3 overnight stays close to the old bridge in Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina
On Saturday May 2nd 2009 we left Makarska after a good breakfast on the balcony of our apartment, right above pizzeria bistro Sunshine, where we sat on the terrace frequently in the past years. We had 2 overnight stays and celebrated Labour Day the day before. In the afternoon we started the tour to mount Sveti Jure. Nothing special, frequent visitors of our website would think. But this one was special, because a dream came true. We were in Croatia in our own Ford Escort Cabriolet. It was past noon already and it was time to go. The most spectacular part of our holiday in the Balkans was going to begin: the visit to Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina where we planned to stay 3 nights. It was not so long ago since we have been there.
The year before we were there for about 3 hours and we were fascinated by the beauty of the new country: Prenj and Velež mountains, Neretva river in its valley, the old bridge Stari Most. "Next year we will be visiting you again!" We kept our word.
After saying goodbye to the owner of the apartment we left Makarska and Croatia. In Makarska we had to follow the signs Vrgorac to get to the road behind Biokovo mountains. For people staying on the Makarska riviera this is one of the most spectacular things to do during your holiday, because the view along the Dalmatian coast and towards the Dalmatian islands is amazing. You can turn back if the road turns to the left and you lose the sight of the sea, but you can also continue and turn left again towards Kozica. Soon you come to a road that leads to Split turning left. You will be able to see Sveti Jure mountain like we did 2 years before. We did not turn left towards Kozica, but kept driving towards Vrgorac. Soon we got the views of the Bosnian mountain range Velež of which we know now that Mostar is laying on the foot of in the valley of Neretva river.
This view also meant, that we soon had to show our documents, because we would going to cross the border. The next place that we would come across is Ljubuški. Nothing special one would think. Well, on the contrary, but we will get to that later.
The trip from Makarska to Mostar takes about 2 hours, but of course you want to make photos and enjoy the environment. Then we came to the spot on a relatively high altitude, where you have a splendid view over the valley and Mostar itself. We continued and knew from last year where we had to park our car. On the "Bulevard.". From there it was only a short walk to the old town and Stari Most, the old bridge, where we hopefully find a cheap apartment and yet close close to the main tourist attraction, the old bridge. It was quite crowded. No wonder, it was Saturday. People noticed us looking around and soon we knew that we could have the key of an accommodation for €40,- a day: Marshall apartments. It was a low season price the woman explained. She took us to the tourist office, because there is where she worked, or maybe she even owned it. We don't know that for sure, but what we know is that her husband owns the pub old Marshall opposite to the apartment.The pub really was going to mean something to us those days.
The woman gave us some interesting information and a map with an overview of tourist attractions and their location. Look Anita, those are the Kravice waterfalls that we saw in our travel guide and which we would like to pay a visit to. "Where are they located?" "I beg your pardon? Ljubuški? Can you beat that. That's where we have come across today. And not only today. Last year too when we visited Mostar and Medjugorje" We wanted to see them anyhow, so we had to talk about the way we wanted to continue our travel when we leave Mostar in a few days. "Wait a minute...what we completely forgot... we wanted to visit Sarajevo by train. Is that possible?" "Sure, No problem!" The train leaves at 7.38h in the morning. In Sarajevo a train returns to Mostar at 18.18h. We can take you to the railway station if you like." Anita and the webmaster looked at each other with excitement. We asked if we could have the apartment for one more night, after returning from Sarajevo on Wednesday. No problem. We took the map to the apartment and laughed about something funny that we realised.
Our apartment was next to restaurant Babilon where we had a delicious mixed grill the year before. Then at last we really walked towards the old bridge for which we could no longer wait to see. We ordered a large beer, sat on a terrace and watched some guys keeping a tradition in this city alive: jumping off the old bridge Stari Most into the ice cold water of Neretva river. For more than a decade this has been impossible because in 1993 the bridge was destroyed during the Bosnian war on November 9.
The inauguration of the reconstructed bridge was on July 23rd 2004. The building of the bridge was order by a Turkish Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent in 1557. It took about 9 years to finish it. On July 17th 2005 Stari Most was inscribed on the Unesco World Heritage list by the World Heritage Comitee.
The East bank of Neretva river is still referred to as the Muslim bank the Croat bank is where we were still standing. This however was soon going to change, because we wanted to get on the bridge and then cross it. The other side has an oriental atmosphere that we remembered from the year before. It gives you a feeling of being thousands of kilometres away from home in a tale from one thousand and one nights.
Meanwhile we were getting hungry. We decided to have dinner in restaurant Babilon. In Bosnia the currency is the Convertible Mark. The easiest way to compute is to keep in mind that KM 2 is almost €1,-. Believe it or not, but any tourist menu is under €10,-: what to think of soup, mixed salad, grilled trout and baklava for desert and yet pay €9,-.
And what to think of the view you have on the old bridge from their terrace. Magic. The next day, it was already Sunday, which means that one week of our holiday in the Balkans gone by, we visited the museum on the Muslim side of the bridge.
It explains about the construction and other historical data, than we all know already. We also paid a visit to the Koski Mehmed pasha mosque. For 8 KM again this thousand and one nights feeling. of course we climbed all the steps of the minaret. We were rewarded with a magic view of Stari Most and the other parts of Mostar. So far we were very lucky with the bright weather conditions, which would hopefully mean that we going to have bright photos as well. After a cup of cappuccino we went back to the apartment to pick up our car. we wanted to drive along Neretva river towards Jablanica and hopefully get those views of the mountain ranges that seduced us to visit Bosnia and Herzegovina.
From last year we knew that you have to focus on the left bank of Neretva river. There lies the road that takes you to Sarajevo, or in our case Jablanica. Tomorrow we would be going to Sarajevo by train, remember. And besides, if there would be some time left we would like to see another tourist attraction in the Mostar region: Buna river coming out of a karst mountain at Blagaj.
Soon we found ourselves on the road towards Jablanica. A fantastic feeling in our own car without the roof. Looking backwards we saw the high altitude of what had to be mount Botin, a Velež peak. Soon we could see another mountain range in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Prenj mountains. Last year they were covered with more snow, compared to this year. But this year there was no snow on Sveti Jure either, which was not the case in May 2008, when Jennifer and Anita where throwing snowballs at each other. Soon we reached Jablanica. We passed a location where there had to be a restaurant where they serve some grilled meat. Anita said that she saw many advertisings already, and examining the flags in front of the restaurant she concluded that this must be what the advertisements were about: restaurant Zdrava Voda. There where some large rotating spits in front of the restaurant. It appeared to be a restaurants specialised in lamb dishes. Suddenly Anita remembered that she read about this area being famous for lamb meat and dishes.
Though we were not hungry at all, we wanted to order a small plate. It was possible to order a portion of 300 gram. The price was KM 11, somewhat less than €6,-.
The meat really tasted good, Next time we would plan this trip arriving there at about dinner time. We turned back towards Mostar and enjoyed the sights of the mountains and the narrow passages on some places, leaving only space for the road and the railway, and of course Neretva river.
We knew that the next tourist attraction that we wanted to see, was located about 12 kilometres South-east of Mostar: Blagaj. In Mostar we had to follow the signs Neum and Dubrovnik to get South of Mostar. After parking our car and paid a few Marks we walked towards the river and its source. It was a beautiful environment. It was clear to us, that on hot days it must be a pleasure to sit in a chair at a table with your bare feet bathing in the water and perhaps eat trout. After having a walk along most fish restaurants we arrived at the source of Buna river, which is a karstic spring. The river itself is not that long. After coming out of the karst mountain it flows westwards for about 9 kilometres and then joins Neretva river.
Also an interesting piece of architecture, dating from Ottoman times, is the so called Blagaj tekke that was built against the mountain. The real function of a tekke was not quite clear to us. After a short trip towards Nevesinje, we turned back halfway, because our car ran out of fuel.
At a petrol station we were surprised by the price for a litre fuel: €0.75. After dinner that evening we went to pub old Marshall again for the last few beers. But not too long and too much, because the next day we had to be in time on the platform of the railway station of Mostar. This travel by train from Mostar to Sarajevo will be published on a different page, hopefully soon :-)
The evening on which we returned from Sarajevo was really amusing in old Marshall. When the webmaster told that we are from Kerkrade, one of the jumpers off the bridge remarked "ah, Roda Kerkrade! We had a lot of fun and joked a lot, but there were also some conversations about the bad times that people from this Balkan region went through. Most people from countries of the former republic of Yugoslavia will never become friends, but hopefully they can live side by side in peace in this part of Europe.
From last year we knew that you have to focus on the left bank of Neretva river. There lies the road that takes you to Sarajevo, or in our case Jablanica. Tomorrow we would be going to Sarajevo by train, remember. And besides, if there would be some time left we would like to see another tourist attraction in the Mostar region: Buna river coming out of a karst mountain at Blagaj.
Soon we found ourselves on the road towards Jablanica. A fantastic feeling in our own car without the roof. Looking backwards we saw the high altitude of what had to be mount Botin, a Velež peak. Soon we could see another mountain range in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Prenj mountains. Last year they were covered with more snow, compared to this year. But this year there was no snow on Sveti Jure either, which was not the case in May 2008, when Jennifer and Anita where throwing snowballs at each other. Soon we reached Jablanica. We passed a location where there had to be a restaurant where they serve some grilled meat. Anita said that she saw many advertisings already, and examining the flags in front of the restaurant she concluded that this must be what the advertisements were about: restaurant Zdrava Voda. There where some large rotating spits in front of the restaurant. It appeared to be a restaurants specialised in lamb dishes. Suddenly Anita remembered that she read about this area being famous for lamb meat and dishes. 
