Day 82 Saturday 5 May
The Stari Most, or Old Bridge, is Mostar‘s most famous landmark, and a moving symbol of reconciliation and hope for the formerly war-torn city and all who visit it. The original Ottoman bridge was destroyed in 1993 during the bitter war following the breakup of Yugoslavia, but was rebuilt and reopened in 2004.
Mostar is a lovely place with a thought-provoking history, and I am grateful that chance brought me this way.
Day 81 Friday 4 May
Split, Croatia – Mostar, Bosnia & Herzegovina 180 kms/112 miles, Cumulative total: 8,721 kms/5,419
NB: I don’t have a map for this journey, as Google maps does not have any details for maps in Bosnia & Herzeogovina at the time of posting (May 2012). I have taken the distance from the driving distance given on http://www.travelmath.com which means it is probably even more approximate than usual!
I was trying to work out routes from Split that would take me further on my way to Istanbul.
Unfortunately, I found out that Split was the end of the line for the railway, and to get anywhere by train I would have to go back to Zagreb. I didn’t really want to double back on myself like that. I could get a bus to Sarajevo, but that would mean a whole day on the bus. So I decided to break my journey at Mostar.
The bus drive down the gorgeous Dalmatian coast and then through the mountains was short enough (less than four hours) to be not too uncomfortable, and the scenery en route was spectacular, with this at my journey’s end:
