Mostar, BiH

(see on map) mike: The country of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) was our first "dark tourism" (sites associated with Death & suffering according to Wikipedia) visit of the trip due to the very visible reminders of the conflicts here in the early 90s. Looking back on my education, words like the former Yugoslavia, Bosnia, Sarajevo, and Kosovo in my head are associated with war but sadly I wouldn't have been able to tell you much more than that. I'd guess this is due to a lack of focus on my part combined with a my schools general inattention to this geographic region and its past and recent history.

Mostar, our first stop, was a two hour bus ride from Dubrovnik. The highlight is Stari Most (Old Bridge) originally built by Ottoman Turks in 1566, destroyed by rocket fire in 1993 (video) and subsequently rebuilt with internationally funding, partly United States, in 2004. Brave locals hang out on the bridge in speedos and when they've collected enough funds dive 65 feet into the frigid water below.

After the bridge we visited, for our first time, two mosques. The above picture was taken after climbing up a dizzingly steep staircase inside the mosque minaret onto a tiny little balcony overlooking the city. Looking out you can see Catholic and Orthodox Churches along with other Mosques dotting the skyline highlighting the religious diversity of the city.

In contrast to the many churches we visited, the mosques had more of a simple and clean beauty without a gold gilded alter or carved stonework.

A loud speaker was mounted at the top of the minaret. Several times a day we heard the call for prayer, singing, being played to the city below. One mosque had a guy literally singing instead of using the speaker.

Touring the Muslibegovic House, a 300 year old Ottoman designed house of a wealthy resident, was cool to see.

It was a sobering experience to see a majority of buildings' facades still pockmarked from the war. Several buildings like above are completely gutted, some even have trees flourishing inside.