MOSTAR SHINES
This once war-ravaged town in Bosnia and Herzegovina is now a beautiful symbol of reconciliation, writes Heidi Davies
Crossing the border by car from Croatia into Bosnia and Herzegovina was easy, but driving became more complicated, as all the road signs were now in Cyrillic script. Also, our progress was painfully slow, with speed limits averaging 30km per hour. As we overtook a big truck, which was driving even slower than the 30km/h limit, the speedometer went up to the dizzy heights of 40km/h, and we were promptly flagged down by a policeman. He enquired in broken English if we were “tourista”, and demanded a à200 spot fine.
We started wailing loudly, and the fee was lowered to à100.
We continued to wail. “Okay, okay,” he said. “Feefty euro.” We stopped wailing, scratched all our euros together and handed them over with a heavy heart. Who knows if he was even a real policeman? But we couldn’t take the chance of challenging his authenticity as our time was very limited, and lingering in a Bosnian prison was not on our itinerary.
The year was 2013 and our goal was Mostar, where we would stay for one night at the “Shangri La B&B”.
When we entered the town, we were somewhat taken aback. It looked nothing like what we had envisaged; it looked like a slum with pockmarked, crumbling buildings and many ruins. None of the roads had names. Stray dogs roamed the streets and we felt increasingly more uneasy about staying in this dilapidated town.
When we finally found our B&B, we were more taken aback — this time in awe and wonder. It was indeed a Shangri La. The proprietors were so welcoming and friendly that all our doubts vanished and we immediately felt at home.
We walked the short distance downhill into the old part of Mostar, and it was love at first sight.
The town is all about the bridge, originally built by the Ottomans in the 16th century. It spans the milky blue Neretva River and connects the two parts of the town.
During the Croat-Bosnian war in the 1990s, this town was under siege for 18 months and the bridge was totally destroyed by the former
Yugoslavian army.
It was painstakingly rebuilt and completed in 2004, partly with stones from the original bridge, which were hauled out of the river.
On a plaque it says, “The reconstructed bridge of Mostar is a symbol of reconciliation, co-operation and of the co-existence of diverse cultural, ethnic and religious communities.”
Now, time has moved on and life is back to normal, with tourists from all over the world photographing the bridge from all angles.
During the summer months, some daredevils jump the 20m from the bridge into the 15°C river below. It requires skill and training to do so, as quite a few people have been injured or killed in attempting it.
The old town has exceptional medieval allure and there are as many minarets as there are church towers.
The Turkish influence is still evident as you amble down the narrow cobbled lanes, which take you from one interesting shop to the next.
Poignant graffiti reminds people to “never forget”.
All along the banks of the river, restaurants line the sidewalks, inviting us to take a breather and enjoy a relaxing meal or glass of wine.
On our drive to Mostar, we had noticed many places that did lamb on the spit, which made us long for some succulent, juicy “braaied” meat.
But language barriers turned out to be a stumbling block and we wondered what we would eventually be served. A huge platter of different meat dishes arrived, enough to feed an army, washed down with a bottle of local wine as we sat on an outdoor terrace overlooking the town.
As the sun was setting, we walked back to our lodgings and stopped in our tracks when we heard churchbells ringing out a hymn into the stillness of early evening.
It was a sublime moment of peace and tranquility in a place that not too long ago was ravaged by war.
As the Romanian Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel once said: “A destruction only man can provoke, only man can prevent. Mankind must remember that peace is not God’s gift to his creatures, it is our gift to each other.”
● L S. © Heidi Davies Fancy your hand at travel writing? Send your stories to travelmag@sundaytimes.co.za. If we like them, we’ll be in touch about publication dates and freelance payment.