Friday, May30
We spent a bit of time this morning walking around Sarajevo's old town, which was much quieter than it had been last night; the clink of coffee cups in cafes having replaced last night's bustle of busy restaurants, hookah bars, and shops. We capped our walk with a stop at a bank to exchange some of the many currencies we've used on this trip and got an interesting look at commercial bureaucracy here. Somehow, a transaction that resulted in our pocketing 25 euro necessitated duplicate copies of three identical forms, each signed then stamped twice -- a process worthy of Italy!
It's hard to imagine that so much of this city was destroyed during the wars of the 1990s, when it's position hemmed in in a valley with mountains looming on both sides made it an easy target of Bosnian Serb shelling. In fact, for three years, 1992 to 1995, the city was under seige, virtually cut off from the outside world. The only access for food, supplies, and defensive material was a tunnel one meter wide and extending 800 meters under the airport runway! 10,500 Sarajevans were killed and 50,000 wounded during that time.
Our drive to Mostar through green mountains and along the sparkling Neretva River was lovely and the overcast skies of Sarajevo turned sunny en route. Once we found our apartment on a small lane, we took off to see a couple of places outside the city.
We drove to the beautiful Kravice Waterfalls, crashing powerfully into pools below. It was just beautiful, a compact version of Croatia's Plitvice Lakes National Park, which we visited at the start of this trip.
We also stopped at Pocitelj, a fortress village built into and atop a rocky mountain. The Ottoman-era town's narrow streets, old fortifications, a mosque, and houses roofed with thick stone slabs made for an interesting wander.
Back in Mostar, we explored the old town, dotted with the minarets of many mosques, alleys lined with bazaar-like small shops, and restaurants on both sides of the Neretva. Tourists filled the small lanes and congregated on the famous (rebuilt) Stari Most, or Old Bridge. The original bridge, built in the 16th century, and the emblem of the city, was destroyed in1999 by the Croats when conflict broke out with the Bosniaks (Muslims), their former allies against Serb and Montenegrin forces in one of the innumerable Balkan Wars. For two years, the two sides fought, with one of the city's main streets a virtual front line. All the bridges were destroyed, and all but one of 27 mosques left in ruins, as was much of the city. With much international help, the core of the old town has been rebuilt, but there is still evidence of destruction.
We ended the day on the riverbank so we could see the bridge and old town beautifully lit. A photo or two may have been taken!
This is probably as good a time as any to admit that we are totally confused by the many wars among the nations that once formed Yugoslavia. The conflicts of the 1990s and the combinations and permutations of allies, enemies, ethnicities, religions and languages (with each country putting its own stamp on the same language) are just beyond us.
And, speaking of stamps, Bosnia and Herzegovina (or BiH, or just Bosnia, even if you're here in Herzegovina) is one country divided into two entities: The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the ethnic Serbian dominated Republika Srpska (not to be confused with Serbia) and each entity issues its own stamps! It gets even more complex here in Mostar (part of BiH), which has its own two postal systems, Bosniak and Croat, as well as two separate bus stations. This brings balkanization to a new high.
And, we haven't even gotten to Slovenia yet!
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