Bristol Mostar

... and Herzegovina declared their independence from Yugoslavia. What were you doing during that time? Did you know this was even going on? I don't think it was much more than an occasional item on the tv news for me. All over Bosnia and Herzegovina hundreds of thousands of people were displaced and ethnic cleansing was rampant. As a result of the displacements there are parts of the country that are now purely of Serbian descent and others that are purely ...

I arrived in Mostar after a 2 & a bit hour bus journey from Sarajevo, I had been advised to take the train as it was more scenic (but it left at some ungodly hour before midday...). The bus journey was pretty amazing, the scenery was increadible and I can only imagine how more intense the train journey would have been (viewed from within the valley below the road in some parts). The view reminded me alot of Halong Bay ...

... any maps and no one knew where it was. When we arrived it was actually a little store that had a sign on it saying we should call if no one was there. That presented a problem as we had no phone. So we pulled out our computer and walked down to the water to see if we could get a wireless signal. It worked but for whatever reason Skype did not. Next we asked a lady at an information booth selling tours whether she ...

... there owing to the 14 degree temperature coupled with the 10 degree temperature of the water. I took a shallow dip, and then headed straight for the shack bar to get me some plum brandy. Its a place that I'll never forget, and if I have to come back to BiH only for this, its worth every penny I'll spend to get here. After a good hour of frolicking at the lake, we moved on to what could easily be a protected national park but is not classified such for reasons unknown to me ...

... really messed with my head. The second floor I attempted to infringe didn't happen. An old man sitting there violently signaled to me to get the **** off his domain. My seemingly ill advised trip inside an abandoned building had made me sad, and put my mind into overdrive. From there I started the walk back through the front line boulevard, but none of the sealed off ruins seemed to invoke the same reaction from me. It was, for lack of a better word, an awakening of sorts ...

... a 18 bed hostel. The smallest and the strangest hostel we have been to, however after the welcome cup of tea and coffee with a slice of cake it felt like home. Straight away we booked ourselves on a tour that we had read about in the reviews.
The tour is the most fascinating tours we have ever taken told by Majda's brother, Bata, a local Bosnian who fled in 93 during the war and return 5 years later. We learnt so much history all about Bosnia and Hercegovina ...

... beautiful historic buildings. The defining moment of this heartbreaking period was when the Croat Army deliberately shelled the town's center, heartbeat, most recognized feature, main tourist attraction and indeed mascot was the Stari Most, or old bridge which provided access to the old city. There has not been a trial, but the General responsible for the destruction of this beautiful and unique and technological marvel of a bridge is being held in ...

... dump but considering I stayed in some pretty nices places in Croatia, I thought I needed to get used to dumpy places again (not that I have stayed at many dumpy places in Europe). The dorm room was very basic. Too basic. It only had 1 small window which concerned me given the heat outside. Another concern was how there wasnt anything to lock my bag to. Normally I lock my bag against my bed as there is always a bed post or a bed leg available. But my bed was in ...

Easyjet flight landed promptly enough, then nice taxi driver zoomed us to the port, just in time to book our bus to Mostar in Bosnia. Any fears we had of people being unable to speak English were prooved unfounded at this early stage - throughout the duration of this holiday we were highly impressed and pleased by how everyone spoke English (in supermarkets etc as well) Window gazing was very pleasant as we made our way along the ...

... off with UN help. However, in early 1993, fighting broke out between the Croats and Muslims creating a second front. The UN force proved relatively impotent and fighting continued to escalate on all sides until the parties were called to a peace conference n Dayton, Ohio. The conference divided the country into two entities, the Serbian Republika Srpska and the Croat and Bosnian Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Since the Dayton Agreement, the region has been ...