Visiting Mostar

the famous bridge of Mostar, Bosnia & Hercegovina
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We arrived back in Mostar after our quick pilgrimage and began to explore the town. Mostar was a pretty central spot in the fighting from the war in the 1990's and you can see the scars from it everywhere. Probably every third building has been shelled out and had trees and weeds growing in and on top of them. All of the shelled out buildings have warning signs to not go in or explore because they haven't been searched for mines yet, even ten years later they are just sitting there. The buildings that are still functioning are full of bullet holes from all the fighting. It is a very grim place that still has alot of recovering to do.

The town is basically split right down the centar by a river, one side is mainly Muslim and the other side mainly Christian. It is amazing to see a town split like this, one side covered with mosques the other with churches. The famous Mostar Bridge is in the center and was destroyed in the war but has been beautifully rebuilt.  The market in the old town has been going on for about 500 years and makes you feel as though you are in an ancient bazaar in the Middle East, so many great things to buy but alas you buy it, you carry it! After the market we walked down one of the main streets which was the former front line during the war. These were by far the most damaged buildings.

Just seeing the state of Mostar today really gives you an idea of what these people went through in the war. Despite the horrid effects of the war Mostar is still a lovely place full of kind and friendly people and will definitely be a place more and more people will be venturing to.

Off to Sarajevo