Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
This cemetery, once a park, is fi lled with tombstones all dated 1993, 1994, or 1995.
As we wandered through town, the sectarian symbolism of the conl ict
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 l oodlit cross. Alen said, “We Muslims believe that cross marks the
spot from where they shelled this bridge. h
ey built it there, and l oodlight
it each night...like a celebration.”
h e next day, I popped into a small theater where 30 Slovenes (from
a part of the former Yugoslavia that avoided the terrible destruction of the
war) were watching a short i lm about the Old Bridge, its destruction, and its
rebuilding. h e persistent shelling of the venerable bridge, so rich in symbol-
ism, seemed to go on and on. h e Slovenes knew the story well. But when the
video reached the moment when the bridge i nally fell, I heard a sad collec-
tive gasp. It reminded me of how Americans feel, even well after 9/11, when
watching video of the World Trade Center disappearing into a column of
ash. It helped me, if not feel, at least appreciate another country's pain.
At lunchtime, I stopped at a tiny grocery store, where I was happy to see a
woman I had befriended the day before. She was a gorgeous person, sad to be
living in a frustrating economy, and stif with a piece of shrapnel in her back
