The Old City of Mostar is a lovely place to visit. Since the war has ended, it has become part of the beaten path of tourism. The early morning, before the tour buses arrive from the Croatian coast, is about the only time that one can enjoy it without being among the masses. The nominated area is quite small, and you could see it all in half an hour. I roamed around for a few hours more, looking for the best photo opportunities. The Old Bridge is the main point of attraction of course, and it stays interesting when you look at it from different angles. From beneath, I watched the local “bridge jumpers” for a while. They’re mainly just showing off for the tourists (and collecting money from them), but in the end, I saw one jump. The river doesn’t even look that deep, but the guy came out alive and smiling.

I stayed in Mostar for 3 nights, so I could visit also some other places in the region. I had arrived overland from Belgrade via Sarajevo during an 11-hour journey, that took me right across the country. Nothing much changes at first, because the part where the Bosnian Serbs live (Republika Srpska) borders Serbia. So still there were signs in Cyrillic and lots of little pekara (bakeries). The more inland the landscape gets more spectacular though, almost Alpine with some snow-covered peaks, mountain passes and wooden architecture. Lakes, rivers and canyons add to the great scenery. The country’s political structure is still a weird construction, and I noticed quite a bit of provocative flag-waving that reminded me of Lebanon. The blue & yellow Bosnian national flag is the one that is seen the least.

Mostar has become a WHS because of its symbolical function of peaceful coexistence of different cultures – which is kind of a farce. I watched the video about the reconstruction in the Old Bridge museum, and the narrator there stated “Hayruddin (the Ottoman architect) just wanted to build a bridge, as best as he could. It had to be suitable for the growing trade and transport on this route. Nothing indicates that he wanted to symbolically link East and West.”

The “international cooperation” part of the nomination may have had more to do with the international sponsors than the struggling parties of Bosnia Herzegovina itself. Japan has provided the city with buses, Turkey and Jordan took care of a mosque each, and Italy, Turkey, Netherlands and Croatia all donated to the restoration of the Old Bridge. The cute little Crooked Bridge was repaired with money from Luxembourg (probably felt that it had its size in common). Money obviously poured in after the Bosnian War ended, and this resulted in a quick and successful reconstruction of the Old City. One wonders if something like that will happen again for Aleppo or Damascus. Somehow I doubt that.