Mostar is named after the bridge keepers (mostari), who in medieval times guarded the bridge built by the Ottomans in the 16th century to give passage over the Neretva River.
The famous Mostar bridge.
Mostar is very close to Croatia. When we were back at Dubrovnik - Sail Croatia there was an option to do a day trip to Mostar so heading back here was sort of full circle. We only really had heard about the bridge, and knew there were a few national parks and monasteries to visit in the area. A lot of people had recommended it so we had to go.
During our walking tour in Sarajevo we got talking to an Aussie girl who'd just come from Mostar, specifically Madjas Hostel and said the day tour they ran out of the Hostel by Madjas brother was the best tour she's ever done! After the Sarajevo tour I researched this Hostel etc. and found other people were also raving about it, we decided book the hostel and head to Mostar initially for two nights with some pretty big expectations.
It was only a couple of scenic hours on the bus from Sarajevo through some amazing Autumn swept mountains and along large rivers. We walked to the Hostel no dramas, booked in, settled into our six bed dorm room and heading out for some tucker and a look around the old town. We had a beer and shared a cevapi and chips before heading back to the Hostel.
Back at the hostel we met several other Aussies, a couple of Americans, Canadians and a bloke from Croatia. We had a beer and chat to everyone. We put our names down for the tour the next day but there was only 3 of us who wanted to go so they postponed the tour to the day after - we decided that it was worth staying one more night to do the tour.
The couple of days in Mostar was a balmy 20 degrees, such a different story from Zagreb and some of the cold weather we had at Sarajevo!
One of the American lads decided he was going to jump off the 25m Mostar Bridge (35euros) so after breakfast we all headed down to the bridge to watch. In the price is a wet suit (the water is a crisp 8degrees Celsius) and a couple of training jumps from a 12m platform accompanied by a couple of the locals to get the technique down pat. It was essential the jumper mastered the right technique to prevent injury.
It was bloody terrifying just watching him do it, but the adrenaline rush and sense of satisfaction afterwards would have been amazing! A couple of days earlier an Aussie bloke had landed awkwardly and "broken his knee" apparently....spent a week on the couch at the hostel unable to walk, that marked the end of his trip and an early flight home.
A cheeky ice cream after watching the jump to calm down.
War damage throughout the town - a lot has been fixed up but this building still has the scars from wars in the 90's.
One of the popular places to visit is an old bank in the centre of town which was abandoned and used as a sniper tower during the wars. Just a concrete shell now full of graffiti, it was crazy to explore such a significant building in such a good part of the town just sitting there.
The building is 7 stories - it was very eerie looking down the old lift shaft.
some of the messages and artwork throughout the building is pretty cool.
Access to the roof via this ladder on the 7th floor.
From the top of the bank you get a good view of the town. Here are some overgrown ruins in the park below the bank.
Outside the old town, Mostar was quite a big city (<100,000 people) featuring a shopping centre and also McDonalds.
After looking around the town in the morning we caught the bus out to Blagaj to visit the famous Monastery and historic town. This was an easy ride as three different busses over various times throughout the day head out to this town. Overlooking the town of Blagaj is an old fortification, and a couple of the people at the hostel said it was a good short hike to watch the sunset.
Vrelo Bune - the coexistence of nature and architecture at the Buna River near the village of Blagaj. Considered a national monument, the Monastery was built during the 1500's. The water flow is super strong from a spring inside the cave.
Looking back toward Mostar over Blagaj - there wasn't a sunset as such since some overcast weather had rolled in late arvo, all the same we had the hill to ourselves and wasted an hour or so just watching the darkness come in.
Apparently the fort has been dated back to prehistoric and roman times, and was last used during the early 19th century. It was a reasonably solid walk up and seems there has been some restorations done over the years.
We decided not to stay a third night just to go on the Hostel Tour since we'd seen Blagaj that day. The tour visited Kravice National Park and waterfalls but the weather was too cold for us to swim, and after seeing a couple of NPs in Croatia we felt we weren't missing too much... So we bought a 2 litre plastic bottle of beer and spent the night back at the hostel with all the other travellers talking and carrying on. Who would have thought this was a bad idea the night before a 7am-7hr bus to Montenegro the following morning...that 2L bottle of beer really did a number on us both!
Overall Mostar was a quick stopover for us at only two nights, but we were keen to keep trucking onto Montenegro. Mostar itself doesn't have a lot of sights and we were happy with what we had seen in the one night and full day exploring.
We really enjoyed the Hostel - meeting new people and getting ideas about where to go and what to see. We didn't really sleep much because we were caught up talking and getting to know some of the other travellers but it was good fun and we will definitely stay at more hostels as we head through the Bulkans.
We are Amy and Brendan from Australia currently travelling throughout Europe. The intention for this blog is to document our adventure for family and friends. We hope you enjoy it!
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