A Visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina

 

Stolac, the oldest town in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Saturday, July 2 - Trip Day 3

Our day started out well, considering it can be difficult on the first morning after arrival because of jet lag.  We were both up at 8 AM and down for breakfast by 8:30.  The breakfast is served near a large outdoor patio with fantastic morning views of old town Dubrovnik.

At 9 AM we met our guide and driver, Boris, from Dubrovnik Top Tours.  He has a nice large Mercedes SUV with air conditioning - for which we were very grateful on such a hot day.  he was charming and genial and full of stories.  He's originally from Zagreb, trained as a civil engineer.  But now he's married and lives in Dubrovnik with his wife and two young sons, ages 8 and 6.  He works in the tourist industry, along with his in-laws.

It was fun to listen to his pride in being from Croatia.  Clearly, their second place in the World Cup Soccer Games last year is a huge deal.  But did we know that suspension bridges were invented by a Croat?  Did we know Nicola Tessla and Jon Malkovich are Croatian?  That the science behind fingerprint identification, mechanical pencils, MP3 players, smart phone parking payment, the parachute and the zeppelin were all invented by Croatians?

Along the drive to the town of Mostar, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, he also told us about that country as well.  But it is good to remember that everyone has a perspective.   I appreciated that as a guide, he was clear when he was providing information and when he was providing opinions.  We thoroughly enjoyed our day with him.

Croatia's new Peljesac bridge, connecting its peninsula with the mainland

The Peljesac bridge will open at the end of July

If you look on a map, you will see that Bosnia and Herzegovina touches the Adriatic Sea along a 12 mile stretch at the town of Neum, near where the Neretva River enters the Sea.  This stretch of land splits Croatia about 30 miles north of Dubrovnik.  It necessitates two border crossings if you are driving the length of Croatia from northern areas to its southern tip.

Consequently, Croatia is building a bridge to connect its Peljesac peninsula with the mainland to divert from having to cross Bosnia/HZGs borders.  The project began in 2018, constructed by the China Road and Bridge Corporation, and is ready to open at the end of this month.

Our border crossing into Bosnia/HZG was a non event - they looked at our passports, handed to them from the window of Boris' car, and handed them back.  No stamps, but that's OK.  My 51st country.  

Pasture land, olive and fig tress, and the Dinaric Alps on the horizon

The road from Neum heading to Mostar is new - opened just last week. The countryside we crossed is rugged, made mostly of karst and limestone. There are great vistas of mountains - the Dinaric Alps - that could be seen as we drove up and over easterly into Herzegovina.  The limestone Karst area contains caves and potholes and underground drainage, and is very arid.  However, between ridges, depressions known as poljes are covered with alluvial soil that is good for agriculture.

Stone fruits, especially plums, grow well here

If you're from North Carolina you know this crop: Tobacco!

Agriculture is still an important part of the economy, although less so than in the past.  About a third of the land is cultivated.  We passed olive and fig and pomegranate trees, vineyards, and many vegetable plots, including melons, corn and tobacco.  We passed many vendors selling fresh produce on the side of the road.

One of the many roadside vegetable stands we passed on our way to Mostar

Tractor with Soviet - era combine

The town of Stolac - oldest in Bosnia/HZG, with caves inhabited since 14,000 BC!

The Bregava River in Stolac

As we drove further into the interior of Herzegovina, we learned more about the complicated history of this region.  We knew from our history classes that the area was troubled by ethnic strife.  Gavrilo Princip, was a Bosnian Serb, who in 1914 murdered the Austrian Archduke Ferdinand and his wife Sophie in Sarajevo, which marked the beginning of World War I.  Bosnia and Herzegovina were ruled by many - the Ottomans, the Austria-Hungarians, and under Tito's Yugoslavia.  

There are three main ethnic groups in the country -  Bosniak Muslims,  Serbs, and Croatians.  Terrible exterminations and conflicts occurred between these groups during WWII.  These were repeated during the Bosnian and Balkan wars between 1992-95.  The Dayton Accords, signed in 1995, brought the conflicts to a settlement.  Now Bosnia/HZG has a tri-partite presidency, which rotates among the three ethnic groups every 8 months.  The rest of the governing details are even more complicated, and conflict has emerged between the groups again in the last decade.

Bosnia/HZG is emerging slowly economically.  Evidence of the Bosnian War remain prominent in each town - bullet ridden buildings, shells of infrastructure left from bombed out structures.  And it is not advisable to go walking in the countryside, as land mines remain scattered and active.

Evidence of last decade's Bosnian War