Mostar, Bosnia

We managed to get onto a trip to Mostar today - despite being cancelled at 9pm the night before by a travel agent and having to call someone else at about 10... :) Thank you Dubrovnik Travel!
We stopped at a couple of places along the way to Mostar from Dubrovnik. The most interesting was called Pocitelj. It's in the Neretva river valley about 25km from Mostar. It existed in 1444 as a fortress supported by Hungary; Turks took it over in 1471 and it became an important part of the Ottoman Empire. A 17th century enclosing wall still exists. In its heyday, there was in the town an elementary school (mekteb), a secondary theological school (medresa) and also public baths (hammam) and an inn for travelers (han). The town was constructed right into a rocky mountainside overlooking a bend in the Neretva river. Its characteristic buildings are Ottoman style, with stone house, stone pathways and stone roofs. Lots of women and children selling dried and fresh fruit in these cute little papers twists.
Next we drove through the Neretva Valley, sometimes referred to as the "california of Herzegovina". The Neretva Valley is an area where tribes, nations and their armies have fought for dominance since the beginning of time. The trade routes have gone through Neretva Valley since prehistoric time. Those who controlled the valley and its many robbers and pirates could control the trade for all of present day Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. The whole area is covered in little rivers all providing water for the thousands of tangerine trees, other fruit and vegatables, and increasingly grapes.
Into Mostar, where the devastation from the conflict in 1993 is evident everywhere. The original town is Ottoman, developed in the 15th and 16th century then again by the Austro-Hungarians in the 19th century. In the 1990s, most of the old town and the bridge were destroyed by shelling, and the scars can be seen in the empty buildings and the cemetery in which most of the deaths are 1993. It's so far away from Australia - we saw all of this on our tv screens but it's meaningless because we have no similar experiences. Anyway - the bridge was rebuilt using the same stone and the same methods as the original, and when the stones age will probably look like the Old Bridge - at the moment it's still pretty shiny!
The water in the river Neretva is greener than anything I've seen, apparently caused by a high concentration of limestone and very clear water. Sounds like it could be true - it is a very startling green!
We wandered through the Turkish old town, but after the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul most of the offerings looked over priced and a bit tacky. So off back 'home' to Dubrovnick - tomorrow we are off to Korcula - birthplace of Marco Polo!