Travel to Mostar, Bosnia

Today was a travel day to Mostar. Out by 8 for a 2 hour drive. We are travelling

north for the rest of the trip. The drive along the coast provided good views of the many islands that are along the Dalmatian coast. We did see the prime oyster grown area. There were many buoyed beds in the bays.

Since we were crossing into Bosnia Herzegovina a non EU country, we needed to go through the leaving the EU area procedure. The Bosnia Herzegovina border check point was basically in the same building. Scanned passports, photo and then scan passport stamp the old fashion way and off we went. We crossed through the mountains and the karst topography area to our lunch spot. The “complex” had a very large outdoor restaurant. There we 5 or 6 (?) tour busses already there. The specialty is trout which they farm right where the large spring discharges into the river. The flow was pretty strong. We saw buildings with “slate” roofs something we had never seen before. We crossed the picturesque bridge, had a nice salad, local wine and 2 10”(?) trout with the heads still attached. Very tasty. The meal also had potatoes and spinach. That is the second time that spinach was the vegetable.

After lunch we made the short drive to Mostar which was our stopping place for the night. A local guide met us and walked us through the old quarter. She detailed the war which split the city. She indicated that during the conflict snipers would fire on the population. We crossed the old bridge (destroyed and rebuilt) into the Turkish section which is the oldest part of the city. Streets were cobblestone with many souvenir shops. The tour including a visit of an original Turkish home and the Mosque. We arrived at the hotel where we had a bit of a rest.

One of the things mentioned was that the unemployment rate in the city is 50% and people are in need. It was depressing to see young girls (10 years old ?) begging with signs asking for money. Women with young babies asking for milk money. In fact one women was nursing a baby!