Mostar

I'm not sure I would have ever ended up visiting Bosnia & Herzegovina if not for seeing that Mostar was a popular day trip from Croatia. All I had to do was Google images of the Old Bridge to decide it was a must (looked like an absolute fairy tale) and ended up booking two nights.

It was the highlight of my trip, better than any of my stops in Croatia, and I cannot recommend it enough.

Arrival in Mostar

I caught the bus from Split, which was easily my worst bus ride of the four I took on this weeklong trip. It was operated by a local vendor rather than Flixbus, and either the A/C was hardly working or it was just too hot outside to make an impact (like 103 F that day). The bus was completely full, although I got a window spot in the back corner. The driver also made zero stops for bathrooms or shops on the four hour journey. I was out of water after two and ended up begging a girl in my row to let me steal some of hers.

My buses both there and back ended up arriving an hour later than scheduled due to customs at the border. They'll have everyone get out of the bus and go up to the immigration booth in a queue to process passports. Bosnia is not a member of the EU, but they are a candidate country, and in Mostar they accepted both euros and marks (easy conversion - just double the amount in euros to get the cost in marks).

Day 1

Old Town & Hostel Majdas

The bus went right into Mostar's Old Town area, where I was immediately grateful to see a fountain after stepping off. There are public fountains all over, usually with spigots all around the sides and even little stools in front where you can sit to rinse off or refill your water.

My hostel was only a seven minute walk from there, although I was very confused when I reached the street it was supposed to be on. There were multiple hostels in one alleyway, and only one was clearly labeled. Hostel Majdas was hidden behind a gated door, and it took me a couple of sweeps before I saw the small sign on the front.

I'd seen this hostel hyped on travel threads as THE place to stay in Mostar, and I definitely was not disappointed. It was so communal and cozy and pretty. Social vibes without being a party hostel (rules actually ban heavy drinking on the premises). The whole outdoor patio is fenced in and surrounded by plants, with half covered by tapestries on astroturf and half a garden area with pebble floor. Tons of chairs and couches to sit on, a tiny kitchenette area, and a couple of cats who came around.

I was greeted by an old Bosnian woman who didn't seem to speak English, and she had me sit while she brought out a tray with juice and oatmeal. Soon after, Majdas, her daughter and the owner, came out to welcome me and another new arrival and sit us down to tell us about Mostar and go over a map of town before showing us to our rooms.

Bosnian hostels were all so much cheaper than Croatian ones that I decided to take a break from dorms for two nights and spring for a private room. The dorms did look nice - real beds rather than bunks - but I didn't regret having my own space for 40 euro more.

After I got settled, I walked to the Old Town, which was maybe 10 minutes down the street with lots of restaurants, convenience stores, and bars in the more modern area on the way.

There's a clear divide when you hit Old Town. It's so gorgeous - feels like stepping back in time. There seemed to be a lot of Turkish influence, and while I haven't yet been to Turkey, it did remind me of Granada in Spain (another of my favorite places).

There are a lot of mosques, and I popped into a graveyard beside the first one I passed. It took me a minute of walking around before I realized everyone there had died in 1993, including a lot of children and teens. Majdas had touched on the genocide in their country during our introduction, but I was still learning the details, having never been taught this in the US education system.

So, my next stop was the Museum of War & Genocide. For a tiny building, it packed in so much information, and I spent about two hours there reading. There were artifacts and personal memorabilia lining the walls, and with each one was a placard with somebody's story. There was the piggy bank someone's brother had been carrying when he was shot, still with a hole in it, or the favorite books a person kept in their pockets, or the shoes they wore all through the war. Videos were playing of grainy footage, all real, including executions and bodies. You could hear the Serbians telling jokes before shooting someone. There was a glass case full of items excavated from mass graves, photos of whole families that were killed, and a room where people could leave notes which was full of papers comparing this to exactly what's happening in Palestine now. The basement was a recreated war shelter.

It's so crazy that nearly everyone living in Mostar today experienced this and lost people they knew. A lot of buildings are still being rebuilt, and you can see crumbling walls and bullet holes in ones that haven't yet been repaired. Our tour guide the following day told us more, so I'll get to his stories coming up.

I took a wander around Old Town afterwards, enjoying the scenery and taking stock of potential stalls I needed to return to for souvenirs. The Old Bridge was just as gorgeous as it had looked in photos, although the original was destroyed during the war. It was rebuilt in 2004 and is now a UNESCO site. The cobblestones of Old Town were already super slippery, so I was glad that the bridge had little ledges built in that you could balance on while crossing!

I also had a nice dinner of iced tea, cous cous stuffed peppers, and dates on a cute patio at Vrata Orijenta. There were colorful tablecloths and misters long the ceiling to keep it cool.

Unfortunately, I'd been stressed since my arrival because I wanted to do the famous Herzegovina tour the following day that was run by Bata, Majdas's brother. I'd literally emailed the hostel about three months in advance to ask if it would be running that day and was told it would depend, and then at check-in Majdas said to ask again later. Well, if I couldn't get on that tour, I needed to find a backup, and it was now evening. The next day was my only full day in Bosnia, so I went back to the hostel to check.

Majdas told me that unfortunately, Bata wasn't going to run the tour the following day. It's like an 11 hour endeavor, and he'd run it the past two days (and of course picked it back up again the day I left). I was honestly super upset, because I would have rearranged the order of my trip around this tour if I'd known in advance. After going to sit and feel sorry for myself in my room for a minute (Majdas actually came up to find me again and apologize and suggest alternatives, which was nice), I decided to find something else to book.

I'd remembered seeing another hostel tour mentioned from Hostel Miran. When I mapped it, I found out they were located right next door, so I went out to the street to again spin in circles trying to figure out which nondescript gate belonged to them. Luckily, an older guy came zooming up the street on a scooter right at that moment and asked what I was looking for. I told him I was trying to find Hostel Miran, and he sweeps his hand to his chest and goes, "I am Miran."

Clearly it was fate, and he was happy to bring me in to the lobby and sign me up for his tour the next day. I even came back later with another girl, Ashley, from Majdas who signed up along with me.

I felt much better with that taken care of and spent the rest of the evening hanging out in the cute Majdas common area chatting with other travelers and sharing a bottle of wine.

Day 2

Herzegovina Day Tour

Ashley and I walked into town for a coffee and pastry for breakfast before joining our tour group at Hostel Miran the next morning. There were seven of us total, and we packed into the van to take off on our 8 hour day.

And I mean take off. Miran drove like an absolute madman, zooming around curves and blasting Bosnian music. It was such a vibe. He had to pull out his phone and show us on Google Images that if you search "crazy Bosnian guy," the first two results are photos of him. There were a few points during the day where traffic was stalled, and Miran went storming out of the van to literally direct cars and clear the road. Genuinely the coolest.

We went to the top of Forza Hill first where Miran gave us some more history on the war. He pointed down the hill and said that he and other kids used to forage the slope for fruit while the Serbians would shoot at them from the top. He also told us that he lost 50 family members during the war, and that his uncle (or grandfather, I can't quite remember) had been shot on the street right in front of where his hostel is now.

Then he clapped his hands and sent us on our way to go see the sky bridge over the city and the Mostar sign before we took off.

Our next stop was a village called Blagaj with a very blue river running through it. You could pay a boat a small fee to take you into the cave there, so we all split the cost and had a guy row us in. The river itself was freezing. Our guide said it's 8 degrees Celsius all year round, and even though it was over 100 degrees Fahrenheit out that day, my feet hurt when I tried to step into the water before we left.

Pocitelj was up next. Miran bought us all some fruit (peaches and watermelon) to eat before leaving us to go climb the hill. It was dotted with mosques, and he gave us directions to the ruins of an old tower were we went for views. I bought a pomegranite juice from an old Bosnian woman on the way down and stopped in the garden of a mosque to refill my water at a fountain.

The last stop of the day was at Kravica Waterfalls, where we had a few hours to swim. Miran had grabbed us a table at one of the restaurants along the banks, and he called ahead for it because the falls were absolutely packed. I went to change into my swimsuit, take some photos, and wade in the water a bit before heading back to the table for food. Miran had gotten us a platter to share (and a separate vegetarian one for me), and a couple of us got beers. We had another short time to swim again before heading out, but it does get deep near the falls and I'm not a great swimmer, so I stayed near the shore.

On the way home, we drove down a street full of murals that Miran told us was like the Berlin Wall of Mostar. Serbians and Croatians posted up on one side while the Bosnians were on the other, and anyone who tried to cross the street would be shot. There was still an old ammo box outside one of the forts and bullet holes in the walls.

I ended up not being at all disappointed I missed out on Bata's tour, because Miran was such a fun guide and I couldn't imagine having a better time on anyone else's.

Once we were dropped back in Mostar, I headed into town for dinner on the patio of Urban Taste of Orient. The view was overlooking the bridge, and I got an iced tea, tomato soup, and a whole bowl of Bosnian fried bread (half of which I wrapped up to take on the bus the next day). I finished my day with some souvenir shopping before calling it a night.

Day 3

Head to Dubrovnik

Hostel Majdas offers a community breakfast every morning cooked by Majdas and her sister, which is only 5 euro and worth every cent. It was a whole feast, each of us getting a tray with porridge, eggs, veggies, bread with some kind of tomato paste, another bread with kajmak (their local cream cheese type spread), a spinach or zucchini pancake?, some kind of flaky cheese pastry, and a chocolate crepe. Plus Bosnian coffee.

I had until 12:30 to get my bus, so I just chilled in the common area after checking out, then headed off to Dubrovnik for my last few days. I'm beyond thrilled I took a detour into Bosnia though and wish I'd had time to see more of the country. I met a few people either going to or coming from Sarajevo and it made me miss the flexibility of a months-long backpacking trip.

Don't sleep on the Balkans! Gorgeous views, cheap prices, and friendly people. Grateful to have made it here and hope to be back.