Mostar

The drive inland from the Adriatic Sea to Mostar is right along a river in a mostly narrow valley. At places the scenery is spectacular, as the road goes through dozens of tunnels, right at the edge of the river or a long narrow lake, most of the time in a valley with steep, rugged, rocky mountains on each side.

The Mostar (foot) bridge, built in 1577, during the time of the Ottoman Empire, was a most beautiful sight. If only five hundred people crossed the bridge each day, 75,000,000 feet have polished that marble foot-path slick as ice. The 12 feet wide bridge spans 88 feet, 60 feet above the highest water level.

If only there was some magical way, in either pictures or words, to capture the special ambiance and charm of the Mostar bridge. The single arch is a graceful rainbow curve, and the handrail has a slight upward incline from both sides, and the various shapes combine for exceptional beauty.

The bridge crossed River Neretva in a deep gorge, and at each end, ancient stone buildings were filled with artist studios, antique stores, restaurants, and tourist boutiques. The little stands in the walkways, and in the little market place, offered fruits, vegetables, and other goods for sale.

On the west side of the beautiful Ottoman bridge, Emmy almost, but not quite, bought a copper pot with a greasy chain hooked to the handle. On the east side, a market-man gave her a taste of some white cheese. The taste was not to her liking, so she looked for a place to spit, where he couldn’t see her. A lot of renovation had been completed in Mostar between our first and our last visit, but the bridge and much of the town was destroyed during the 1990’s war.

After 435 years of history, the bridge (festooned, but unsuccessfully protected with old automobile tires) succumbed to gun fire and plunged into the depths of the Neretva River on November 9, 1993. By 1997 a multi-million dollar recovery program was under way. A huge crane was used to recover the stones, (weighing as much as 75 tons) from the river, then a computer model was used to see whether each stone measures up to the necessary standards to qualify it as a part of the rebuilt bridge.

The bridge was re-opened in July 2004, after an eleven year, $15,000,000 UNESCO reconstruction project.