Woke up at 6:30 AM today for my adventure to Bosnia! Erin, Amanda and I signed up for a day trip with a local independent travel agency that organizes a bus trip for Mostar. We left at 7:45 AM and drove for about an hour before hitting the first border crossing. It’s pretty interesting because Bosnia owns one small strip of land along the shore, so we actually had to go from Croatia, through Bosnia, and then back through Croatia before the ACTUAL border crossing into Bosnia. This takes a while because the tour guide has to give border control a list of passengers to check tour buses. The interesting part about it is that Croatia is trying to build a bridge to avoid this time-consuming crossing, but because of the recent downturn in the economy, they had to stop construction. It was sad to go by the area where the cranes and construction has ceased.
All in all, it took us like 3 and a half hours total to get to Mostar, with the border crossing(s) as well as two quick rest stops. All along the way to Mostar, our tour guide on the bus told us all about the history of Bosnia and the recent conflict that area. In the past 15 years or so, 2 million Bosnians to flee the severe bombings that were happening. The younger generation ended up staying where they had fled – mostly US, Canada, and Australia. The war had a huge impact on the population - now there are only 5 million people left in Bosnia. It’s estimated that 100,000 Bosnians and 20,000 Croatians were killed. It was only about 15 years ago that this war was happening, but I was too young at the time to really understand or be aware of what was going on. It was sobering to be driving along and see buildings that had been bombed and deserted. Other remnants of the war include millions of landmines that are still active in certain areas throughout Bosnia. They estimate that it will take about 50 years to deactivate the mines. In our pre-port session, they told us to look out for signs warning against mines, which is something that I’ve never had to be cautious of before!
Although the peace treaty was signed in 1995, Bosnia is still recovering from the war. There is a 42% unemployment rate (except that there is a lot of trade on the black market, so this statistic might not be as accurate). Today, there is still a Muslim side and a Christian side of Mostar – it is separated by a bridge. They have separate schools, hospitals, universities and there are no more mixed marriages between Christians and Muslims – it’s crazy to think that this type of segregation still exists.
The city of Mostar was smaller than I expected it to be…the main site to visit is the old bridge which was completely destroyed in a 1993 bombing. They had the video footage in the photo museum which was really sad to watch. In Mostar we also walked through the market place, visited the city’s main mosque, and toured a Turkish mansion. After the tour, we got some delicious Bosnian food at a local diner-type place and then sadly, it was time to head out. It was a powerful day because I really learned a lot about the history of the area. On Semester at Sea, there are always a million choices to make about where to go and what to see. You really have to prioritize in order to maximize your experience. I was hesitant about Mostar at first, but I’m really glad that I ended up going because it opened my eyes to a culture and history that I hadn’t known about before.
It was a three-and-a-half trip back to Dubrovnik after the visit to Mostar. That night was opening of the summer festival in Dubrovnik, so after refreshing ourselves at the ship, we hopped a city bus into Dubrovnik where we sat by the water and ate some light dinner – just cheese, olives, and salads with wine. There was a fireworks show that we could watch from our seats at the restaurant…the fireworks were shot off over the beach beyond the walls of the city. It was really nice!
After dinner, we walked into the old town and saw some sort of concert happening in the town center. It was so crowded and there were a ton of families with children out and about even though it was like 11:30 PM or so! We kept walking closer to the beach and on the way heard some awesome music. It turned out to be a concert for one of the most popular bands in Croatia – called Jinx. Erin haggled with the woman in the box office and then cut a shady deal with the security guard to let the five of us (Erin, Amanda, Christine, Greg and I) into the concert for 200 kuna – which is like less than 7 bucks a person. The concert was in an old part of the city – in a courtyard surrounded by walls that were about 20 feet high. So the band was playing right under the stars and it was a gorgeous night to be outside – it was really balmy and there was a slight breeze. The band’s name was Jinx and it was so much fun – everyone there was dancing and having a great time. We didn’t know any of the lyrics to the songs, but it didn’t even matter. The music was catchy and we were singing a long and dancing with all of the Croatians before long. After the show ended around 2AM, we met a couple from northern Croatia who were going to a “beach” party and invited us to join. The party ended up being around the corner from this dock on the rock cliff outside of the city walls. It was a party that happens ONCE a year on the first night of the summer festival. What are the chances that we would be there? Awesome.
It was a great night and I ended up getting back to the ship around 5:30 AM where I saw the morning light come up on the horizon. It’s a funny feeling when you go to bed after they turned off the street lights! Haha Great day, though – I don’t think I could have packed much more into the day if I had tried!
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