Balkans Day 7

Our last day in Bosnia! We got to sleep in a bit, having breakfast at 9 ahead of our departure from Mostar at 11. 

As we drove up into the mountains, the rain turned to sleet and then snow. We stopped for lunch in Jablanica at a lakeside lamb restaurant. 

Another hour or so took us to Sarajevo where we got off for a previously arranged old city tour.  But due to the driving snow, we cut it short. 

We spent the rest of the afternoon at our hotel, the Hotel Holiday (former Holiday Inn) which was just about the only building spared in the war as it was a refuge for diplomats. 

We had a nice hotel buffet for dinner and got to bed early - we have to be up at 4 to make our 6am flight. Hvala Bosnia!

Balkans Day 6

Our final day in Mostar! Our morning was the second half of our service work. We went to a grocery store to buy staples for 30 families (5kg flour, 1L oil, 4L milk, Nutella, cookies). 

We took them to Zajedno Za Nas Grad (Together For Our City) to prepare bags for the families. 

With some time before they would be there for pickup, we went on a walk and visited one of the parks in the city that became a cemetery during the war. 

Back at pickup, we were really touched by the gratitude of the families that came to pick up the groceries. 

After a lunch of Bosnian pies back at the hotel, we went shopping in the rain in old town one last time. 

After some time for packing, we went back to the private home we ate at earlier this week for our last dinner in Mostar. 

After dinner we all shared some reflections on our experiences here and exchanged gifts with our program leaders. 

Tomorrow we head off to Sarajevo after breakfast. 

Balkans Day 5

Today was our first service day which we got to spend with a group of young Bosnians. We met them at the office of a local charity - Together For Our City - Zajedno Za Naš Grad. 

From there we walked to the old town to Cafe de Alma for a coffee workshop led by the owner, Jaso. We got a tutorial in the experience that is Bosnian Coffee. 

It is all about taking time and following steps that generations of Bosnians have perfected. The kids got to make and serve and enjoy the coffee together.  

Jaso had some great stories, such as the one about his coffee roaster that survived the war by being smuggled to four locations to keep it safe, though it has shrapnel dents in it. 

We had some time before lunch so the kids split into groups and had an hour for their Mostari friends to show them around old town. 
We got an unexpected show as one of the local divers climbed up on the bridge railing and, after dramatic buildup and collecting donations, dove from the 100 foot bridge into the cold river - this doesn’t happen much in February. 

We had a lovely lunch together and restaurant Urban - a buffet of local cuisine served on long wooden platters. 

For the afternoon, our group got to go shopping with their Mostari friends at the local mall. These were kids who don’t have a lot, and the program gave them money to spend on clothes or other needs and our kids enjoyed shopping together. It was a typical teenage adventure, though not for these kids, and not for ours being in a different culture. And yet it is a culture that we feel more in tune with as each day passes. 

After saying goodbye and getting some time to relax, we ate in for dinner and then did some reflecting on the day. Tomorrow we will do more service with Together For Our City, preparing and delivering grocery staples for families in need.

Balkans Day 4

Today was another early start with a 7am breakfast and 8am departure. The drive to Croatia, including a supermarket stop and a slow border crossing, took over three hours. 

We arrived in Dubrovnik in time for a short walk around the ancient walled city before heading to our lunch of pizza and salad at Oliva Pizzeria. 

After lunch we met up with our guide Nikola for our city tour. He started by taking us around the city showing us where various scenes from the Game of Thrones were filmed. 

Next we circumnavigated the old city on top of the city walls - 1.2 miles total and 1000 steps. 

The walls have held up for centuries, surviving earthquakes and bombardments as recently as 1991 during the Balkan War. 

We had some free time to explore and shop in the city - the gelato shop was a big hit. 

We then enjoyed an authentic Italian dinner at Lucin Kantun featuring five separate dishes including a cuttlefish risotto for the adventurous eaters. 

We got home around 10 ready for sleep. Tomorrow we start our service work with a group of local youth. Can’t wait!

Balkans Day 3

Today was our hiking day. We left at 8am for Blagaj - the ancient capital of the region in the centuries before Mostar was founded. It was a pretty strenuous hike up to the castle where the king lived around the year 1000. 

After returning to the village we walked to the head of the valley where the Blagaj Pekke (Dervish House), a Sufi Islam monestery, was built in the early 1400’s at the source of the Buna river, the largest spring in Europe - a raging river that emerges from a massive cliff. 

Next we visited Pocitelj, an Ottoman town on the side of a hill that has been restored since the war. We climbed up to the castle overlooking the town then had lunch at the Stari Grad. 

We then drove to Kravice to see the spectacular waterfalls there. 

After returning to Mostar we got a tour of the Catholic Church across the street from our hotel from one of the Franciscan monks that lives there. 

We had a special treat for dinner as we took the bus to the house of a friend of our leaders where they hosted us for a Bosnian banquet. As Dino says, the best Bosnian food is served in Bosnian homes - what a treat!

Tomorrow we are off to Dubrovnik. 

Balkans Day 2

We had picture perfect weather for our first full day in Mostar. We had a wonderful breakfast buffet in our hotel before heading on our walking tour. 

Our tour guide Dino told us the story of the building of the old bridge in the 1500s, and how the architect first built a small single arch over the tributary in town before taking on the larger bridge. 

The sultan gave him five years to complete it. It took him nine and he disappeared after it was done. 

We then visited the museum and learned about Mostar in the Ottoman period, the Austro-Hungarians, Yugoslavia and Tito, and about the 1990’s civil war that destroyed the town and how it has slowly recovered. 

After a rest at the hotel, we went to Hindin Han for lunch - delicious Bosnian fare. 

After lunch we climbed the hill to the Orthodox Church which had been dynamited during the war and is being rebuilt - the exterior is complete but the interior is not. 

We also visited the old chapel next to the church which survived. 

We the visited the old town mosque which was damaged in the war and has been repaired. 

The group spent the next hour shopping in the old town markets before heading back to the hotel to debrief the day, est dinner, and get to bed early. Busy day tomorrow touring the area around Blagaj south of Mostar.