Croatia | Sea | Kayaking | Tours | Lifejacket Adventures - Adriatic Expeditions

Marilyn, John and I crossed the border into Bosnia yesterday to visit Mostar.

Mostar is a mixed Serb, Croat and Bosnia town in south-west Bosnia, known for its 16th Century bridge, which crosses the Neretva River, and the crazy guys who dive from it. The town is named after the bridge - most means bridge in Serbo-Croatian.

The practice of diving from the bridge dates back to the time the bridge was built, but the first recorded instance is from 1664. The diving platform is over 20 metres above the water, but the river is only 3 metres deep! Plus the temperature of the water is freezing - the shock of entering it on a hot summer’s day has been known to cause heart-attacks.

A town in Mostar’s current location was mentioned in literature in the early medieval period. In 1468 Mostar came under Ottoman rule and they greatly expanded the existing small village.

The current bridge was commissioned by Suleiman the Magnificent in 1557 and built in 9 years by Mimar Hayruddin. It replaced an earlier wooden suspension bridge. It is made of local stone known as tenelija.

During the war in Bosnia Herzegovina (1992-1995), on 9th November 1993, the bridge was destroyed by Croat forces. Just as the walls of Dubrovnik symbolized the barbarity of the Croatian War, the bridge’s destruction came to represent the wanton destruction of the Bosnian conflict. After reconstruction it was reopened on 23rd July 2004.

Most tourists, including us, come to see the Turkish markets, houses and mosques. The local Croat community has had to adapt to this commercial fact - to make money they must now lead tours through the streets of their former enemies.

In the markets many Turkish trinkets can be found - coffee and tea sets, copperwork, rugs, slippers and fezs.

The best food is typically Bosnian - burek (meat or cheese filled filo pastry) or ćevapčići (skinless sausages served with pita and onion).

Many things in the town are still segregated (though the local government is not). There are even 2 football teams where there was just one previously. FK Velež, named after a nearby mountain, is supported by Bosniaks from the east-side of the river. Their fans are called the ‘Red Army’ - you can see their graffiti everywhere.. HŠK Zrinjski Mostar, named after a local creek, has supporters on the western (Croatian) bank of the river.

It was a little disconcerting to visit a mixed town after living so many years in ‘Catholic’ Croatia - the landscape was the same, the people looked the same and they spoke the same language - but instead of crucifixes around their necks they had crescent moons, instead of bell towers there were minarets, the death notices were in green instead of black and instead of bells ringing out there was the call to prayer. Essentially there is no difference between the people, no great divide, which would help explain the ferocity of the war.

The skiing in Bosnia Hercegovina has not been very good this year. The closest ski resort to Split, Kupres, has suffered from poor snow falls and has been closed for most of the season.

Finally, last weekend weather cold enough to throw a white blanket across the region blew through and most of Split headed to the mountains across the border. Believing that Kupres would be too crowded, we headed a little further into Hercegovina, to the town of Blidinje. Blidinje is more remote than Kupres and takes a little effort to get there, but because it is higher the snow is consistently better.

The road between Blidinje and Tomislavgrad was closed due to snow meaning that we had to take the long way around. For about 15kms towards the end of the drive the road it is not yet finished - it is gravel (or makadam as the locals say). The resort is only 5 years old after all. It took us 3.5 hours to get there - an hour longer than what is usual.

We found the Motel Risovac on the internet. It was small and basic, but the staff were friendly and it was only 17€/person/night - a little more for half-board.

The ski resort is also small and basic. It only had a quad-chairlift to the top of the mountain and a children’s t-bar operating. But once again it is cheap. The day lift tickets are 10€ for adults and 5€ for kids and ski hire is 10€.

Balkan skiing is very rural - amazed local farmers stood at the bottom of the runs smoking and watching the crazy strangers struggling down the hills in their colourful outfits.

Many of cars in the car-park had Dubrovnik registrations - Blidinje is a similar distance to there as Split.

Dalmacija Ski is a good website (if you can understand Croatian) for all information on skiing in Bosnia Hercegovina.

We had two excellent days and hope to go back next weekend as more snow is forecast.