the bus station. Another highly recommended place! Mostar was nearly completely obliterated during the war and there are empty, bombed out buildings everywhere with signs saying 'dangerous ruins, do not enter'. Most of the inhabitants had to evacuate during the war and seeing the pictures of the town during the war you can completely understand why.
Another interesting things we did in Mostar was climb a minaret in one of the local mosques. It was about 100 very narrow and windy steps up, and the ledge at the top didn't do much to help dampen my growing vertigo that started ever since we went to the Aiguille de Midi (I blame you for this Dad, I'm sure it's inherited!). Gave you a great view over the city though and was cool to think about the guys coming up and doing a call to prayer 'live' rather than through a microphone system.
Overall, B&H was a really interesting country that would be well worth returning to. The people were very friendly and open and seeing as it will be the last 'reasonably priced' country we see for a while, it was hard to leave!
Next stop: Dubrovnik, Croatia
Our hostel in Mostar was the highlight though, Majda's Rooms, where Majda told us all the best places to go, made us feel right at home, and ferried us to and from the bus station. Another highly recommended place! Mostar was nearly completely obliterated during the war and there are empty, bombed out buildings everywhere with signs saying 'dangerous ruins, do not enter'. Most of the inhabitants had to evacuate during the war and seeing the pictures of the town during the war you can completely understand why.
Another interesting things we did in Mostar was climb a minaret in one of the local mosques. It was about 100 very narrow and windy steps up, and the ledge at the top didn't do much to help dampen my growing vertigo that started ever since we went to the Aiguille de Midi (I blame you for this Dad, I'm sure it's inherited!). Gave you a great view over the city though and was cool to think about the guys coming up and doing a call to prayer 'live' rather than through a microphone system.
Overall, B&H was a really interesting country that would be well worth returning to. The people were very friendly and open and seeing as it will be the last 'reasonably priced' country we see for a while, it was hard to leave!
Next stop: Dubrovnik, Croatia
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