Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
achieved peace, began putting their city back together. During this time, some fac-
tionsalsoroundedup,tortured,andkilledSerbsstilllivinginMostar.ManyBosniaks
moved back to their homes on the east side of town, but, rather oddly, many of the
Croats who had previously resided there instead stayed in the west—in many cases,
moving into apartments vacated by Serbs who had fled.
On May 9, 1993—the Yugoslav holiday of “Victory over Fascism
Day”—Mostarians were rocked awake by the terrifying sounds of artillery shells.
Croat military forces swept through the city, forcibly moving remaining Bosniaks
from the west part of town into the east. Throughout that summer, Bosniak men were
captured and sent to concentration camps, while the Croats virtually sealed off the
east side of town—creating a giant ghetto with no way in or out. The long and ugly
siege of Mostar had begun.
Near the end of the pedestrian zone, through the parking lot on the right, look for the
building with communist-era reliefs of 12th-century Bogomil tomb decor—remembering
the indigenous culture that existed here even before the arrival of the Ottomans.
When you finally hit the big street (with car traffic), head left one block to the big
Mas-
ala Square
(literally,“Place forPrayer”). Historically,this waswhere pilgrims gathered be-
fore setting off for Mecca on their hajj. This is a great scene on balmy evenings, when it's
a rendezvous point for the community. The two busts near the fountain provide perfect goal
posts for budding soccer stars.
• For a finale, you can continue one block more out onto the bridge to survey the town you
just explored. From here, you can backtrack to linger in the places you found most inviting.
Or you can venture into...
Most tourists stay on the Bosniak side of town. But for a complete look at this divided city,
it's well worth strolling to the west side. While there's not much in the way of sightseeing
here,andmuchofthisurbanzoneisn'tparticularlypretty,itdoesprovideaninterestingcon-
trast to the Muslim side of town. As this is the location of some of Mostar's new shopping
malls,thisareafeelsmorevitaleachyear,andafewofthetree-linedstreetsseemdownright
elegant.
Crossing the river and the Bulevar, the scarred husks of destroyed buildings begin to
fade away, and within a block you're immersed in concrete apartment buildings—making
it clear that, when the city became divided, the Muslims holed up in the original Ottoman
Old Town, while the Croats claimed the modern Tito-era sprawl. The relative lack of war
