Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina

Most people head from Dubrovnik to either Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH) or Kotor, Montenegro as one- or two-day side trips.  Looking for something different from the coast, I opted for the former, and Anthony joined me.  Mostar is most famous for its enormous bridge (just look at the pictures) and its scenic old town.  Most tourists come by from Dubrovnik just for an hour or two, snap a few pictures of the bridge, then head back, but we opted to stay for two nights.  When I told the friendly but English-impaired hostel owner in Dubrovnik of my plans, he shook his head.  “Ohhh.  Noooo.  Al-Qaeda.”  Whaa?

Anyway, we headed to Mostar by bus, which took about 4 hours, multiple border crossings (Croatia has the entire coast except for this little 16 km stretch that belongs to BiH) no passport stamps, and some incredible scenery.  The Dalmatian coast is stunning, but heading inland into BiH, the scenery turns into green green green mountains and settlements scattered around valleys.  The style of the houses changed a lot more too, and things were admittedly a little more run-down, in stark contrast to all the resorts we were driving past in Croatia. Continue reading →