Old Bridge from the 16th century, Mostar

Although traces of human habitation can be found in the area of today's Mostar from prehistoric times, only after the construction of a stone bridge in the 16th century, which connected the two banks of the Neretva River, history becomes more interesting.
Before the stone bridge, there was a suspension bridge that connected two towers, two military fortifications on the banks of the Neretva.

With the construction of a solid stone bridge, this part of Bosnia becomes important on trade maps, because the bridge enables safe and secure crossing of the river.

In one of my posts you can see the story about another bridge on the Neretva, Jablanica
and the famous Battle for the Wounded which was fought around that bridge.

Touring Bosnia, following the course of the Neretva River on the way from Sarajevo, we stopped in Mostar.
As a typical Ottoman settlement made up of mahals and carts, the old part of Mostar is made up of narrow streets, where there is no space for parking. For this reason, we left the car in the parking lot in a more modern part of the city, next to the municipality building, which is built in the Austro-Hungarian style and is located on a wide boulevard.
From the middle of the 15th century, the Ottomans ruled these areas, until the arrival of the Austro-Hungarians, so the transition in architecture is clearly visible, instead of small houses and narrow streets, serious buildings and wide boulevards are being built.
With the collapse of Austria-Hungary, Mostar, as well as all of Bosnia, became part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, until the bloody civil war in 1991.
During the war, in 1993, the bridge was completely destroyed by shelling.

After the complete reconstruction of the bridge in 2004, the following year in 2005, it was included in the UNESCO list of world cultural heritage as a monument of exceptional value.

Decades ago, ever since its construction in the 16th century, the bridge was the central figure of this city and the link that connected the two banks, and enabled a normal life for the city's inhabitants.
One of the inhabitants of Mostar was the poet of Serbian origin Aleksa Santic, whose monument is located in the garden, not far from the old bridge.

There is also an old mosque in the immediate vicinity of the bridge.

Decades ago, the bridge served as a diving board for the brave boys of Mostar, who jumped from it into the Neretva river.
These jumps have become a world-famous attraction for the reason of jumpers, because position of the body is the only safe option of landing safely in the water.
Lest you think that jumpers train on the big old bridge, there is also a jump in the immediate vicinity of the bridge where youngsters learn to jump from an early age...
And only the bravest dare to jump from the big bridge.

On the bank of the Neretva river, under the bridge, there is a square, with restaurants in the shade of trees, and on the bank further away, scattered stone parts of the old bridge are visible, which stand there as a reminder of the suffering of the old bridge.

A walk through the old stone alleys, in addition to a large number of small galleries and souvenir shops, is best interrupted by a break in a restaurant whose terrace offers a spectacular view of the bridge.
If you don't want to sit in a restaurant, you can refresh yourself with a cup of coffee on the street wall, enjoying the view of the bridge.

We still sat down in the restaurant, for traditional black coffee, baklava and urmasica.

In addition to the large old bridge, there is another, much smaller but equally beautiful bridge, "Kriva ćuprija", which is located in the fairy-tale part of the old town.

Restaurants and terraces, stone walls and the tributary of the Neretva that passes through there, give this part of the city a lot of beauty.

And as a reminder of a not-so-nice period, in addition to the story about the collapsed bridge, there are still damaged buildings, which died in the war in the 90s of the last century.