welcome to mostar.

Ok, so you probably gathered from the drive over here that we are a little bit hidden, so these are some things to look out for. Take a left outside, follow the road and you'll go over 2 small stumpy bridges, probably not worthy of the term bridge. Carry on round and you'll get to the Konzum supermarket. Take a left from there and walk in a straight line, you'll go past the unnecessarily large Franciscan church. It's tower was 2/3's smaller before the war, and was rebuilt afterward. It's a statement, nothing else. Much like that huge cross on the top of the hill. Nothing religious, more of a reminder, a statement. You get to the main road, Bulevar, which was the front line during the war and still divides the city to this day. Yes, Mostar is divided. You have the catholic side, and the Muslim side. Not so many tensions between individuals anymore, but institutionally there are still problems. Cross the road, keep going straight and you will arrive in the old town. Its a pretty small old town, it doesn't have the many side streets that places like Sarajevo and Dubrovnik have, but that doesn't mean its boring, not by any means. You could easily spend your entire day just in there. There are the 2 streets, one leading towards the bridge and another leading away. These are both filled with souvenir shops and cafes.

Ah, the old bridge. Stari Most. The reason most people come to Mostar, the most famous symbol of Bosnia, the biggest symbol of multi-ethnicity in Yugoslavia. It's a big deal around here, and rightfully so, as its a stunning piece of work. Especially at night, it gets lit up and its almost magical, for want of a better term. The best view? Well, as you are walking towards the old town, take a right just before you get onto the cobblestones. Follow that road round and you'll have a car park on the one side of the road, and a downhill path on the other side. Go down that path, and you have a beautiful view looking up at the bridge. Its where most of the postcards are taken from. Its wonderful, you can sit down there with a beer or 2, there is a bar there during the summer. Very pleasant.

Number 4 on our map is a mosque and you can climb the minaret. From the top you get stunning panoramic views of the entire city, its very beautiful. For me though, the most interesting part is that you can see how different the 2 sides of the city are. For instance, on the Croatian side of the city, you have scores of high rise buildings and large multi-story shopping centres. However, on the Bosnian side, there is nothing like that. One other thing about the mosque is that it gets busy, so if you are there and its busy I would suggest going away and coming back later. climbing the stairs can be a bit of a nightmare sometimes.

Carry on straight and you head out of the old town, into a more modern pedestrianized area with those new fangled pavement things. Are you a vegetarian? No? Good. The best restaurant on the city is right here. Number 18 is the Karađoz-Begova mosque, it has the Turkish bank opposite it. Take the right past the mosque, and there is a restaurant in its back yard called Saray. The food is amazing, and it is ridiculously cheap. I mean, you get a big plate of food, meat, salad, chips and pita bread, all for 6KM, which is what, 3 Euros? They do small portions as well which are by no means small, for half that prices. The staff are great, the location is great. You can get good cheap food in the old town, but you'll be eating with tourists. Saray is very popular with local people, it gives you a more authentic feel.

Take a left at the top of the road and you go over Maršal Tito bridge, keep going and you get back to the main road. This is Spanish square, which has a monument dedicated to Spanish soldiers who died during and after the war. Next to this is the Austro-Hungarian grammar school. The big yellow and orange building. I used to think it looked a bit like a block of cheese, but its grown on me. Most interestingly here though, is on the road going past Spanish square. Here you have a 9 story building, completely destroyed. It was a bank before the war, and was used as a snipers nest during the war by mercenaries. You can go there during the day time and explore a little. The 2nd floor still has documents from the bank spread out over the floor, and on the top floors there are little piles of bullets. Its very surreal, very intimidating, very eerie. You won't go there and have a lovely time, but it is definitely very interesting to see. I wouldn't go there at night though, for a few reasons. One, there is a lot of glass on the floor, so you are practically walking on glass. Also, there are 3 unused elevator shafts that are just big drops, so watch your step. Its also pretty popular with homeless people and junkies at night, so don't go then. In the day time however, definitely worth seeing.

Rondo is the roundabout in the Croatian side of the city, and this street here is just choc full of bars, cafes and shopping centres. There isn't really much in the way of culture over here, but again it is very interesting to see the differences between the 2 sides of the city. Its also a good place to go for a coffee or a beer, just for the sheer amount of choice.

And thats pretty much Mostar. There are other things obviously, the Partizan cemetery, Pavarotti, the crater that started the war and whatnot, but this will do for now. I'm here pretty much all the time, so if you have any questions at any point don't hesitate to ask. I'll get you guys a key, the deposit for that is 10KM or 5Euros, and if I could get your passports then that'll be lovely. Done.

Mostar, its been a pleasure.