Day 12

Bus - Sarajevo to Mostar
Mostar Old Bridge
Sightseeing
Shopping
Swimming
Dinner
Wandering

     Today we left Sarajevo and headed by bus to Mostar. We were originally going to take a very scenic train ride but we would have had to get up at an ungodly hour, skip breakfast, then end up in Mostar extremely early. The bus ended up being fine. It went the same route we had taken when we came to Sarajevo from Dubrovnik which was very scenic. On the way out of Sarajevo we saw many houses that were only partially finished, it looked like people lived on the ground floor and the upper floor would be empty....missing windows etc. There were also a lot communist era buildings tightly packed together. Many houses and apartment buildings had split wood stacked next to them, I am assuming they use wood burning stoves for heat. There was a lot of graffiti on the buildings as we left town, in fact we saw a lot of graffiti throughout Sarajevo.

     It took about three hours to reach Mostar. There were a lot of little stops along the way to pick up and drop off people. The bus was pretty basic, it had  washroom that didn't work and the luggage bins above the seats had been screwed shut but it was cheap and got us where we wanted to go. When we got to Mostar we opted for a taxi to our hotel. Our driver freaked us out a little....he asked where and when we were leaving Mostar, he wanted to arrange to drive us to our next destination. I told him I had already purchased bus tickets. He said it would take us 6 hours to get to Dubrovnik from Mostar. It didn't sound right to me but it did freak us out  a little because we leave Mostar at 10:15 a.m. on Saturday for Dubrovnik where we have to catch a flight to Paris at 5:25 p.m. We asked our host when we checked into our hotel and he reassured us that the bus would take 4 hours at the most. The taxi driver was just trying to scare us into hiring him. This is the first real tourist stuff we have really faced since we have been here. We have found everyone to be very genuine and helpful.

     Once we had settled the departure question our host gave us a complimentary beverage and shared a little info on Mostar. We headed out to check out the Old Town. It is quite compact and is laid out on either side of the Neretva River connected by a fabulous, and quite famous curved bridge. It is so picturesque I took a lot of pictures. The streets feel like some kind of Turkish bazaar filled with goods. There are some touristy things but also some nice handicrafts and art. I bought a few things to take home and Joe checked out some antique military stuff. He saw a few things he liked but he wants to think about it. We will head back there tomorrow. By this time I had a bit of a headache. I don't think I am drinking enough water because finding bathrooms is sometimes a challenge. Our hotel is pretty central and I saw several WC around so tomorrow I am going to drink a lot more water. The WC are also pretty interesting....Bosnia is the first time I have experienced the old 'hole in the ground' style of toilet. I ended up heading to the hotel to lie down and Mark and Joe went for a swim in the river.

     After a little rest we researched where to head for dinner. I am finding Tripadvisor quite handy in choosing dinner spots and we have been pretty lucky following their recommendations. Tonight we went to a place called Tima-Irma. It is a mother and daughter operation. The food was excellent, very fresh and tasty. We went for a walk after dinner down a street that still has ruined buildings from the Yugoslav Wars. We also came upon a cemetery . We didn't go in but we could see some of the graves from the sidewalk. All the ones we saw were young men who had died in 1992. It was a very peaceful street with homes that looked quite stately if a little run-down. We turned back and headed in the direction of the Old Town for another beverage. There are numerous outside terraces and courtyards which are very nice to sit in with the warm summer nights. A little wandering followed with some photo opportunities as the sun started to go down.  Tomorrow is our last full day of sightseeing before we start the 2 day trek back home. We go to Dubrovnik on Saturday, fly to Paris, stay at an airport hotel and fly home on Sunday morning.