Dubrovnik; Monday, 12 May, 2008

It was a relatively early start as I had booked to go on a day excursion to a beautiful medieval town, better known for it's more recent history. But as it was over 140Km away it would take a bit of driving (and crossing a few international borders) to get there.

Time for a quick, dirty and not particularly politically correct history of the 20th century in the Balkans. A Serb started World War I by assassinating the Austro-Hungarian Emperor whilst on a trip to Bosnia (which was part of the empire at the time). The Croats fought on the side of the Nazi's against the Russian allied Serbs during W.W.II. Yugoslavia, originally formed after the first world war as a kingdom to bring the small Balkan states together in harmony, after the Second World War became a communist state under the leadership of General Josip Broz Tito (a Croat). Under General Tito's relatively liberal brand of communism this worked and turned Yugoslavia into an attractive holiday destination for the capitalist pigs, sorry Western tourists. Then Tito died in 1980 and, after a few years of the country struggling by, ethnic tensions and rabid nationalism took over and Yugoslavia started to disintegrate with first Slovenia and then Croatia declaring independence in 1991. The Croats claim that the Serbs were trying to subsume all the former Yugoslav nations into a greater Serbia, and certainly from a westerners view at the time the Serbs, and in particular their president Slobodan Milosevic, were painted as the aggressor on all fronts (though there were several incidents where Serbian civilians were the victims of atrocities carried out by the other sides in the wars)

The longest war of independence was also the bloodiest, and lead to the most atrocities being committed, took place in Bosnia. Therefore, it is slightly surprising that just 9 years after the war officially ended, Bosnia is today being touted as a tourist destination, and one of its principal destinations is Mostar, once a byword for the ethnic tensions. The town’s historic old bridge was destroyed by the Croat army so that the town could be divided by the river between a Croat bank and a Muslim bank. Today, following peace and reconciliation, and a hefty restoration job the town is again united, at least by a bridge.

Mostar was my second stop of the morning. But to get there we had to drive along the coast, cross into Bosnia, then back out of Bosnia and back into Croatia (a small part of coastal strip was ceded to Bosnia in 1945 so that they had access to the sea) before finally crossing back into Bosnia about 45 minutes later, and a short while after that stop one at the town of Pocitelj.

The small fortified hill town demonstrates what is unique about Bosnia in the region, virtually next door to each other are the tower of the catholic church and the minaret of the mosque. Out-doing both of them is the stunning ruins of the hill fortifications. After a brief wander around the town, and a stop to take in some of the local craft shops, it was back onto the bus and on to Mostar.

Evidence of the war, which raged here until 1999, is still clearly visible, many of the buildings have shrapnel scars and damage, and more are still ruined from the war, burnt out uninhabitable shells, which had been family homes or businesses.

Bosnia is not a wealthy nation, with little in the way of industry. The valley that Mostar lies at the top off is fertile and provides for the nation and some exports, but the majority of the countries income comes from tourism, and this is an industry that Mostar has mastered. The main sites of the town are all located in the small old town, and to reach any of them, from any direction, requires walking past a large number of gift shops.

Our guide walked us through the old town and pointed out the main sights, before leaving us for a couple of free hours sightseeing at the old mosque.

Having looked around the mosque, the remainder of the old town, one of the museums, and seen the wonder that is the restored bridge (I heard one person comment that they had been to Mostar in the 1980's and they couldn't tell the difference between the bridge then and now, if its destruction had not been broadcast across the globe they wouldn't have believed that it had been destroyed and rebuilt.) I stopped for a very nice lunch of local delicacies in a little Bosnian family run restaurant just down from the bridge.

After that it was time to get back on the bus for the long drive back to Dubrovnik. By the time we arrived back in town it was just time for a light dinner, before heading back to the hotel and bed.