Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Mostar are the ruins of a once-magnii cent Serbian Orthodox church—now
demolished, just like that mosque in Nevesinje. Travel allows you to i ll out
a balanced view of a troubled region.
Considering the haphazardness of war, I remembered how in France's
charming Alsace (the region bordering Germany), all towns go back centu-
ries—but those with the misfortune to be caught in the steamroller of war
don't have a building standing from before 1945. I recalled that in England,
Chester survived while nearby Coventry was leveled so thoroughly that the
Germans had a new word for bombing to smithereens—to “coventrate” a place.
And I remembered the confused patchwork of Dubrovnik's old and new tile
roofs. h ese images—and now this sad, ruined mosque—all humanized the
bleak reality and random heartbreak of sectarian strife and war.
Ready to move on, I climbed into my little car, left Nevesinje, and
drove out of the mountains. My destination was a city that once symbol-
ized East and West coming together peacefully, then symbolized just the
opposite, and today seems to be enjoying a tentative new spirit of peaceful
coexistence: Mostar.
A ruined mosque is a silent reminder of sectarian fi ghting in a now thoroughly
Serbian, and therefore Orthodox Christian, town.
