Travel in the Time of COVID: Bosnia-Herzegovina 2021

Bosnia-Herzegovina: Mostar

The journey from Split to Mostar involved a 5- hour bus ride, mostly along the beautiful Dalmatian coastline of Croatia, 

then a left turn after the bridge to drive along the Neretva River, where the delta creates a natural mountain pass, then onto the border crossing. On the Croatia side, you get off the bus, stand at the little window, where the customs agent studies your paperwork and stamps the passport, then you wait after the gate for everyone to be done and the driver brings the bus through and everyone boards the bus. On the Bosnia-Herzegovina side, the bus driver takes your passport and COVID card and goes into a little building, then gives it back to you on the bus. The trip to Split from Zagreb, there was a planned restroom break, this time, you had to play “mother-may-I” with the bus driver at one of the three-minute bus stops along the route (there was no bathroom at the border crossing).  The bus station in Mostar has Eastern toilets (the porcelain lined hole in the floor they charge the equivalent of 60c to use. As an FYI – it’s better to buy a coffee at the café at the end of the bus station for 1.5KM  ($1) – and use their bathroom). 

After arriving at our lovely little Airbnb a mile from the station, we went for a wander and to look for dinner. Even in the tourist area, prices here are low, and although most places offer burgers, pizza and pasta, there are a number of regional dishes – including cheese stuffed cuttlefish.

They also have lovely trout, cooked whole, but their main focus is meat. I love the way they prepare potatoes – chopped and boiled partway, then sauteed in butter or olive oil with garlic and vegetables. The local white wine is called zilavka. It’s a varietal common in the region. The first one I had was not my style – it tasted oaky with an olive flavor on the back of the palate. I read about it and zilavka and it was described as being dry and fruity, but often used in blends. I gave it another try, and the next one was much better with notes of berry and peach (the second one was a Rubis 2020). 

We had an early evening, and I signed us up for the 9:30 guruwalk. Our guide, Sevko, even sent a personal response. In most cities, there was only 1 walk per day, in Mostar, there are 3, and he currently does them all. Sevko joked that becoming a tour guide was his “midlife crises” job, and he learned English from watching TV (they broadcast a lot of American shows here in English with subtitles instead of being dubbed like we saw in Germany and Austria), and he was obviously a very good student – his English was perfect.

The word “most” in the regional Slavic languages, means “bridge”. The city of Mostar was named in the mid 15^th century after the people that protected the wooden bridge (the mostari) that crossed the Neretva River. The importance of the river crossing, and increase in traffic, required a sturdier bridge. The Ottomans first built a smaller stone version of the intended design – called the Kriva Cuprija 

as a “proof of concept” before building the larger one in 1566, which stood until 1993 (more on that later).  The current reconstruction was completed in 2004, according to UNESCO guidelines, using almost all original materials and design, and the young men of the town can continue proving themselves by jumping the 21-22 meters from the bridge and into the river below (we saw one do it – don’t worry, they train for years, and part of the training is covering the important bits before entering the water). 

The entire old town is a UNESCO World heritage site, so all renovations and reconstruction must be done according to those rules – including keeping the very pretty but uncomfortable cobbles that pave the entirety of the area. 

The city remained fairly small until the Austro-Hungarian empire began developing the area in the late 19^thcentury due to the discovery of bauxite nearby (aluminum is extracted from bauxite). Development stagnated after the first world war until after the second under Tito, so most of the city is fairly modern. Sevko allows for unlimited questions, and does not put a time limit on the walking tour, so we walked and talked and learned for a little over 3 hours. We also met several fellow tourists and travelers. Sevko provided a couple of coupons for local businesses – a restaurant with a good selection of vegetarian items (not just grilled vegetables) and the local Craft Beer House (which serves a number of local beers from ales to IPAs and stouts). John and I used both – and met up with our fellow travelers, spending several hours at the Craft Beer House that evening. 

Now, we get into the sad and not as pretty part of “how we got to where we are today.” What follows is a very, very abbreviated version of the events from 1991-1994, covering 2 wars. When most of us in the US think of Bosnia, we think of “ethnic cleansing”. I chose not to include that part of the history – and is broadly covered in many historical texts and articles.

As I mentioned in the first post on Croatia, Yugoslavia had been split into 6 constituent states, all with equal rights, and Serbia was further subdivided into autologous units – Serbia, Kosovo and Voljvodina. The ethnic groups in Yugoslavia consisted of Serbians (about 40%), Croatians (22%), Slovenes (8%), Bosniaks (sometimes referred to as “ethnic Muslims”) (8%), Macedonians (6%), Albanians (6%) and a few other groups with 1-2% each. After Tito’s death in 1980, there was rampant inflation- they had to add a lot of “0’s” to the Yugoslav dinar notes – up to billions. Some leaders tried to privatize more businesses, and the ideal of brotherhood and unity was dissolving into ethnic conflicts. Eventually, Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic became the country’s leader. Tito had emphasized the importance of unity, that all groups were equal, and allowed for self-regulation of several of those groups, especially within regions where a different group was the majority (so islands of Serbians among Croatians, etc.). Milosevic, when the president of the Serbian state within Yugoslavia, did not like this set-up, and sought to end it. Things continued to devolve and war broke out in June 1991 after Slovenia and Croatia voted for independence, and the Yugoslavian army began its occupation of Slovenia and Croatia.

In February 1992, Bosnia-Herzegovina voted to secede and Yugoslavia was officially dissolved, but the troubles had just begun. In April of 1992, the first siege of Mostar began. The Bosniak army (which included many Serbs who had believed in the importance of equality and unity over ethnic identification) joined with the Croatian Defense Council to protect their city from the Yugoslav army, and continued until June of that year, when an agreement between Serbian and Croatian leaders led to the cease fire. Much of Mostar was destroyed, but the iconic bridge and its smaller twin, survived. 

Unfortunately, things were not over.  Serbia and Croatia sought to divide the territory of Bosnia-Herzegovina, and tensions between the Croats and the Bosniaks escalated. By June of 1993, their former allies – the Croation Defense Council along with the Serbian army on the other, forced the Bosniaks into the old town and the East bank of the river, laying 40,000 people under siege for 10 months. Anyone venturing forth during the daylight was at risk of sniper fire, as was anyone else that tried to help the victim.

Burials had to be held at night, and parks became cemeteries, almost all headstones reading 1993. Supplies from the UN trickled into the starving people after four months of being completely cut off. The frequent bombardment destroyed almost all of the rest of the historic structures, including the Stari Most by a concentrated attack in November of 1993.

The fighting finally ended in April of 1994 with the Washington agreement. The Kriva Cuprija had survived the war, but not the flooding that occurred a year later. 

With funds from the rest of the world and what could be raised locally, the old town has been steadily rebuilt and welcoming tourists back. It’s slow and painful, as the deep distrust between the groups is deepened at every election, and the young look to leave. There is well publicized evidence of corruption through the government and its agencies, nepotism is common, and unemployment is close to 30%. There are glimmers of hope, the Craft Beer House and other restaurants give visitors and locals a place to interact, and jobs. Slowly, buildings are restored to their former glory.

A tense peace has lasted for 27 years, and hopefully, with time and leaders that can look to the future, the past will be placed in the past.