Our plan today was quite simple really.
- Have a lazy morning because check out is not until 11:00am
- Take a leisurely drive to our next seaside town, Trogir, about 40km away.
- Explore Trogir’s Old Town. (Yep, another one!)
- See another cathedral, bell tower and promenade.
- Eat.
- Call it a day.
Well…at least step one was successful! About 10km into our drive I got inspired and, on a whim, decided to see how far Mostar, Bosnia was. Did you know that for a mere 2.5 hours of driving, we could be exploring another country?? So yeah, take the next exit please!!
We get to the Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) border, get our passports stamped (yay!!), our pictures and fingerprints taken (new EU rules) and cross easily into this new country. Mostar isn’t very far from the border and before long, we are there. One of the first things we noticed were many houses and buildings abandoned. They had been bombed and shot beyond repair. Heartbreaking.
Mostar also has an Old Town, but it is very different from any of the ones we’ve seen thus far. First of all, B&H has a very strong Muslim population so there are mosques everywhere. The prayers are still spoken daily via loudspeaker. The shops lining the street are much less ‘European’ and much more ‘Middle Eastern’. The cobblestones are rounded – not flat, the lanes are much curvier, the overall feel is very different.
We saw a museum dedicated to the stories of the victims during the genocide in 1992 – 1995. It was a very sobering experience, but one that I am so grateful we were able to have. My personal knowledge of this war and genocide is extremely sparse. Reading the stories, watching the news reals, seeing the artifacts gave me a better understanding of what has since shaped this part of the world.
This whole area is still scarred by these horrors. The famous Mostar Bridge, built by the Ottoman Empire in the 16th C was purposefully bombed and destroyed during the war. It was since been rebuilt, but the scars remain. There are so many buildings still standing today that bear witness to the destruction of grenades, machine guns and bombs. Being in places like this certainly put into perspective just how much freedom and choice we have at home in Canada. Sometimes it is easy to forget just how lucky we are.
I wish we could have stayed longer, but alas, we still have a 2.5 hour drive back to Trogir. I guess we’ll just have to make time to come back and see more of this country another year. Fingers crossed!
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