Mostar, Bosnia & Herzegovina

Wait, maybe I should bring up ONE MORE TIME the story about how I was supposed to go to Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina for my 40th birthday a few years ago.  And my dad had to do chemo and then my mom (rightfully) couldn't come watch my kids and then my birthday trip with my hubby was cancelled.  Well... Mostar was one of the stops on that alleged trip!

As we were told several times in both Medjugorje and Mostar, we were quite strongly in Herzegovina... NOT Bosnia. When referencing this country, you cannot just call it Bosnia.  In these parts, they will quickly correct you and let you know that you are in Herzegovina. The country is made up of two political entities - the first being The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (which is central and to the west) and the other is the Republika Srpska (which surrounds the Federation of BiH on the north, south and east and is composed of mostly Bosnian Serbs.)  Overlapping that, the country is divided between Bosnia and Herzegovina.  Within the country, there are three predominant ethnicities (corresponding to three religions): the Muslim Bosniaks, the Orthodox Serbs, and the Catholic Croats.

Sorry folks, this is gonna be one of my longer posts because history dictates that it should be so.

The highlight of Mostar is the Stari Most, or the Old Bridge. So naturally that was our first stop of the morning as we made our way to the Turkish Hammam to catch the Free Walking Tour Mostar.  The Old Bridge only took 9 years to build between 1557-1566 and I think it's one of the most all around photogenic spots I've ever seen!

In the Old Bazaar on the east side of the river, you could easily miss this Don't Forget sign which reminds you of the 2,000 killed in the 1993 Siege of Mostar.

One more reason why I needed to have better shoes on this trip.  The Old Bridge was really slippery.  They have the steps to assist you up, but if you miss one, you might bust your butt, which we saw happen a few times.  More about the Old Bridge when we come back to it later.  In fact, you'll probably be annoyed by the number of pictures of this bridge that I'm including in this post.  Notice the pup on the left.  We'll come back to him, too!

The first real stop on our free walking tour of Mostar took us to the Crooked Bridge.  From 1463 to 1878, BiH was under Ottoman rule.  During this time, about 20 stone bridges were built.  The Crooked Bridge was first mentioned in 1558 and was originally built as a test bridge for the Old Bridge. Since it crosses over the more narrow Rabobolja River, and since it's construction was successful, they went on to build the more architecturally difficult Old Bridge over the wider Neretva River. At one point, this bridge was the only crossing between the trading area of town and the roads that led into what is now Croatia.

Although the Crooked Bridge was still standing after the Bosnian War (from 1992-1995), it did sustain damage.  It finally collapsed in a serious flood in December of 1999.  It was rebuilt in 2002 using as much of the original stone as they possibly could.  Funny thing about this... the official UNESCO sign that sits near this bridge says it collapsed in the flood of 1999, but I have seen other conflicting reports of when it actually collapsed. The UNESCO website says "the great flood of 2000!"  It's possible that it's called this due to the flooding occurring around the new year.  Also interestingly - the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg helped fund the latest reconstruction. Weird!

Our next stop was the opposite side of the Neretva to see the Old Bridge from the other side of the river.  When in Mostar, you will periodically come across the shells of buildings that are still (partially) standing from the war nearly 30 years ago.

The Old Bridge was literally a link between the Bosniak Muslims in the eastern part of the city (and country) and the Croat Catholics in the western part of the city.  So when the bridge came down during the war in 1993, it was a literal divide or cut made between these peoples and cultures.  This city is still made up predominantly of these two religions.

Todd looking all cute and sweaty as he appears to actually fit under the Old Bridge of Mostar.

The tour continued as we walked across a makeshift bridge that led us to the stairs up to the Old Bridge.

This cute pup escorted us!  He must have been so hot, poor baby.  There are two "guard dogs" of the bridge - one that generally sit on each side of it.

This is the view of what our guide called Sniper Mountain. Mostar sits in a river valley surrounded by mountains, where the Croat snipers would sit, waiting to pick off innocent people.

Panorama of the Old Bridge and the Neretva River.

Guard doggie number two trying to beat the heat with a nap in the shade.

Copperware is very big in Mostar and much of it is handmade and very detailed.

I think this was everyone's favorite stop on the tour.  Outside of every mosque is a place where worshipers can wash their face, hands and feet.  The water is also potable, so everyone got to fill up their water bottles, too.  Natalie just kept pouring water on her head at the Nesuh-Aga Vucjakovic Mosque.  She is always SO hot - she's definitely a Bailey!

The Nesuh-Aga Vucjakovic Mosque was built in the mid 1560s.  It's minaret sustained damage in 1993 but remained standing.  This mosque is better known by it's more simple name:  The mosque under the lime tree.

This cemetery wasn't here before the war.  In fact, a building had been here, but when it was destroyed in 1993, they started to bury the dead here.

The poet Osman Đikić's grave in this cemetery is the only one not from the early 1990s (or later.)

Osman Đikić's patriotic poetry inspired the Bosniaks at a time when they were ruled by Austria-Hungary who was trying to promote a "one country" sort of feel to Bosnia and Herzegovina, rather than recognizing the three different ethnic groups that resided there.  It could be said that this was a stepping stone to the war in the early 1990's.  

Behind the Hadze Tere Jahja Mosque, we stopped for a bit in the shade (thank you!) near the Bunur Bridge.  Here we learned about how the Communist ruler Josip Broz Tito held Yugoslavia together when he was President from 1953 until his death in 1980. Although a Communist country, Yugoslavia enjoyed many more freedoms than other countries behind the Iron Curtain, such as the ability to travel.  They also enjoyed more religious freedoms (although it was encouraged to keep it behind closed doors.)  Tito was benevolent and all three ethnicities lived somewhat harmoniously under him.

Alina, our Argentinian guide (who loves Mostar so much, she decided to live here!) took a selfie of our tour group while we were in the shade.  Look at my babies way at the top of this picture!

We walked across the Bunar bridge back to the west bank of the Neretva River.

As soon as you walk across the river, you approach the front lines of the 1993 war.  And the evidence surrounds you in the form of pock marked buildings full of bullet holes.  After Tito died in 1980, the six ethnic groups of Yugoslavia (the three previously mentioned plus ethnic Albanians who were living in Kosovo, as well as the Slovenes and the Macedonians) started to spread more nationalist feelings among their groups, which Tito had suppressed.  By 1990, there was very little leadership at the federal level and all hell pretty much broke loose.  Slovenia was the first to secede from Yugoslavia, resulting in the 10 day war in late June of 1991.  The overlapping Croatian War of Independence and the Bosnian War occurred in the early 1990's.

The hollowed out shell of this building still stands bearing the scars of this war.  The Bosnian war started in early 1992 with Bosnia and Herzegovina declaring independence from what was left of Yugoslavia.  The war itself stemmed from the fact that the Bosnian Serbs,with the help of the Croats, wanted to physically divide the county - giving themselves most of the land, and leaving only a tiny bit for the Bosniaks.  War finally broke out in June of 1992, and this resulted in the Serbs wanted to eliminate the Bosniaks through "ethnic cleansing."  To make matters worse, the former alliance of the Croats and the Bosniaks broke down for a time being with the Croats wanting to form their own region in Bosnia (particularly here in Mostar) or at the very least, a Bosniak/Croat state.  So now the Bosniaks are not only trying to fight off the Serbian army, but are also clashing with their former allies, the Croats in the Croat-Bosniak War. It wasn't until their re-alliance in 1994 under the Washington Agreement that they were finally able to push back on the Serbs.  The CIA has said in the past that 90% of the genocide occurred as a result of the Serbs killing the Bosniaks.

This road in front of us, known as the Bulevar was the literal front line of the early 1990's war, particularly during the Bosnian War that killed around 2,000 people between 1992-1994.  The hollowed out building you see was the former "Glass Bank" that eventually became known as "Sniper Tower."  It's obviously the tallest structure around, making it just right for snipers during the war.  It's been closed up for years but people still sneak in to graffiti or take pictures.

About 3/4 of the city fled during this war... and of course, when they eventually returned, they either found their buildings looking like this, or they found other people living in their homes. Displaced people had to find a new place to live, in a place that had been formerly occupied by another family, and that family had to find another place formerly occupied by another family. And so on and so forth.

There's so much going on here.  I love it.  The street art in Mostar is insanely good.  Is it me, or is this mushroom saying, "Come at me, bro" with his Popeye arms?

This building is newer, built after the war.  It was set up across the Bulevar from the above mentioned hollowed out building.  This is a high school!  In Mostar, Croats and Bosniaks don't go to school together.  Or maybe they do, as in the case of this school, but they go to school on different floors of the same building.  Despite their former alliance and despite the fact that things are improving, the two groups are still very segregated.  Today's children don't understand the war of 30 years ago that still scars their parents, who were their age when the war broke out.  Current students just want to hang out and see their friends, but due to religious/ethnic differences, are unable to do so during the school day.

It was so hot on this day.  And you can see the concern on my family members faces about the little ones.  Because heat is all we had to worry about.  We didn't have to worry about bullets.

We didn't worry about rocket propelled grenades being fired off at us because of our ethnicity or our religion.

One of our last stops on the tour was under a shady tree at an apartment complex.  My little rebel didn't sit with the rest of the group.  Someone thankfully asked about that "Red Army 1981" sign.  If you've learned anything about the Balkans, it's that they love their football teams.  The Red Army is the nickname for the fans of the FK Velež Mostar football club, which was founded in 1981.  Today fans of the club are mostly Bosniaks.

Among the still standing ruins of buildings is a very new Marriott.  Although I love me some Marriott's... it seems really out of place here!

As we wrapped back around to the south side of the old town near the Old Bridge, you get a nice view of the city.  You can see the skyline is shared by both Muslim minarets and Catholic churches.

At this point we were HOT.  And we were hungry.  (My brother is laughing at this right now... inside joke!)  We needed an extended lunch and a siesta at this point.

The folks of BiH understand my need for many drinks at the table, although none of these are bourbon.  I ordered a cold beer and a Coke Zero (so... three glasses) and then they brought us some rakia.  It was night night termite after this.

Todd took a pic of his amazing looking meal.  Balkan food will always be my favorite on the European continent!

We walked back to the apartment and passed this street art of Radovan Karadzic, the Bosnian Serb who ruled the Republica Srbska portion of Bosnia during the war.  His desire to unite his land with Serbia led him to participate in the genocide against the Bosniaks.  If you're old enough, you might remember him as the "Butcher of Bosnia."



I don't think I have to tell you that this was the reason we needed a siesta back in the air conditioned apartment.

After a nice little siesta, we headed back out for some dinner in the city.  The Old Bridge was still crowded with tourists, even in the heat.

Well, she hadn't melted by this point!

Mostar really is a beautiful little city.  It currently has a little over 100,000 residents and is the 5th largest city in BiH.  In late 1995, the Dayton Accords officially ended the Bosnian War, and the lands were divided into the Serb dominated Republika Srpska and the Bosniak-Croat dominated Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Both are under the umbrella of one autonomous state... Bosnia and Herzegovina.

As we were heading to dinner on the opposite bank of the Neretva, we got to see a jumper!



I couldn't capture any pictures but Todd took a video and grabbed a screen capture from it.  Some of these guys are professional, and others have taken the rigorous training it takes to be able to jump the almost 79 feet down to the river.

Family selfie on the Old Bridge of Mostar.

We went over to the restaurants that have the best views of the Old Bridge, and managed to get a table at the Konoba Mlinica Neretva restaurant where we got to watch several guys jump off the bridge!

Gah.  Sorry for the four thousand pictures of this bridge, but it's just so pretty!

The best part of this dinner was that it wasn't rushed and we just enjoyed ourselves and the company.  The kiddos loved hanging out with their cousin Madison!

When having dinner near the Old Bridge of Mostar, one must take a dinner selfie.

Meanwhile, there was this thunderstorm popping up behind the mountain!

To think of all that this city and it's people have seen.

Tell me if you can see the guy jumping off the bridge here.  This happened a few times when we were eating dinner!

Family pre-dinner selfie! 

My word, these girls are beautiful!!!!  I decided they both have the same face shape and profile!

The sun was setting as we ate dinner, leaving the prettiest glow on the buildings on the east bank.

And then the sun set and everything was STILL beautiful!

The post sun set view of the Old Bridge in Mostar.

Madison goofing around with Grant's new hat on.  From our dinner spot, we had nice views of both the Koski Mehmed Pasha Mosque and the Nesuh-Aga Vucjakovic Mosque.

Lights were starting to come on in Mostar as we finished dinner.

Lights on the Old Bridge at dusk.

Madison looking all beautiful under the lights of the Old Bridge.  I warned you we would be taking a lot of pictures of this bridge!

On the way back to the apartment, we passed this creepy looking Doner Kepab mannequin.  It looks like a giant poop!  I promise, Doner is better than that!

Like mother....

... Like daughter!

Good night, Old Bridge!



In case you were wondering about how the people of Mostar felt (feel) about Tito...  he was spray painted on the wall near our apartment.

This is our new friend Miran and his mama.  When we came back from our long day out, he greeted us with some fresh plums from a nearby tree. He and his mama were just sitting outside in the hot evening, drinking a beer and eating plums.  He had told us the story of how his family lived here during the war, and how his grandfather had been killed, shot in the heart by a sniper.  It was a heartbreaking story.

One of the most amusing things that happened on our trip was the crazy way people from the different ethnicities/countries were strangely cautious about the others.  For example, when we were in Medjugorje, the lady at the hotel told us to be VERY careful in Mostar (because there were lots of pickpockets!)  Then when we were in Mostar and we told Miran that we were off to Split in the morning, he told us to be VERY careful because Split was dangerous.  We never felt unsafe in any of these cities!  People from all ethnicities and religions were nothing but nice to us.

I really enjoyed our day here! Such history!  Until next time, Mostar!

Medjugorje, Bosnia & Herzegovina

If you aren't Catholic, you're about to get a lesson on how to do a Catholic pilgrimage!

I've posted a few times over the years about the random heat waves that we have here in Europe.  You might remember the fun we had in Colmar, France back in 2016.  Or perhaps in Athens, Greece last summer.  But the heat in Bosnia and Herzegovina might the hottest we have ever experienced.

Of course when we booked our trip to Bosnia and Herzegovina, we didn't know high temperatures were going to be over 100 degrees F.  Yikes.

But apparently it wasn't hot at all in the Alps... since there was snow on the peaks!

Because we had 7 people (the four of us, Todd's sister Kathleen, niece Madison, and Kathleen's best friend growing up - Lynne) we knew that trying to rent two cars and drive the several hours between Zadar, Croatia and Medjugorje, Bosnia and Herzegovina (from here on out, I'm just going to call this BiH)... renting a van with a drive proved to be easier and actually more economical.  There are also all kind of issues with renting a car in Croatia and driving it over the border, so this really was the best way.

PLUS, when you aren't driving and the driver wants to take a break at a rest stop with a bar, you can have a little beer break!

Our beer break was short and the moon was rising over Croatia so we hopped back in the van and headed for the BiH border.  BiH is not a Schengen country (while Croatia is a member), so the border takes some time.

The BiH border can have very long car lines, especially in the summer. Another bonus of hiring a van is that they know the back ways into BiH!  Instead of going to the very busy Doljani border crossing, he took us through the Orajovlje crossing, which took us under 30 minutes.

It's a funny little border though.  You stop at one booth and they do some passport stamps to get you out of Croatia.  Then you drive maybe 50 feet to another booth and they take all of the passports and go into this little office and scan then (that's typical, they do that everywhere.)  No stamps here, though.

There were seven of us in the van, not counting the driver.  Of the seven, only two people got actual stamps at this Schengen to Non Schengen border: Todd and Natalie.  No one else!  I actually began to wonder whether they would let us back into Croatia in a few days since we didn't have exit/entrance stamps. (Spoiler alert:  They let us back in.)

We arrived fairly late into Medjugorje and spent the night at Rooms Kenedy (I can't give this place enough stars - it was awesome!)  In the morning, the hostess called a couple of taxis to take us to the very base of Apparition Hill.

Let me tell you right now... this was a hike.  And it was not an easy hike.  Even though we started out at 7 am, we were all drenched by the time we reached the top of the hill.  You MUST wear sturdy shoes, preferably hiking boots with good traction so you don't slip on these rocks.

The views are quite lovely though!  With over a million visitors each year, Medjugorje is one of the most visited cities in all of BiH, despite only having a population of about 4500.

Along the rocky trail, there are various scenes from Mary's life, including this one that Madison and Grant were checking out about Mary being visited by the Angel Gabriel who told her she was going to give birth to Jesus.

Make sure you bring cold water with you!  Our lovely hotel had cold bottled water (for sale) that we took with us.

About halfway up the mountain is a plain wooden cross, which marks the spot at which Mary appeared to Marija Pavlovic on June 26, 1981 (two days after her initial appearance up the hill a bit.)

Sorry for the blur, but about a mile away on top of the next ridge is Cross Mountain, or it's actual name, Mount Krizevac.  In 1933, to mark the 1900th anniversary of the death of Jesus, they put this massive cross up on the mountain.

Honestly, this was one of the hardest things I've ever done.  It didn't help that my shoes were absolutely the opposite of what I should have worn.

As you hike up the hill, you may periodically see groups pausing to say the rosary or in prayer.

You definitely kind of feel like you're on the surface of Mars!

I feel like these rocks look like old dinosaur bones emerging from the ground.

We finally reached the top of the hill and the spot of the apparitions.  On June 24, 1981, two teenager girls who were playing on the mountain in the town of Medjugorje in communist Yugoslavia (ie: religion is banned at this point) reported seeing a woman holding a baby here on this hill.  The next day, the same two girls and four other teenagers went back to the hill and once again saw the same vision.  Some of the visionaries continue to have daily apparitions.

Over the years, the Virgin Mary has given the six visionaries a recurring message - that people are to pray, to fast, and to do penance.

My babies must have heard Mary's message as they followed others doing the same and dropped (unprompted by us) to their knees to pray.

Natalie took a few moments to be by herself.  

Madison took this picture of Grant sitting on a rock on Apparition Hill and I honestly couldn't believe how old he looked!  Look at that dimple!

We said one more Hail Mary before hiking down the mountain, which was infinitely harder than hiking up the mountain.  Especially in sandals. 

Don't hike down the same way you came up - if you do, you'll miss the Blue Cross.  This is the spot at which two of the original visionaries continue to have apparitions. 

Three very sweaty Bailey's made it to the bottom of Apparition Hill.  Here are a few of them standing with a carving of Mary being crowned Queen of Heaven.

This town was a Catholic town long before the visions appeared in 1981. The original St. James's church was built in 1892, but the ground was unstable so a new church had to be built.  Construction began on this church in 1934, although it wasn't completed for 35 years.  The central religion of this part of BiH is Catholicism (as most people here are Croats), and very interestingly this town sits strongly in the Herzegovina part of the country, something the locals are VERY quick to point out to you.  Read more about the religious tensions in BiH in my next post about Mostar. It's really fascinating!

We didn't take any photos when we went to mass, obviously, but we did take one of ourselves outside of St. James's church.  St. James was the patron saint of pilgrims, hence the name of the church.  Mass was really nice - the Irish priest gave a really nice homily.

After mass, we headed back to the hotel for a bit.  Then we ventured out for some lunch and souvenir shopping. Medjugorje isn't huge, but as Grant said, "I didn't know Medjugorje was just one road!"  We spent most of our time walking up and down this road.

We stopped at Restoran Pizzeria Santa Fe for some beer and lunch. We totally laughed... the guy who worked there lured us in with "we have air conditioning" and they did... but they had the windows open.  So much for that!

After lunch and some rest time in the air conditioned hotel, we went back to St. James's for the rosary.  It wasn't in English but we knew it so it wasn't too difficult. It was SO SO SO awesome for Rooms Kenedy to let us stay until the evening since our rooms weren't rented for the next night.  It really saved us as the high temperature got up to 106 degrees F.

Madison, Grant and I decided to stay in the church as they started up a second rosary, but Kathleen and Natalie went to do confession.  Todd and Lynne went with them.  One of the nice things about the visionaries is that they say the Virgin Mary told them to do penance.  With over 50 confessionals, the sacrament of penance and reconciliation is one of the greatest draws at Medjugorje.  There is also a  huge outdoor altar right behind St. James's with rows and rows of outdoor pews in front of it.

This is a close up of the big outdoor altar.  With people praying at it!  I have to say being at Medjugorje was very lovely, despite the heat.  The Vatican has waffled back and forth over the years about the validity of the apparitions - Pope Francis himself even said in 2015 that he had issue with, "visionaries who can tell us exactly what message Our Lady will be sending at four o’clock this afternoon."  The frequency, timing and brevity of the daily apparitions are something the church has taken issue with in the past.  The Vatican seems to have lightened up a bit earlier this year as they now permit pilgrimages (something they didn't necessarily encourage in the past.) They still haven't authenticated any of the visions, although they do seem to feel more strongly about the first apparitions, only having doubts about the ongoing ones.  Either way, no matter how one feels about it, it's a good spiritual journey that encourages love, kindness and penance. And those are always good things to promote in today's world.

As soon as Natalie and Kathleen were finished with confession, we booked it back to the hotel where we gathered our things and boarded our waiting taxi vans that took us to the city of Mostar, deeper into BiH.

Until next time, Medjugorje!