Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
fectively—as a kind of psychological torture, was blasting constantly from the Croat side
of town.
As we wandered through town, the sectarian symbolism of the conflict was powerful.
Ten minarets pierced Mostar's skyline like proud Muslim exclamation points. Across the
river, twice as high as the tallest minaret, stood the Croats' new Catholic church spire.
Standing on the reconstructed Old Bridge, I looked at the hilltop high above the town,
with its single, bold, and strongly floodlit cross. Alen said, “We believe that cross marks
the spot from where they shelled this bridge. They built it there, and floodlight it each
night…like a celebration.”
Firsthand Accounts Make History Spring to Life
Learning from a local who actually lived through those horrible years made my
Mostar visit a particularly rich experience. Thankful for the lessons I learned in
Mostar, I considered the value of firsthand accounts in my travels over the years.
When I was a gawky 14-year-old, my parents took me to Europe. In a dusty
village on the border of Austria and Hungary, a family friend introduced me to a
sage old man with breadcrumbs in his cartoonish white handlebar moustache. As
the man spread lard on rustic bread, he shared his eyewitness account of the assas-
sination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914. I was thrilled by history as never
before.
