I had 3 full days in Mostar, of which 1 day was a day trip outside of Mostar and spending the balance of time just resting and re-energising myself for another busy few weeks ahead on the road.
While I was here, the weather had been fantastic, sunny and blue skies.
I spent most of my time within Mostar trying to find the best angle to capture the bridge and at different times of the day.
The only angle I probably didn't catch it from was at the top of the minaret in the nearby mosque along the river.
As it is low season, a number of shops leading to the bridge were already not opened.
There was a small Christmas market not too far from the centre and also a huge mall about 15 mins walk away - no mandatory mask wearing anywhere which I was still trying to get my head around since previous places (other than Denmark), required mask wearing indoors.
It would be easy to completely see Mostar in just a few hours.
I had a couple of really good meals at Restoran Malo Misto, especially this poached pear in red wine with ice cream. It made me sooo happy!
The other thing I noticed about Mostar is the numerous dilapidated buildings around.
Having not learnt much about the history of this region and very little knowledge of the war and how it got split apart from Yugoslavia, it was only on this trip that I get to understand more of the history and the tragic past, especially the 1992 - 1995 war.
When Bosnia & Herzegovina declared independence from Yugoslavia in 1992, a vicious war broke out and the Yugoslav People’s Army bombed Mostar on April 3rd.
Much of the trouble in Bosnia-Herzegovina stems from the fact that there are three main ethnic groups living in the country; The Muslim Bozniaks, the Serbs and the Croats. The independence of the Republic Of Bosnia-Herzegovina was declared in April 1992 and the Bozniaks favoured retaining the territorial integrity of the new state. The others felt that it should be partitioned. The Serbs declared the Republika Srpska independent while the Croats declared The Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia independent. It erupted into a bitter conflict.
By this time, the Yugoslav People’s Army had established control over Mostar and laid siege to the city. The Croatian Defence Force and the Bosnia-Herzegovina Army reclaimed the city however as the Yugoslavs retreated, they shelled Mostar destroying many of its buildings including historical landmarks. A Fransiscan monastery, catholic cathedral and 14 mosques were among the buildings destroyed.
The famous Stari Most bridge had already been destroyed by the Croats in 1993.
I noticed numerous buildings that looked like it had bullet holes in them, but is currently still lived in by residents.
Also a number of buildings that were completely left in an unliveable state, one which looked like it may had been an ethnographic Musuem or government building in the past with all the elaborate etchings on the walls.
The other thing I noticed around the city was reference to RA 1981, Red Army or related. Initially I thought this was related to the war, but only later did I realised that it was the name of a football club that was founded in 1981.
People here are somewhat less friendly and willing to help, though there were a few exceptions.
For example the place I stayed in Guesthouse Rota, I had problems finding the place originally, and managed to get some help from a cafe near by, whom was friendly.
When I got to the Rota restaurant, the staff seemed rather distant. When I tried to pay for the room the next day and ask for information on sim card and changing of money, the main staff seemed rather hostile - not sure if its because they were rather busy in the morning with food orders.
The same applied when I was trying to look for sim card - the guy at the mobile phone store was really helpful and nice. But when I went to ask some of the stores for the sim card, some were rather hostile, with the exception of the staff which I finally purchased the card from.
The best description I could use is the lack of personal touch?
Things are really cheap, especially having come from Dubrovnik which was on Western Europe pricing. A meal would just be about €3 - €5 on average or less than €10 for fancier places like Malo Misto.
Although coffee places seems to be on Western Europe prices of about €2-3 for a coffee, yet there are many locals who do go sit in these places for a coffee too - very strange considering that salaries in this part of the world is not very high.
Travelling around Mostar is not easy on public transport and a car will be needed. Tours are almost not cost effective if you are just 1 person as there are hardly any tour groups to join - not sure if this is because of the low season or in general it was also like this before covid.
However strangely, it was here I saw more Asians - one Taiwanese guy that was on the same bus as me from Dubrovnik, 2 Japanese guys, and a group of Malaysians.
Sim cards
They are really cheap in Bosnia, as I got mine for BAM 4 (€2) that came with 8 GB data for 7 days, which was more than sufficient for me. The company was HT Eronet, using the !hej. The staff did show me another tourist Sim card option, that cost about BAM 20 and lasts for 30 days but as I was only going to be here for less than 7 days, I took the !hej plan, which is what most locals used (according to the staff). She also said that there is some activation step to do for hej which could be complicated and she was very kind enough to help me with it.
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