On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Good morning all,
We rejoin a submission, already in progress.
Mostar is an easy day trip from Dubrovnik, and tends to overrun with tourists during the day. Since I was driving, I opted to spend the night there on the way to Sarajevo. A major challenge was that (in 2012) for some reason none of the online mapping services had detailed maps of Bosnia and Herzegovina — the maps showed only the major highways. Mostar is not particularly large, and most runs along the river, but it was still a challenge finding my hotel.
Mostar’s main attraction is the Stari Most (Old Bridge) over the Neretva River, which was built in 1566 on the orders of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. It stood for 427 years, until it was destroyed in 1993 by Croat paramilitary forces during the Croat–Bosniak War, and then was subsequently rebuilt.
Mostar was the site of horrific fighting during the war. A number of buildings remain abandoned today, in large part because the titles to the properties are unclear (one of the side-effects of the collapse of Yugoslavia), so no one wants to fix them up only to have someone else assert ownership.
Abandoned/damaged buildings are a problem in many areas of the former Yugoslavia. Eventually, I suspect the government will end up using eminent domain
Like Sarajevo and Dubrovnik, Mostar is surrounded by hills, all sides used snipers extensively, targeting military and civilians alike. A small city park in the center of town became a de facto cemetery, since it was one of the few places that were safe from snipers.
Souvenirs created from the massive amount of leftover ammunition.
JPL
The pictures are fascinating and thank you for submitting them.
eclare
I went there on a day trip from Dubrovnik, very worth it. Thank you for the photos.
mali muso
Thank you for the lovely photos! One of the casualties of this COVID-19 situation was that we had a group of students set to travel to Bosnia & Herzegovina a few weeks back and had to postpone the trip. They were going to spend time in both Mostar and Sarajevo. Hopefully, we’ll be able to give them the opportunity at some point in the future.
arrieve
Thanks for the pictures. I hope to do a Balkans trip one day when the world is open for business again. I know my May trip is going to be cancelled but I still keep hoping I can do my summer program at Oxford in July. Realistically, I know it’s not gonna happen; we’re not going to be past this then. But I keep hoping anyway.
J R in WV
Thanks for sharing your photos. Very well done.
Take care, keep in touch ~!!~
Mary G
That area of the world has long been on my bucket list. Thank you for the view of the consequences of war.
Sister Golden Bear
Thanks all!
hitchhiker
Mostar is one of the places I hope to get to … someday. For anyone interested in a beautiful on-the-ground rendition, I recommend a graphic creative nonfiction book about the 1993 war called Safe Area Goradze, by Joe Sacco.