Mostar
Trip Start
Jan 06, 2006
1
68
120
Trip End
Sep 02, 2008
Mostar,
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Thursday, November 2, 2006
We rode the bus as far as Mostar, a city famous for its medieval bridge. It was built by the Turks back in the 16th century to replace a something older and less durable. They did a phenomenal job on an arched bridge, which rose 75 feet above the river. It lasted for years and would have continued to do so, but it was shelled by the Army of the former Federation of Yugoslavia and Serbian irregular forces in the 1992-5 war. Locals tried to protect it by hanging tyres on its sides and putting up scaffolding on top to absorb the damage. Red Green might have been proud but the jurry rigged effort went over like one of his Adventures with Bill. The bridge was shot down.
A couple of years ago, enough international aid had been banked for the city of Mostar to rebuild the old bridge. They even brought in a Turkish company to do the work. They still have that age old know-how. It has been built with new tools but according to the old designs. The old one took nine years to construct back in . This time it only took one, but after a prior year of preparation work. It looks really nice now, and there is a beautful museum inside of one of the towers that flank the bridge. It holds a display on civic history and then information on how they put the bridge back together. Someone had a camcorder and recorded clips in 2003 when they were putting the bridge back together.
A woman in the museum explained the video for me. I asked her about Mostar in the war and she told me that she spent the war living there throughout. She was seventeen and starting studies in mechanical engineering. She and her family just about starved and although I didn't ask I don't think that the degree worked out. She didn't go into too much detail because her English was fuzzy.
Looking at the rest of Mostar is like looking at a horrendous train wreck part of the way through clean up. Substantial parts of the city are still wrecked and shot to pieces. I didn't do a scientific survey but maybe fifteen percent of its buildings were ruined shells and almost every building wears evidence of being fired upon. Some buildings even have signs that warn anyone from entering them because unexploded munitions lie inside.
It is fascinating at first. Then it just sucks once you realise that these places were homes and offices, libraries and schools. I have never seen a place that looks worse. Beirut was bad in parts but this was bad just about everywhere. After a few hours we had seen enough. There is no art to the destruction and nothing attractive about it. Bullet pock marks are bullet pock marks and it gets a bit oppressive. We caught a bus to Sarajevo after a few hours' visit. It may have been time for us to leave, but I wonder how those who live there will ever get over it.
