Marvelous
Mostar...
Mostar...
| One of many cemeteries in the country. |
October 4, 2007
Ahhh, to see the bridge during the day... Even more beautiful than it appears in pictures.
While attempting to take my self-portrait, I met Tobias from Germany who offered to do the honors. I have actually found
that this is quite a great way to meet other solo travelers. He was only in Mostar for a few hours but it was still nice to have
someone to pal around with. The other bonus, of course, is that I can actually be photographed so that people can believe I was
actually at these places.
While we were getting some coffee, I was reading a bit in my Lonely Planet.
A little bit of info on Mostar… The bridge was originally built in 1556 (I guess that’s the reason for its name ‘Old Bridge’?). It
was the Croats and their mortar shells that brought it down in 1993. In 2004 it was rebuilt and opened. While the old part of
the city has been rebuilt, the rest of the city is in need of repair. I guess most of the money went towards Sarajevo. Mostar is
also divided between the Muslim Bosniaks and the Catholic Croats – this causes the need for different school systems, hospitals
and football teams.
Reading Lonely Planet was also when I would find out that we could climb a minaret at one of the mosques. How exciting! I had
never climbed a minaret before. Cupola of a church? Yes. Tower of a church? Yes. But minaret of a mosque? Nope.
Guess where we headed next?
Luckily most people are here on day trips and don’t have the Lonely Planet so they didn’t know about the minaret climb.
There was not one other person there the entire time we were anywhere near the mosque…and that’s probably a good thing
since minarets are narroooooooooooow.
From the top of the minaret, we had a birds-eye view of the cemetery that was next-door. This was where we went after went
after our descent. So sad as just about every death date ended in 1992 or 1993. Some of the markers even had pictures of the
victims. That’s when it gets really real – to put a face to people lying in these graves.
There is a town near here called Medugorje. I learned from my friend Cat in Ireland that this is where mass amounts of Irish
(amongst many other Europeans) come. Why, you ask? To see the Virgin Mary. Duh…
Back in the early 80s, six people claimed that she appeared out here. Now people flock here so that they, too, might be able to
get a glimpse. I hate to be a cynic…but come on! I mean did they think about doing a drug test on these individuals that saw
her?
But I thought I would check it out since it is only 40 minutes away. According to my guidebook, about the only thing you will
really find out there is religious kitsch and pansions. Probably worked out in my favor that there weren’t any buses leaving for
the day that worked with my schedule. I would be left to have to use my imagination to see the plethora of Jesus pencil cases.
Since I am running low on time in the Balkans, I figured I would skip this altogether and head to Sarajevo tomorrow.
This would leave me the rest of the day to ogle at the Stari Most.
And because it was hard to tire of looking at it, I would then move to a different café tonight to ogle at it from…
Ahhh, to see the bridge during the day... Even more beautiful than it appears in pictures.
While attempting to take my self-portrait, I met Tobias from Germany who offered to do the honors. I have actually found
that this is quite a great way to meet other solo travelers. He was only in Mostar for a few hours but it was still nice to have
someone to pal around with. The other bonus, of course, is that I can actually be photographed so that people can believe I was
actually at these places.
While we were getting some coffee, I was reading a bit in my Lonely Planet.
A little bit of info on Mostar… The bridge was originally built in 1556 (I guess that’s the reason for its name ‘Old Bridge’?). It
was the Croats and their mortar shells that brought it down in 1993. In 2004 it was rebuilt and opened. While the old part of
the city has been rebuilt, the rest of the city is in need of repair. I guess most of the money went towards Sarajevo. Mostar is
also divided between the Muslim Bosniaks and the Catholic Croats – this causes the need for different school systems, hospitals
and football teams.
Reading Lonely Planet was also when I would find out that we could climb a minaret at one of the mosques. How exciting! I had
never climbed a minaret before. Cupola of a church? Yes. Tower of a church? Yes. But minaret of a mosque? Nope.
Guess where we headed next?
Luckily most people are here on day trips and don’t have the Lonely Planet so they didn’t know about the minaret climb.
There was not one other person there the entire time we were anywhere near the mosque…and that’s probably a good thing
since minarets are narroooooooooooow.
From the top of the minaret, we had a birds-eye view of the cemetery that was next-door. This was where we went after went
after our descent. So sad as just about every death date ended in 1992 or 1993. Some of the markers even had pictures of the
victims. That’s when it gets really real – to put a face to people lying in these graves.
There is a town near here called Medugorje. I learned from my friend Cat in Ireland that this is where mass amounts of Irish
(amongst many other Europeans) come. Why, you ask? To see the Virgin Mary. Duh…
Back in the early 80s, six people claimed that she appeared out here. Now people flock here so that they, too, might be able to
get a glimpse. I hate to be a cynic…but come on! I mean did they think about doing a drug test on these individuals that saw
her?
But I thought I would check it out since it is only 40 minutes away. According to my guidebook, about the only thing you will
really find out there is religious kitsch and pansions. Probably worked out in my favor that there weren’t any buses leaving for
the day that worked with my schedule. I would be left to have to use my imagination to see the plethora of Jesus pencil cases.
Since I am running low on time in the Balkans, I figured I would skip this altogether and head to Sarajevo tomorrow.
This would leave me the rest of the day to ogle at the Stari Most.
And because it was hard to tire of looking at it, I would then move to a different café tonight to ogle at it from…
| In front of the Stari Most. |
| Walking down the street in Mostar. |
