Friday, December 10, 2010, Mostar, Bosnia.

Today we need our passports again because we are not in Croatia. Most of our trip has been in towns in Croatia. When we flew to Zagreb, Croatia we went through customs; therefore, we do not need our passports anywhere in Croatiaa. But we needed them in Montenegro and now in Bosnia.
Our boat is docked in the river outside of Neum, Croatia. The water is crystal clear and the shore is steep and rocky. The trees on the shore are pine, fir, cedar, palms and oleander.There are 6 hotels here. The area is rich because the trade is only 1% tax here; but Croatia has 23% tax. The hotels are very expensive and exclusive. Croatia is on the border against the water for 8 miles. So Bosnia does not touch the water. We had to get in tenders to get to shore. There they had to check our passports before we boarded a bus to go to the Bosnian border.
we are rdriving through a valley in Croatia where they grow most of their agriculture. Their weather is perfect for it. They have olive groves, vineyards, apple groves, kiwi groves, tangerine trees and watermelon. From the 15th century to the early 19th century, the Ottoman Empire was in control of this area. From the 7th century on it has been Christian. The olive trees are only 2 years old because the Civil Wars destroyed their crops. First, it was the Serbs who set them on fire. Then it was bombed when the Muslims were fighting the Croats.
The Yugo was the only car produced in Yugoslavia. By the end of the 1980's the Yugo had been upgraded. The village is deserted now
because when the war came the Muslims left and not too many bothered to come back. They just left their mosques with their minarets because the Croatians moved in from Bosnia. It was known as an art colony in the summer because of all the artists that visited to paint. They store their beer and grappa outside because it is so cold.
Mostar, Bosnia is a city of bridges. It is at the crossroads of the East and West. Founded and developed by the Turks, it is still a place where all of the cu,tures meet and blend. It is the second largset town in Bosnia. The largest is the capital, Sarajevo. This countrygoes by 2 names: Bosnia and Herzegovina. They use 2 alphabets: the Surrelic and Latin. It is protected from the winds by the hills so it is a little warmer here than where the boat is. It was 35 degrees at the boat, so we are dressed in layers. Plus the sun is shining now since it is later in the day. Now it is 50 degrees.You can see a lot of destroyed houses and the streets have trash blowing all around. They are so depressed they don't have the pride the Croatians have for their towns. Before the war Mostar was a great town, but not now. They had an aluminum factory that was connected to Croatia by train. After the Civil War all industry has halted. During the war all of the factories and infrasucture was destroyed, so the economy is in very bad shape. The people only care about themselves, not about their towns or others. There are lots of graves on the sides of the road just from the Civil War of 1991 - 1999. Before the war 100,000 people lived here, now only 70,000. In all of Bosnia/Herzegovina the population is 4.5 million. Bostnick is Muslim for Bosnia. Bosnia/Herzegovina is 35% Muslim, 30% Roman Catholic and 20% Serbian and a small percentage of Jewish gypsies. We can see a Christian cross up in the hills which is the highest cross in the Balkans. The first people that settled in Bosnia were the Illyrians, then the Romans, then the Baltics, followed by the Turks, then the Austrians. Then it became part of Yugoslavia and now is Bosnia/Herzegovina. The Turks brought the Islam way of life to these people and they just assimilated it. The Austrians brought schools, culture, music and theatre.
They had many Turkish wars. You could tell what faith a person was by the color they wore. The Serbs wore green, the Muslims wore blue and the Roman Catholic Croats wore red. In a Muslim house the women and children never saw the visitors. The man entertained them by himself with food and drink prepared by his wives. She would prepare the food and place it on a shelf that would turn and open up on the other side of the wall where the husband was entertaining. Therefore, the visitors would never see the man's family at all. Today, they can have several wives if they can support them. In most cases they can't afford more than one. The kitchen was in the yard with the fireplace. To keep the house warm they brought the coals inside and placed them in a metal pot with a lid. It served to keep the food and room warm. They drink Turkish coffee very slowly because it is very thick. Their cups have no handles and they are very small. The women always had their faces covered. A man could not see her before he married her. Now they don't practice this anymore. When the Austrians came and they could see the ladies eyes, they changed. When the Communists came the ladies became powerful.
When the Serbs fought the Croats, Bosnia was the land caught in betwee;, so their people were divided in their patriotism depending on where they lived. So many have not come back to where they used to live and their houses are just sitting there destroyed and empty. it is a really depressing city.
We also visited the old town. It has all cobblestone streets and is hard to walk on. it is also very cold outside with a strong wind called the burra. It has forts, towers and gates all built in the 16th century. it is built around the river which is flowing so swiftly today because eof all the rain they recently had. In fact, part of the river is flooding into people's yards and porches. The recent Civil War destroyed the old bridge and it has just recently been reconstructed. This old bridge of the Old Town of Mostar is on UNESCO's World Heritage List. They had to do the reconstruction exactly as if it were being done in the 16th century. When it was reopened the Prince of Wales did the honor in July, 2005. It is amazing to see how high the bridge rises in such a short span, that they could have built something like this in the 16th century!.
The streets are steep and narrow in the Old Town. There are many, many shops and mosques here. At noon bells ring and the Muslims walk towards their mosques for their daily service. This occurs 5 times a day. They definitely seem to be more religious than we do, if mosque attendance is counted. There are also Roman Catholic churches too. We were able to do a lot of souvenir shopping here. I was able to buy some beautiful scarves and of course, I found my thimbles. At one point I got nervous because a young girl was begging for food. she grabbed my arm as if to pull me and get my attention. I just kept on walking. That part is hard to deal with. You know we live in such a nice country with all of the modern conveniences, and here they are in a third world environment.
We are back on the bus going to a restaurant for a very late lunch, like 2:30PM. It has been a rather long ride and in some spots the bus can hardly stay on the roads because they are so narrow. When we went over one bridge I looked out and couldn't even see the road below us. It looked like the bus was literally, driving on top of the river. We weren't sure what food we were eating. The salad was identifiable, but the meat: chicken? Turkey? Beef? Pork? Found out later that day. It was chicken and veal. Some people don't believe that. But it definitely was not pork because the restaurant was a Muslim one.
We arrived back on the boat very late and had to hurry up for the Captain's Farewell Dinner. It was very good and the people somewhat dressed up, but not like you see on the big cruise ships. All of us have been wearing our clothes more than once over here. You just cannot pack enough for this long of a trip into one suitcase.