Written by Indu
with edits by Caleb
Many countries in Europe are part of a zone called the Schengen Area. As a US Citizen, I can only stay in the Schengen Area for 90 days over a 180 day period. Towards the end of our time in Italy, we had come very close to that 90 day period and decided it was time to start planning our next move.
While most European countries are part of the Schengen Area, we found out that there were a few countries that were not. Namely, many countries in the Balkans.
I was reluctant. Bulgaria? I don’t even know where that is on a map. Serbia? Kosovo? Bosnia? Aren’t those countries super dangerous? Ignorant American, party of one. I started to research.
And that’s when I found it — a blog post that arguably changed my perception of the Balkans. It featured a picture of a beautiful bridge surrounded by an old, charming city landscape. It was a city called Mostar and it was located in Bosnia. Bosnia. I was surprised such a beautiful city could exist in a country that I had previously been told was war torn and unsafe to visit. I read further. Many people chimed in to say how safe the country was. Apparently, for most Europeans and many “early adopter” Americans, Mostar was already on the radar as a tourist attraction. I was intrigued.
For me, Mostar is what excited me the most about visiting the Balkans and was certainly the catalyst for planning our voyage. Now, nearly a month later, we have just finished our time in Mostar and it has been pleasantly surprising.
. . .
When we first arrived in Mostar, we were desperately trying to find our Airbnb so we could park & explore. While we were slowly driving through the streets, I was taken aback by a building I saw.
“Are those from bullets?” I asked Caleb, staring in disbelief at a building sprayed with holes.
“Yes,” Caleb answered assuredly.
They were indeed bullet holes, and as we kept driving we saw more and more buildings of the same nature.
We finally found our Airbnb in a little apartment complex run by a woman and her children. It was basic, but it was a very short walk into the heart of Old Town, had rave reviews and, best of all, was only $20 a night.
After unloading our luggage, we decided to head into Old Town to stroll around & grab a bite to eat. On our way there, I noticed beautiful Mosques and Minarets — a lot of them — lining the streets. I had never seen a Minaret before, but there were many of these skinny-rocket-like buildings along the roads we walked.
Muslims make up about 50% of the population in Bosnia and now live in harmony with a 30% population of Serbian Orthodox Christian, though that was not always the case.
I had never been to country where Islam was the dominant religion prior to this and I was taken aback when I suddenly heard songs of prayers broadcast loudly through the tall Minarets across the city. It was new, but fascinating.
Inside of a 10-minute walk, we had arrived in Old Town. I was mesmerized by what I saw. I expected a nice bridge and maybe a few old shops & restaurants. In reality, I felt like I was in a really nice theme park modeled around medieval times. But this was a real city.
The walkways were paved with little round stones and were in pristine condition. Every now and then, we would see shop keepers come out to scrape the walkway in front of their area, ensuring that it stayed in perfect condition.
As we searched for the bridge, we saw restaurants peppered along the sides of the river. The views looked incredible & we got more and more eager to eat.
Beyond the restaurants, the streets were draped with little markets, each shop showcasing the handmade items on meticulously-staged table displays.
One shop caught our interest right away. We saw beautifully carved copper plates hanging up, each with different engravings of the bridge, designs from tombstones and general symbols of Mostar.
We entered the shop to look further and one of the owners, Maid (pronounced M-eyed), greeted us eagerly. Instead of heckling us to buy right away, Maid approached us politely and explained that he makes all of the plates himself by hand. He proceeded to explain the process and showed us his carving station.
Since the day was almost over, we asked Maid if we could return the next day to take a few pictures of him working and browse some more. He happily agreed.
We returned to Maid’s shop the next day and spoke to him in detail about his work. His colleague, Emin, was also there and added color (having done the carvings for many more years). We ultimately loved their designs and ended up purchasing a plate with the Mostar bridge featured on it. Maid kindly gave us a small plate as a gift too as we were leaving.
By this time, we were getting hungry and asked Maid for restaurant recommendations. He told us about a place called Sadrvan just a few minutes down the street that has the best national food in the area.
We walked to the restaurant and a server dressed in traditional Bosnian attire told us there was a short wait. We decided to wait it out and only a few minutes later, she welcomed us to a table.
We ended up ordering the National Plate, pickled vegetables and Bey soup, all of which were extremely delicious.
The National plate had a wide selection of Bosnian specialties, including Cevapi. Cevapi is bread filled with minced meat which is to Bosnia what pasta is to Italy. We had passed a ton of signs for Cevapi all day so I was excited to finally get my share of it. The Bey soup had chicken & okra in a light broth, which hit the spot.
We had room for dessert so decided to try the Baklava and Bosnian coffee. The coffee came out a few minutes later in a Arabian-style copper coffee set and I was in love.
After we finished lunch, we decided to go hunting for our own copper coffee set. You could find them in almost every shop and, frankly, we were a little overwhelmed. Then we walked into one shop that was mainly filled with just different coffee sets. The owner, Mirza, approached us and explained how he creates each coffee set himself and has been doing so for 16 years now.
With confidence he told us how the coffee sets he creates are very different from the hundreds of other shops selling what appear to be the same thing. He pulled out coffee set from another designer and showed how easily it bended and faded. He explained to us what we should be looking for — weight wise, material wise — to gauge quality in the coffee set. He was clearly very knowledgeable about his work and we really appreciated the candor.
With Mirza’s advice in hand, we did check out a few other shops only to return to his shop. His work was in fact the best quality we could find for coffee sets. We purchased a lovely set from him.
Mirza demonstrated how he creates the coffee sets at his station and after seeing the process, we were sold. We eventually ended up purchasing a set of 4 and now feel a little more “expert” in gauging copper craftsmanship.
On our way our way out, we stopped at the bridge again. Who knew that the bridge that drew me to Mostar would end up being just a small sliver of what I loved most about this city.
People sometimes take the challenge of jumping off the Stari Most the almost 80 feet into the icy water below. Indu would not allow me to do so without a jump buddy. So I am taking applicants!
There was a shop near the bridge with a big stone in front of it. Carved into the stone were the words “DON’T FORGET ’93” alluding to the Bosnian War.
Around 100,000 people died during the war, and up to 2.2 million more were displaced. You can read more about the Bosnian conflict here.
But the Bosnians weren’t hiding their catastrophic history, as we clearly saw through the bullet holes that hadn’t been plastered over and the constant motivational reminders posted throughout the city. Despite this tragic history that concluded in just 1995, the resilient people of Mostar have managed to rebuild their town to a beautiful, coexistent community. It was an amazing thing to experience, and I look forward to getting deeper into it as we explore more of Bosnia.
the picture drew me in – it has to be one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen. But your stories of the town, food, and crafts were facinating. No wonder you aren’t in any rush to have this adventure end. I am jealous. ha. Those coffee sets are something else.
I also remember that feeling of shock and disbelief when I saw bullet holes and shelling damage still on the sides of many buildings in Berlin (1992) that were formerly on the “East Berlin” side.