Bosnia - Mostar

Mostar comes as probably the most highly recommended place by other travellers I've met on my trip, or at least the most enthusiastically-so. More than once, upon mentioning I was going to Bosnia, I was met with an excited, "You have to go to Mostar!", and I decided to follow that advice!

The old front line runs right through the town and is still very visible

I didn't make the 7am train from Sarajevo, having managed to oversleep several hours and instead took the bus. It was a shame as the train journey is supposedly one of the nicest in Europe, but the road follows the tracks for much of the way anyway, and the scenery I did see was great.

The world's largest coffee pot, apparently!

Not only did Mostar come highly recommended, but so did the only hostel in the village. Having just opened this year, several people had told me it was their favourite hostel, which sounded like quite an achievement. And indeed, I had a very good first impression with the owner of the hostel, Bata, picking me up at the bus station in his car and giving me a quick drive around the town, pointing out the important sights.

The Koski Mehmed pasa Mosque

The hostel itself did not quite live up to what I had pictured in my mind. Located on the first floor of a dull grey apartment block, surrounded by other apartment blocks and alarmingly with bullet holes on the side, the interior was crampt with a lot of beds squeezed into one apartment. However I was given a great welcome, fed with home made cake and drink by Bata's wife and given a lengthy introduction to the town and recommendations of things to see.

The famous Stari Most (Old Bridge)

Bata very apologetically told me that the main hostel was full and I would instead be put in his brother's old apartment with a couple of other people. I was a bit annoyed but once there realised just how lucky I was - for the rest of the day I had an entire apartment, with bathroom, kitchen and TV all to myself and it was even located right next to the river!

There is still a lot of leftover war damage and deserted buildings

On the journey into Mostar I did notice quite a few forest fires and this was all the more dramatic once in the town. The sky was an amazing shade of yellow and it was gently raining ashes - not good for the environment I know, but a surreal and incredible sight.

Mostar at sunset

Eventually the other two people staying in the flat turned up - Adam, whom I had met in Sarajevo and recommended the hostel to and Jonathan, a Canadian tour guide on vacation. Indeed, I had expected Adam much earlier and he explained that he was on the train from Sarajevo, as I had intended to catch, which got caught up in the forest fires and was several hours delayed. Looks like taking the bus paid off!

The old town and bridge

It was already evening and together we headed into the old town, noticing quite a lot of excitement on the shore of the river under the old bridge. We went down and watched a free concert of contemporary Bosnian music, surrounded by seemingly the entire young population of Mostar. It looks like my timing here couldn't have been better - this concert marked the eve before the annual diving contest, which I hadn't heard about but could tell was something quite important from the excitement in the air.

Relaxing in a cave. In Bosnia. Doesn't get much better than this!

The great thing about Mostar is just how relaxing it is. The old town, while small, is fantastically atmospheric, with narrow lanes filled with market traders, a charming old mosque with a minaret that can be climbed and even a nightclub located in a cave. All kinds of things can be found at the market - I bought an old 50,000,000 dinar note from a charismatic white-haired trader who was alarmingly fit - he must have been about eighty years old but had bigger muscles than me! The next day I spotted him doing handstands on the very edge of the old bridge, with nothing but jagged rocks below. What a legend!

The diving contest

The diving contest was great to watch. As you can see from the photo above, it's a very long drop indeed, yet apparently the water below is only about 4m deep. A special technique is required to dive head first, although the majority of participants preferred to go in feet first. The bridge really is the heart of Mostar and a symbol of the divided town. One side of the river belongs to Bosnians, the other to Croatians, and they still don't seem to like one another. The historic 400 year-old bridge was destroyed in the violence of the 1990s and only rebuilt as recently as 2004. Reconstructed to the original designs, it is now on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Overlooking the historic village from the watch tower

Having been persuaded to stay much longer than I intended, I was able to make one of the day trips organised by Bata. Taking eight of us in his minibus, he drove us around several key sights in the surrounding area that most tourists would probably not even know existed. First up was a charming historic village, dramatically surrounded by a large hill on three sides. Its citizens chased away in the war, they have since returned and tried to rebuild the place as it once was.

This picture really does not capture the beauty of the falls

Next up were some fantastic waterfalls, the best I have ever seen, complete with hidden caves into which Bata led us. Much swimming and climbing was required to reach areas I would never have tried to get to on my own. Later we moved on to an old Dervish House and took a boat ride into a large cave where the water was clean enough to drink. After a mad dash back to Mostar, I had to grab my things and run to the bus station, making the last departure of the day onwards to Dubrovnik, and even met a couple of people I knew from Belgrade on the bus!

The old Dervish House

Mostar was without doubt my favourite detonation on this trip so far, perhaps ever, and the same goes for the hostel, thanks to the wonderfully helpful and selfless Bata. After rushing hectically from country to country for nearly two months now, it was great to just relax and soak in the atmosphere of this tiny place off the usual tourist trail. I came for just 1 night, ended up staying 3 days and could have been here a week if I had the time. From trying (for free) famous Turkish coffee from the world's largest coffee pot, to smoking a water pipe in a cave, watching 50 suicidal people jump of a bridge and even spotting the winner of Bosnian Idol, so many nice little things happened during my time in Mostar. Definitely somewhere to come back to!