Dobro Jutro, Mostar
Trip Start
Apr 19, 2008
1
5
6
Trip End
May 03, 2008
Mostar,
Mostar,
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Sunday, April 27, 2008
While waiting i got into a talk with a Bosnian Serb. He told me he wants to leave Bosnia for good soon and is just waiting for a Visa, so he can start a business in Austria. "Before war i had three houses in Mostar and a good running company. After war, two of my houses were destroyed and my company went bankrupped. Nowadays there is no work and i have little money. I had no problems with anyone during the war, but it destroyed my life for good"
At Majdas i met some Croatians, a German-Australian and two guys from London. It is a very cozy hostel and actually the first place which gives me a real 'hostel feeling'. However, this comes a bit too late. The past week has been busy and now i really need my rest at night.
Pocitelj. Old castle, mosque and clock tower.
. I guess i just want a room for myself and meet people in the city. O well... :)We went out on the Mostar streets last night. Visited the Oxygen club and some other bars in the center. Oxygen looked like a western club. Nicely fashioned interior, the latest equipment and many beautiful people on the dance floor. However, it all looked just too fancy, the dj was not really good
(they had a 'progressive nights', a genre of which I am really a fan.. (Sasha & John Digweed!) but this dj, nope he didn't get me dancing)
and it made me wonder how on earth they got the money to do all this. I was tired and went to bed before 12.
Today i plan to take a look around in Mostar. The London guys told me they want to jump off the old bridge. (20m high, and the river is 5m deep) I will be there to take a look at that. Maybe i want to jump off myself as well, but i first want to see if they don't get beaten up by the locals or break something. :) There is a story going round that the bridge is dominated by a local diving club. They jump off the bridge at day and do all kinds of tricks. In return they ask the tourists for a donation. If a foreigner or a local which doesn't belong to the club wants to jump off they demand a fee of 25 euro.....
Anyway. Dobar Dan and till later.
*Dobro jutro: good morning
*Dobar dan: good day, have a good day.
*Kako si / ste: How are you?
*Dobro, hvala: fine, thank you / thanks for asking.
[update may 4rd]
Well i am back in Hollandija and did not have time to update the blog until now
Pocitelj. Old castle, mosque and clock towe
. After i wrote the above post, Majdas offered me a tour around Mostar for 15 euro's. I accepted and we left with a group of ten to see Blagaj, Pocitelj, Kravice Waterfalls, (where we had a nice refreshing swim!) the holy place of Medugorje (>where people have claimed to see the virgin Mary) and we did some horse riding in the great Bosnian landscape. The tour took like 8-9 hours and in the end we had a very nice and cheerful dinner at a restaurant in Medugorje (it was all arranged by Majdas). Very recommended!While touring around we (i met up with another Australian guy, Paul, in Mostar) met some more Bosnian people. It is awesome how easy it is to make Bosnian friends. My experience in Western countries is much different.
The next day (april 28th) Paul and i head into Mostar. I had to get back to the hostel at 5pm cause i was leaving, so we had to be quick. We mostly saw the old city center. We tried to visit the Mostar history museum, but unfortunately it was closed. (only open until 2pm!) The old city center, including the bridge, seem to be turned into a touristic palace. The prices are quit high (some even higher than in Holland) and souvenir shops are all over the place. The center is losing it's genuine feeling a bit because of this. When we got on the bridge (Stari Most) we met the guys from the Mostar diving club. They were standing on the bridge all the time pretending to jump off. But, don't get your hopes up too high. The only purpose is to get as much money from tourists as possible
Pocitelj. Old castle view from the mountain.
. I asked him how much he wanted. He said 30 Euro's. Haha. I gave him some and we decided to wait to see what would happen. It took them about 30 minutes to collect money from a lot of tourists. I took a look in their little bag and saw like 30-40 Euro's. Then the moment happened... Was i going to see a fancy back flip or maybe even better? Not at all. Just a lousy, straight jump off the bridge. Was that it? I guess... I will put a video online later. I know the Red Bull Diving championships take place at the end of July. It is probably a better moment to check Stari Most for some real diving skills.
Earlier i wrote i wanted to jump off too. It turned out the London guys were pussies and weren't going to do do it. I decided i would be one too and put the idea out of my head. :)
A lot of people told me Mostar still looks like a damaged place. Well, on every block there is a building which still needs to be fixed up. But it is not as bad as they say. The days after i was in Sebrenica and that place still looks terrible. Nothing compared to Mostar. Mostar is beautiful. The center gives you a nice cozy feeling with it's small streets, medieval looking buildings, many small rivers, small waterfalls and bouldered pavement. However this is only the surface. From the inside i know people are struggling and many still have bad memories from the past. And this contradictory feeling was bothering me.
We ended the day by climbing up the old mosque in the city center, close to the bridge. I think it was called Cejvan Cehaj. They charge 2,50KM (1.25 euro) and then let you climb up the minaret, which gives you a very nice view of the city.
I had to get back to Majdas to check out and head to Sarajevo to catch a very early bus to Sebrenica next day, 29 april 2008. Mostar still needs to have a more thorough look at a later travel.. it will happen....
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lepo