Exploring Herzegovina

Our next morning dawned early as we had a 7:45 am pick up time for our full day tour of Herzegovina.  But even though it was early, we took the time to pick our clothes carefully as it was the Fourth of July and we wanted to celebrate it somehow even though we were so far from home.  Red, White, and Blue it was...

Our driver drove us around the city for a bit as we picked up the rest of our tour guests and I took the time to snap some pictures out the window since up until now I had been driving and not able to sight see.  One thing I noticed immediately was the houses that lined the streets.  They were all different but had one thing in common - they were constructed of brick/mortar blocks and then left that way.  No paint, no sanding, no finishing work at all.  And it wasn't because they were the poorer towns, it was all towns and all styles of house.  Interesting, for sure.

We arrived at our first stop about 40 minutes later.  Settled over 4000 years, the town of Konjic one of the oldest permanent settlements in BiH it is also the place where you can walk from Bosnia into Herzegovina (and vice versa) using the Stara Ćuprija (Old Bridge) though nothing of it is old anymore.  It was originally built in 1682 but was destroyed in WWII by the retreating army and rebuilt in the early 21st century but is still a national monument of BiH.  

Cross that midpoint, and you are in Herzegovina.

Not much else to see in town we mosey on to our next destination - the broken bridge on the Neretva in Jablanica.  Other than being cool to look at...

was also the key piece used in defeating the Axis powers as they tried to advance through Yugoslavia.  I am not going to go into all of the details here but google the Battle of Neretva if you want to know why the maneuver is still taught in military schools around the world.  The short version is that the Yugoslav Partisans, surrounded in this crevice by enemy forces, blew up the bridge to make it look like they were heading in the opposite direction, North.  When the Axis saw this, they headed North giving the Partisans time to repair the bridge (it wasn't totally destroyed) and advance.  It was an actual turning point in the war.

Back on the road again, this time heading about an hour south to the town of Počitelj.  The scenery was gorgeous, and the company was easy, so I sat back and relaxed and enjoyed the fact that someone else was doing the driving.

Počitelj was my favorite stop of the day.  As one of the only urban towns in all of BiH that have been entirely preserved in integrity, from the Medieval/Ottoman periods until today, the place has a charm like no other.  It looks almost exactly as it did back in 1878, when it lost strategic importance to the new rulers, the Austro-Hungarians, essentially freezing it in time.  It is listed on the World Monument Watch as one of the 100 most endangered cultural sites in the world, and I list it as the favorite spot of the day.

The Kula sitting high on the hill overlooking the village.

We climbed up to see the inside of the Hajji Alija mosque which was originally built in the 1500's but destroyed almost entirely in the Bosnian war.  It was rebuilt using the original stone in 2002.

Once again out in the sunshine, we walked up and up again to visit the Kula remains.

And then we climbed again to get to the top of the silo tower to see the best views of the town below.

At this point, it was time to get some lunch.  We all headed back to the van, and our guide drove us about 20 minutes to a very remote spot in what seemed like the middle of nowhere.  We were there to have lunch at a gorgeous place right on the water -

Our view from lunch.

The main reason we were stopping at this particular restaurant was actually the white house you see on the left top of the picture above.  Named the Blagaj Tekke (Dervish House), the house was built in 1520 the house is a national monument and is still a place of worship for the Dervish cult.  The Dervish also called the Whirling Dervish due to their tendency to twirl in circles when praying, believe in the universal values of love and service.

Once again back in the van, we drove north about 1/2 hour to the main attraction of the day, Mostar, and its famous bridge.  The Stari Most (Old Bridge) was considered a feat of engineering when it was built in the 1500's.  Legend has it that the architect was commissioned to build a bridge of unprecedented dimensions and he did just that by constructing the worlds largest free standing arch.  Legend also has it that he prepared his own funeral for the day of the unveiling because he was sure that it would collapse.  It did not, and in fact, it stood for 427 years until it was destroyed in the Bosnian war in November of 1993.  Rebuilt in 2004 the bridge is now a UNESCO Heritage Site and a place that the daring dive from into the river below. (Unfortunately, we got there too late to see the divers).

 

  

We had ice cream on the banks of the river - and even got to pet a turtle...

Mostar was our final stop for the day.  Thankfully.  Because it was now after 7 pm and we had almost a 2-hour drive home.  It was a fabulous day exploring but we weren't done yet for the next day we were off to Split.