November in Bosnia

Am in my 6th new nation on my trip, and 19th altogether in all my travels. My passport is running out of room I think! 35 stamps if I recall is what I have in it.

Anyway, bus was, surprise, late to the station in Split. I guess rather common in this part of the world! Rather rainy and somewhat depressing drive to Mostar. The welcome into Bosnia was interesting. Quick check of the passport by a Croat and Bosnian. No stamp or anything! Got to love the efficiency of Eastern Europe.

The towns changed very quickly when I crossed the border though. Croatia, although not super rich, still has some wealth. Bosnia on the other hand still has great deep scars from the war which ended only 15 years ago this month. Many many shot up or abandoned buildings everywhere. Much poorer look to it than any other nation I`ve seen in Europe.

Mostar took about 5 hours to get to, and I was nicely picked up at the bus station when I arrived, half hour late. Which is good time for the buses here!
The Hostel here is very friendly, you think you were at someones home. Majdas Hostel *Pronounced Myda* Is run by Majda a wonderful woman who is extremely friendly and helpful. You think she was a good Aunt!
We all get served great breakfast and coffee always! Really don`t want to leave here. It is like home away from home.

Now about the town of Mostar and a quick BASIC history lesson which will be informal and not in-depth AND I am generalizing quite a bit too....

Right, now what you have in the Balkans is more or less, Croatians in the west. These people are generally Roman Catholic. Next are Bosnians in the middle. The Ottoman Turks were Muslim and conquered part of the Balkans. Many people in areas conquered by the Turks converted to Islam to make things easier on themselves. Not usually die hard Muslims either.
Last but not least are Serbs in the east. They are of the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Anyway, the breakup of Yugoslavia *Which was Communist at the time* started in the early 90`s, once many other nations were falling apart in Eastern Europe, but in the Balkans it was far more violet it seems. Serbs, which were the core of Former Yugoslav didn`t like the idea of Croats, Bosnians and others breaking away, so fighting ensued. Ethnic cleansing and Genocide happened very often during the war with opposing factions. The Serbs appear to have been the worst, but they did control much and were more of a central government with the resources to do so.
Croats, Bosnians and Serbs were trying to kill each other, mostly because of they were of a different ethic back grounds, religion and or just fighting to survive. Neighbor against neighbor. Cities which had a large mix of peoples were soon destroyed and its people separated into hate of one another.

But now I shall talk of Mostar...

Mostar is a lovely city nestled in a pretty valley surrounded by large hills with a river running through it. The city is many hundreds of years old and really has a good feel to it. But it too could not escape of the horrors of war... Croatia decided that it wanted a piece of extra territory so it invaded Bosnia and reached at least to Mostar. Its complicated, so won`t go into details.
So the west bank of the town was most Croat, and the east bank most Bosnian Muslim.
The Croats advanced to the western part of town and then the siege started up. Many civilians were targeted during the months long siege. Mostar was the hardest hit city in the war as well.
ALL the buildings from then were heavily damaged. It is STILL quite evident that there was hard fighting. Many buildings are left empty or still damaged, with bullet hits or holes made from rockets. Just patched up with plaster at best.

Course, all the feelings and damage remain after 15 years of peace. However improvements are being made too. Most everything is repaired and the infrastructure is generally up and going again. All 7 bridges in town were destroyed, including this bridge- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stari_Most

But the bridges have been rebuilt exactly, including the old one. West and east of the town are reunited. This is also the only place I can think of in which you hear the Muslim call to prayer and Church bells at almost the same time. The older people here have a certain sadness about them, but the younger ones seem to be getting past the old war. The wounds are healing, but not terribly quick, though heal they will.

The tourism really is small here, but nice. Plenty of things to buy, plus the food is dirt cheap and really good! I sure love Bosnia here. A great charm to it. Not what I expected. Although I went on in detail about what when on here, it is needed, though on the other side of the coin is that Croatia and Bosnia are the best nations so far on my travels. There is a feeling I can`t explain.... OR perhaps I love the food and smaller feel of things here.

Anyways, again, thank you if you have read this far! Keep passing this blog around!