Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina

Our trip to Bosnia-Herzegovina was bitter-sweet (mostly bitter) as we found out things about an unbelievable mingle of cultures, religions, traditions, an incredibly rich territory that is both cursed and blessed and that, throughout history, has been subjected to war, genocide, racism, destruction of homes and places of worship, an “ethnic cleansing campaign” in 1995 targeting muslims and more political changes than probably Europe altogether.

Bosnia-Herzegovina was part of a state formerly known as Republic of Yugoslavia, alongside Socialist Republic of Croatia, SR Macedonia, SR Montenegro, SR Serbia and SR Slovenia until their separation in the 1990s, which led to confusion, stateless citizens, racial segregation but most of all, the Yugoslav Wars that continue to have repercussions.

I will not bother you with years, names, nor events that, transitory as they were, led to the separation of the states that used to be part of Yugoslavia, as they would be soon forgotten, yet I would definitely advise you to dig deeper and look up for more information about The Cold War, the Ottoman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian rule, alliances, pacts and other details that are part of the state’s transformation, as the quantity of articles is too overwhelming to even try to resume it and this article only scratches the surface.

Every single one of these states has great potential and incredible natural and human resources to come out from a seemingly endless darkness, despite poverty, aggression, opression and the corruption they are restlessly being subjected to by internal and external factors.

But there is an immense cultural, political, historical legacy that will be passed on to new generations of yugslavic blooded individuals no matter what their temporary leaders are up to, even though their country appears to have irreversibly vanished from the world map and they at times feel rootless.

And even the younger generations of Yugoslavs living in Bosnia-Herzegovina consider Tito (Josip Broz Tito, a Yugoslav communist revolutionary and political leader) the best there was, opinion that was most probably subconsciously, sujectively inoculated into their minds by their elderly. Nevertheless, some criticized him as authoritarian, others said he was a benevolent dictator. One thing is for sure, during his mandate, he definitely managed to keep things under control whilst mantaining a peaceful coexistence between the nations of the Yugoslav federation.

At the moment, Bosnia-Herzegovina has the world’s most complicated political system with 14 separate parliaments, 5 presidents, 136 appointed ministers, hundreds of representatives (and just trying to understand their voting procedure is torturous).

Bosniaks represent 48% of the population, Serbs – 37%, Croats – 14%, others – 0.6% and the ethnicity in Bosnia-Herzegovina is inherited from the father’s side (the mother’s side religion is irrelevant).

45% of the population is Muslim, 36% is Serb Orthodox, 15% is Roman Catholic, 1% is Protestant, 3%  represents other religions.

We only visited the Kravice Waterfalls

 

and Mostar, an “entity” of Bosnia-Herzegovina as they call it, a very old city situated on the Neretva river (it’s water is freezing cold, but unbelievably turquoise), that took it’s name from the Mostari, bridge-keepers during the city’s early days.

Mostar itself is considered to be an exquisite piece of islamic architecture in the Balkans and is mostly renown for it’s old bridge built by the Ottomans in the 16th Century which was destroyed in the 1990s, during the armed conflict between Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats in the Bosnian War and restored later on.

 

In 2005 it became part of the UNESCO World Heritage list.

We got there on the third of October, which is the perfect time to visit, as in summer the place is overcrowded and heat is unbareable, which might lead to frustration among tourists. And that would be a shame, as Mostar has an incredibly sad beauty to it, that needs to be experienced, understood, spoken about.

 

 

You might sense a weird, strong energy coming from the walls that surround you. Look around. Get closer. Touch them if you must. You will discover twenty year old bullet holes in the façades, almost warning you it’s not over yet and that you should not overstay your welcome.

On a single street you might find a catholic church followed by a mosque and an orthodox church or perhaps a sinagogue, although the religious intermingling is less than harmonious, as the town is still divided mainly between muslims and catholics. The main boulevard is an informal border between the Croat and the Bosniak sides of the city, the people of Mostar see it as a natural separation line, where on each side two parallel societies have developed.

In the end, everyone asks themselves the same questions: “Why did we have to have a war, when we are so similar? Are we better off now? Whose fault is it? Has any of us won anything from it?”

So what have WE learned from all this?

Green Eyed Kisses,