Mostar

Working our way through some of the former Yugoslavia,  we left the relately peaceful  Slovenia and Croatia, and headed into Bosnia and Herzegovina. In the Herzegovina  region, we stopped in Mostar, a town historically known for its Old Bridge,  and religious tolerance, Mostar was actually a site of some very brutal fighting between Catholic  Croats, Orthodox Serbs, and Muslim Bosniaks. All but wiped off the map by the hands of neighbors  in the early 90's,  much of the UNESCO protected town center was fully restored by 2005. It rained much of the time we were here, and I hope you won't blame me when I tell you other than some of the restored architectural beauty, I found our visit rather depressing.

The view in Old Town, stray cats everywhere, the Old Bridge spanning the Nereteva river 

Crossing  the Old Bridge is actually more treacherous than it looks. Built of slippery limestone, going up the peak isn't  so bad, but sliding down the other side is a recipe for broken ankles. I consider it lucky  neither of us took a spill.

Alternate  view of the Old Bridge. You can see the skyline dotted with  the minarets of Muslim mosques, and up on hill on the left, not pictured, is the Croatian Catholic church with the tallest Venetian style tower. Even in times of peace, the religious  architecture  seems to be taunting one another. 

A popular tradition  among locals,  going back to the 1400's when the bridge was originally  constructed is for the young  men of Mostar  to solicit  "donations"  to jump off the bridge. 

The Mostar diving club supports  the tradition,  and trains divers so that they don't  die in the feat.

This diver lived to tell the tale and safely swam to shore

As a note, not only is the limestone of the Old Bridge treacherous  when wet, but pretty much so was all of Old Town with its river rock streets.

Only a block removed  from  Old Town, and you can still see the scars of a war that ended 20 years ago. Many buildings  still  look like this, bombed out, pock marked by shrapnel  with  signs demarcating them as Dangerous Ruin. Most of these were former Yugoslavia  government  property, and since Yugoslavia no longer exists,  there is ambiguity with respect to legal claim on the land, ownership or responsibility.  So the buildings sit as empty, dangerous reminders.

Some colorful street art to help boost the palette of this depressingly  beautiful  little town