Mostar is an old city with a river running through the middle of it. Due to wars and conflicts, the river divides the city not only geographically, but ethnically. Several bridges cross the Neretva River but the most iconic bridge is "Stari Most" the Old Bridge.
The tour group that I was with stopped in Mostar for some sightseeing as well as lunch. After our stop in Mostar, we had canoed down a different river in Bosnia & Herzegovina.
After breakfast, our tour group checked out of our rooms in Zaton and loaded up into the van. The day was going to be more sight-seeing than adventure which was fine by me.
Our first stop was in Äapljina, Bosnia & Herzegovina. It's a cool, hilly town next to a river.
I'm not sure if we actually did anything here. Maybe we had breakfast here. Some of us climbed up the hill to the ruined fortress for photos.
The area is very pretty and seemed like a nice place to live.
Mosques were kind of new to me. I hadn't seen many of them so far in my traveling. I would end up seeing a lot more, but I think this was one of the first mosques that I took a picture of.
On the way back to the van, I spotted this mural. I thought it was pretty cool.
We returned to the van and drove for about 30 minutes to Mostar. The city is generally divided into two halves by the river. On one side is the Christian side, on the other is the Muslim side.
Our guide told us that during the war in the early 90's, all of the bridges were destroyed. The mosques on the Muslim side faced all of their speakers towards the Christian part of town. The Christians put speakers on their church bells and faced them towards the Muslim side of town. It sounded like an odd type of religious warfare. Wikipedia says that about 2000 people died during the conflict (from conventional weapons, not religious speakers).
Luckily for us, tensions appear to have been eased. There was no evidence of conflict or a city divided.
Mostar itself is a very photogenic place and was a great place to spend a few hours. I'm not sure if there's enough to do here to warrant an overnight stay, but it's worth stopping by if you're in the area.
After wandering around for a while, my dad and I found a restaurant to have lunch at.
We sat outside, but the inside had a cool look to it.
For lunch I had the Mostar specialty, and it was a huge mistake. The specialty in the region is basically meat with raw onions. Ever since I was a kid, I've hated raw onions. I use them for cooking and like them in a lot of dishes, but I am not a fan of raw onions by themselves.
I was trying to explore new things and thought that maybe I could train myself to enjoy the food. I ate everything and ended up being sick for the rest of the day š¤¢. I rarely get sick from food but when I do, onions are involved every single the time.
After lunch we all met up and went to the van to go canoeing. I was starting to feel sick, but didn't want to bail on the activity.
We got in the canoes and headed down the little river. I'm sure it was fun for everyone else, but I was feeling terrible. I threw up over the side of the boat and all I could think about was finding a bed to sleep in.
Eventually the canoeing was over and we went to a new hotel.
The only photo that I have of the hotel isn't very good. It was right on the water though. The photo's GPS says it was located here. I pretty much went to bed immediately after we got there. I skipped dinner and went to sleep.
The next day I was feeling good and ready for the next activity. Stay tuned for the next post as my dad and I continue our adventure!