From Sarajevo we took a train south to the Herzegovina region to visit the beautiful little town of Mostar.  We were initially a little concerned about how this train ride would go.  There is no online ticketing (nor ticket machines) for Bosnian trains.  We bought the tickets at the station from a person who hand wrote them for us.  It was a pleasant surprise to then board a very modern and clean train.

We were even more surprised by the absolutely breathtaking views as the train wound through the mountains.  ‘Natural beauty’ isn’t the first term that comes to mind when I think of Bosnia but this journey was every bit as gorgeous as our rides through the Alps in Austria and Slovenia.

If the scars of war are still fresh in Sarajevo, in Mostar they are more like open wounds.  Here the front line dividing the two warring ethnic groups ran right through the center of town.  Many buildings along this major thoroughfare are still in total ruin.

As the staff at our hostel explained it to us, Mostar is still a ‘divided city’.  That old front line is now an invisible wall separating the Muslim part of town from the Catholic.  From what we heard there is still minimal interaction between the two groups, even though the war has been over for twenty years and, by all accounts, everyone lived peacefully together for generations before the bloody conflict of the 1990s.

We spent four nights in this little city, plenty of time to explore without ever feeling rushed.  Here are some of our most memorable experiences.

Wandering Around the Old Town

Walking down the cobbled streets of Mostar’s old town is like taking a step back in time.  The stone buildings clinging to the side of the hill appear not to have changed at all for hundreds of years.  It is easy to get lost in the narrow little streets spanning the river that runs through the center.

Mostar’s star attraction and most famous icon is the Stari Most, or Old Bridge, a true marvel of Ottoman engineering.  Like many a tourist before me, I found the bridge totally enthralling and spent a lot of time photographing it from every angle, trying to get the best light.

Mostar is a popular day trip destination, with tour buses full of visitors descending on the old town every day.  Since we had the luxury of spending several days in the city we mostly came to explore the old town in the evenings.  We had some delicious meals overlooking the river.

The Mostar Tour

For our four nights in town we stayed at Hostel Majdas.  This charming, family-run spot with a lovely garden was one of our favorite hostels of the whole trip.  In addition to great accommodations, the hostel offers a one day tour of Mostar and the surrounding area.

The tour, which is lead by the hostel manager’s brother, was one of the most interesting and thought provoking experiences of the entire trip.  It began with an in depth discussion of the Bosnian war, the complex causes and lasting consequences, complete with our guide’s personal account of barely escaping the country with his life.

After that we drove  out into the countryside to experience more stunning natural scenery.

The Herzegovina region has a completely different geography than the lush forested area around Sarajevo.  Here the hills are dry and scrubby and the landscape is much more arid.  Against this backdrop Kravice falls feel like a true oasis.  The water was cool, crisp and refreshing.

After a hearty lunch at the waterfalls we got back on the road toward the medieval village of Počitelj.  This quaint little town is made up of small buildings on a hillside above a river, complete with stone walls and watch tower.

After wandering around for a bit we visited the home of one of the town’s only remaining residents, an elderly woman who makes her living selling flavored syrups made with local ingredients.  She made us Bosnian coffee and fed us treats and was genuinely welcoming despite speaking no English.

As the sun went down and darkness set in it was time to move on to our final destination,  Blagaj.  Blagaj is a little town just outside of Mostar.  It is home to a Dervish monastery located at the source of the Buna River.

The water here is incredibly fresh and is considered holy by members of the Dervish religion.  Many make a pilgrimage here to drink from the river.  We all took a sip and agreed that it tasted great.

According to our guide, archaeologists have found some of the earliest signs of human settlement in Bosnia in the caves above the mouth of the river.  It was a very serene place to end the day.

I am so grateful that we got the opportunity to take this tour.  It was the perfect mix of fun activities and serious conversation.   I was really impressed by our guide’s willingness to openly discuss painful personal experiences with complete strangers.

Climbing the Sniper Tower

When we arrived at our hostel the staff spent some time telling us about the town and suggesting activities for us.  One highly recommended experience was climbing the ‘sniper tower’, which has apparently become a sort of backpacker right of passage in Mostar.

The sniper tower held bank offices until the 1990s when it was repurposed by snipers during the war.  Today it is a hollow concrete shell with no exterior walls but with the floors and stairwell still intact.  It is also the canvas for some awesome graffiti.

People aren’t technically allowed inside and attempts have been made to block off the entrances with rebar and cinder block.  It was definitely harder to get in than our hostel made it sound but we found a stack of bricks left by some former trespassers and were able to climb inside without too much trouble.

Once inside we started climbing the stairs to the top, stopping to admire the murals along the way.  The staircase was maybe five feet wide and perfectly stable.  However, there was no handrail and no walls on either side.  The higher we went the more vertigo we experienced and we ended up turning around a few floors from the top.

The whole experience was totally surreal and definitely something I’ll never forget.  Being inside this building, walking through someone’s former office and seeing its current empty state really brought home everything that this little country has been through and how far it still has to go to fully heal.

Our time in Bosnia was truly eye opening.  It made me think about concepts like ethnicity, nationalism and identity on a deeper level than I ever had before.  The Bosnian conflict has so much to teach us about humanity and I think can serve as an important warning to the world about what can happen when divisive forces gain power.

This photo feels like a good one to end on.  The words next to this mural nicely summarize my thoughts after all that we learned during our time here. “It is through love trust and knowledge that we safeguard peace lest such trauma occurs again.  We are brothers and sisters united under the same sun and we must not forget.”