Croatia :: Part 2

After three nights in Rakovica we headed south about three hours to the Adriatic coast and the city of Split for our final three nights. Jonathan is not a beach person so our intent with this location was not to frequent the beautiful pebbly beaches of the coast nor join the masses of cruise boat tourists at the port city (well at least not the whole time). In reality, we did not have grand plans apart from organizing a day trip to Bosnia-Herzegovina and visiting the city of Mostar that was 2.5 hours away from Split.

Our goal with this vacation was to have a good balance of downtime and not overload our schedule with site seeing. Over the course of the week, Jonathan and I got lots of reading time in, I started a new knitting project with all the driving time we had in the car, and Luca was content to sleep-in, play video games and be homework free for vacation.

Since we did not research a whole lot prior to arriving in Split, when we got settled into our 7th story sea view apartment we began to flip through books and brochures of local attractions. I came across an ad for a go-kart course at one of the two local mega malls and without even asking Luca whether or not he wanted to check it out, I just declared we were going to the mall for dinner at McDonalds and go-karting. Luca's eyes lit up at the prospect of both and it ended up being a fantastic night all about Luca. We even suggested a movie in the theatre but he declined saying he wouldn't want to see the new Spiderman movie without Samuel and Emma. He could have really milked this vacation being the only child but he really didn't as he always had his siblings in mind and his fear of them missing out.

Let's do this!

At 25-30 km an hour, all my pictures of them are just blurs

Jonathan and Luca had a blast racing around the course, while my heart raced when they both had a crash or two into the walls.

The next day we got an early start for the drive to Mostar, the hottest city in Europe. Thankfully it was only 40°C (104°F) that day. Haha! It has also been called the Bosnian-California for its striking resemblance to parts of the California terrain.

Stari Most

One of Mostar's most famous landmarks is the Stari Most, or 'Old Bridge.' The bridge was built in the 16th century by the Ottomans but was destroyed by the Croat forces during the Bosnian War in the 1990s. The Old Bridge was rebuilt and in 2005 became a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is an example of Islamic architecture and engineering. It crosses over the Neretva river that is the most beautiful turquoise color and also holds claim to the coldest river in Europe. From the peak of the bridge, professional divers make a 20-meter plunge into the river once they collect enough money from the crowd of onlookers to make the risky jump worth their while. Apparently, 20€ is their minimum price.

Happy Trio

We enjoyed walking around the heart of Mostar's Old Town with its famous market, or čaršija, that lines the streets. The west side of the city is mostly populated by Catholic Croats and the east side by Bosnian Muslims. Walking the streets one can still see bullet holes in building facades as well as memorials to never forget.

Walking the streets of Old Town
(Luca is so over photos!)

Cobbled streets

The main street

See the bullet holes and damage from shellings?

View of the east side

Artisan copper jewelery maker that I bought some bracelets and earrings from

We were able to visit the Koski Mehmed Paša mosque and climb the minaret to get the best views of the Old Bridge. The mosque was also built in the early 1600s by the Ottomans and apparently is one of the best-preserved mosques in the area. When we asked Luca if he wanted to climb the minaret his response was not "yes" but rather an "I could do that." He also perked up and became a non-complainer of the heat and walking once we promised another trip to the mall for go-karting.

View of the mosque from the bridge

Interior of the mosque

Entrance to the minaret...Luca you might need to duck

View from the top of the minaret

Looking up the river

Best views in town

We ate our sack lunches along the river sitting on the chunks of the original Old Bridge while waiting for divers to plunge into the river. We then, of course, had to grab some gelato to help us tolerate the extreme heat.

Sitting on the original old bridge in the shade waiting for the divers

The best part of the day was yet to come as we took the War in Mostar Walking Tour that ended up being the most educational and captivating private tour we have ever been on. Our guide grew up in Mostar during the Bosnian War (1992-1995) that brought shelling, concentration camps, and a host of atrocities that somehow escaped our knowledge during our teen years growing up in America.  So this was a part of world history in which we needed more education. For example, we had no idea the peace agreement to end the war was signed at the Wright Patterson Airforce Base in Dayton, Ohio and is actually called the Dayton Agreement. For the tour being a 3-hour history lesson, Luca was captivated. Our guide was phenomenal and his personal stories from his ethnic Bosnian perspective were so insightful but at the same time, he didn't try to push a political agenda other than to advocate peace among all ethnicities and religions and teach others to learn from history.

We visited bunkers high up on the mountain range where the Serbs held their front line, ruins and even went hunting for shrapnel. For the war ending 24 years ago, it was amazing at how easy it was to still find bullet casings and shrapnel on the ground.

Our guide drove us to the top of this mountain range overlooking Mostar for our history lesson

But first, some complementary sage and elderberry infused water

Hats were a must!

Searching for shrapnel on the range

The piles of rock were the Serbian bunkers

We then drove back into Mostar where we were guided through portions of the city where ruins still stand and reconstruction has not yet taken place. What a sobering experience to see the ravages of war and to hear the personal stories of our guide.

Then and now

Our guide's uncle was gunned down on this street

The building on the right in the then photo still stands

A bombed-out building

Buildings on either side rebuilt. If you look closely there is laundry hanging where people are still living on the second floor! Not sure how this building is considered structurally sound.

Parking garage turned snipper tower

Tour over...peace out Mostar