Today was Bosnia-Herzegovina to visit Mostar, Počitelj, and lunch at a local waterfall/swimming spot by the Trebizat tributary to the Neretva. Mirena stayed home to work with her contractors on the house.

Around 11 AM or so, we headed up west of Metković as a more direct route to Mostar. Mostar is split down the middle by the Neretva River, with Croats living on the west side and (Muslim) Bosniaks on the east side, though now the population is beginning to mix once again. On the Croat side, there is a giant white cross on the hill for all to see, and on the Bosniak side, numerous minarets of mosques.

We arrived around 1 PM and headed to the Turkish-feeling stone streets of the old town area filled with shops selling food, clothing, and souvenirs. The main attraction in Mostar is the bridge over the Neretva. The Old Bridge was commissioned by the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman in 1557 and finished nine years later – it lasted until 1993, when artillery from the Croats during the war caused its collapse. Athough the bridge destruction was partly strategic, it was mostly a symbolic action against the Muslim legacy. After the war, it was rebuilt using hand-carved stone from the original quarry in the original style (and, according to Mirena’s cousin who grew up in Mostar, many original stones were recovered from the river below the bridge). It was re-opened in 2004. Always famous as a bridge diving spot, Win told us that the Red Bull diving competition now takes place here.

We walked across the slippery stone (with stone breaks to help keep your balance), headed up the stone streets and looked at the outside of the Koski Mehmet-Pasha Mosque.

Shops before the bridge.

The bridge from the Croat side.

Looking south down the river.

Walking over the bridge.

View of the mosque from the bridge.

And shops on the Bosniak side.

View of the bridge from the Bosniak side. Note the large cross on the Croat side.

We returned to the bridge to met the group and for the drive to Počitelj.

One of the attractions of Počitelj is a small old-town area with a 15th century ruin of a hill-top fortress built by King Matyas Corvinus who briefly pushed back the Ottomans and with the historic Hajji Alija (1563)/Sisman Ibrahim pasha (17th century) mosque we could visit for a fee. The dome and minaret were destroyed in 1993 and rebuilt after the war. We walked around inside for a while and later talked with the well-spoken watchman to whom we paid the fee. He pointed to the cedar tree in front of the mosque and said it came from Lebanon (cedar of Lebanon) over 500 years ago.

Once again, thanks to Braco, we had another "locals" experience at a gorgeous waterfall/swimming hole spot on the Trebizat River tributary west of the Neverta about 8 miles from Pocitelj. We sat right over the water on wood decking and had a meal at Božjak for the 11 of us that would have fed 20 – pommes frites, cold cucumber/tomato/pepper plate, marinated peppers, chicken, beef chops, two kinds of beef sausage, cookies. Knowing the owner, Braco had gotten us a $10 per person price for a meal that should have easily been twice or three times more.

Over full, we headed back to Gradac on the main road through Vid and Metković. Larry worked on the computer for a while and Eileen took a nice long swim in the Adriatic. Around 8:30 PM we headed over to Mirena and Win's for bourbon tasting (Eileen had wine), said our goodbyes around 10:30 PM and headed back to pack and go to sleep.

The next morning Dom (Domagoj), a border policeman in his 30s (Braco's son-in-law's brother and a driver on the day we went to Pelješac so that Mirena could drink wine) drove us to the airport for the ride home.