Originally our plan for today was to ride to Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina. After considering that the ride itself would be almost 6 hours with a few stops, added in there, we decided it was just more than we wanted to do. We looked at a few options and decided that riding to the town of Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina would be much nicer and allow for more relaxing day.
Now…you probably are wondering why a single country is called Bosnia AND Herzegovina…and not just Bosnia or Herzegovina. Apparently it goes back to the mid-1800s when there was no clear boundary to divide the two countries so they just called it Bosnia and Herzegovina. Seems pretty dumb to me because that name is just really clumsy! Just take a ruler and draw a damn line and give them each their own name! 😂
Crossing the border was a little easier than last time, but traffic is still backed up for nearly half a mile.
Waiting at the border to Bosnia/Herzegovina
We just bounced over into the left lane and passed almost everyone of them until we got to customs gate. 😀 We were through there in no time! The drive to Mostar started out, climbing through the mountains, but eventually turned into a nice drive along some high plateaus/valleys high in the mountains.
Our first impressions of Bosnia, were not great. It seemed that 2 of every 3 houses we saw were abandoned, and the ones that were lived in…were in pretty rough shape. Most of them had roofs that were caved in. Not sure if those were a result of a lot of the bombing during the war back in the 90s.
About 10 miles before Mostar, we took a right turn to go visit Blagaj Tekija. It’s a historic Sufi Monastery built into a cliff and hanging above a beautiful stream. The monastery itself was quite interesting but unfortunately, you have to walk through a gauntlet of stands, selling every type of trinket you can imagine.
Cave at the Monastery
Had to wear head scarf to go into Monastery
Sufi Monastery
We arrived in Mostar around 5 PM and quickly located our apartment for the night. It was absolutely gorgeous, with a balcony overhanging a river with views of a small stone arched bridge.
Dale doing some writing on our balcony
Amena got us checked in quickly and she gave us some good recommendations for dinner tonight. Mostar is famous for a large stone arch bridge that was originally built during the Ottoman era in the 16th century. It collapsed in 1993, due to shelling, during the Croatian – Bosnian war. It was subsequently rebuilt over a six year period, ending in 2004. It is absolutely gorgeous!
Tomorrow our plan is to ride an hour and a half north to visit Tito’s bunker. Should make for an interesting visit!
