Mostar

We got up early, packed up our stuff, and went to the Tunnel of Hope, which is by the Sarajevo airport. This was a tunnel dug under the no-man’s land airport area to bring supplies and soldiers into the besieged area of Sarajevo unbeknownst to the Serbian attacking forces.

The tunnel began and ended at two houses, each on one side of the airway. You can see the bullet holes all over the building. In the next picture JonPaul is explaining some of the pictures to Zoey. The truck in the last picture is the truck that brought the first load of supplies that was taken across the tunnel.

Although most of the tunnel is closed off, a part of it is still open for tourists. You go down the stairs into the tunnel, which is dark and so short that JonPaul was doubled over to walk through. We went through a few times. There were also exhibits that showed some of the tools used to dig out the tunnel and some of the military gear that was used during the war. There were also a bunch of partial mines and bombs that were exhibited, which the kids thought were cool.

After we visited the Tunnel of Hope we got in the car and drove to Mostar, another town in Bosnia and Herzegovina on the way to our next stop in Split, Croatia. I took some pictures of the scenery during the drive, which was beautiful with the autumn leaves beginning to turn.

Mostar was similar to Sarajevo in that it has a large middle eastern influence and looks more eastern than western. It was also hit hard in the war, and there are abandoned and crumbling buildings right beside perfectly pristine buildings.

The old section of Mostar is cobblestone and pedestrian only, and was filled with old buildings, restaurants, and shops. A lot of the shops here were very similar to those in Sarajevo and sold similar items. Again, I should have bought a mosaic lamp here but didn’t.

The thing people come to see in Mostar is the old bridge. I got pictures of the bridge from lots of different angles, and I can tell why people like this bridge. Apparently on warm days in the summer people will jump into the water from the top of the bridge, but it was chilly so no one was doing it today.

As we walked along the bridge we got some nice views of the town and the river. I also took pictures of the cobblestone pathways that have rock designs woven through.

The Koski Mehmed Pasha Mosque is where to go to get a great view of the bridge. I have never been in a mosque before, so looking around was interesting. It wasn’t very extravagant, particularly compared to some of the churches we have been to, but I did like the colorful rugs. In order to get the view we climbed up the minaret. This is a winding stairwell that goes up up up in a very tight spiral. Willow climbed up using her hands and feet!

The view from here was spectacular. It was so windy and there was not a lot of room to move around, but we were glad we went up for the view.

Everyone was pretty hungry so we stopped for a late lunch. We had a problem finding a place that took credit cards, but ended up at a riverside rooftop bistro. The food wasn’t bad, but the view was better! On our walk back to the car we found a cat and the kids sat on top of the Old Bridge petting the cat. We then got some ice cream and walked down to the beach beside the bridge. This gave us a different view of the bridge, and the kids of course wanted to go in the water. We obviously said no because the water was freezing and the sun was beginning to go down.

Walking back to the car we stopped by the Crooked Bridge, which looks like a mini version of the Old Bridge. This is a little off to the side of the bazaar in the old town, and there were not very many people around.

From here we got in our car and drove to Split in Croatia. Another day and going into another country!