Mostar and surroundings

This day turned out to be yet again a productive one. In the morning I was riding through some mountainous area, where the trees had returned - here it was more like in Austria, as versus somewhere in the Bible Belt over the ocean.

Around noon, I reached the town of Mostar, where a medieval bridge spanning the Neretva River was destroyed in the Balkan war - but then rebuilt - notably by the Hungarian forces stationed there. I would revisit this place in 2022, on my third Balkan bike tour. I do like the Balkans - as you can see, there is quite a variety of sights to see - and Mostar is definitely a highlight.

I took a nice long swim in the river, while it was chilly, it was really refreshing. Outside Mostar, there is a town called Blagaj, the source of the River Buna, which flows out of a huge cave, at the bottom of a 200m cliff wall, with crystal clear waters. You can find a Muslim sanctuary there and a number of restaurants right on the river. I had great dinner there.

On the road, there was not much car traffic , but for that quite a lot of turtle traffic. They are zig-zagging on the road with about 20 km per month. One was just resting in the middle of the road, with feet and arms (?) tucked in, so I picked it up to put it to a safe place. As a thank-you, it peed on me. Has a turtle ever peed on you?

Right next to the road, I spotted more graves for those fallen in the 1992 Balkan war...the memory of which will not be forgotten.

The ride was definitely a pretty one, I enjoyed the scenery.

It was close to 9 pm that I got to a UNESCO World Heritage highlight - the Radimlja stećak necropolis. These are monumental medieval tombstones which lie scattered across Bosnia and Herzegovina, there are an estimated 60,000 of these, most of bad condition - here there were "just" 133, in very good condition. Amazing!

Late in the evening, I got to Stolac, where I met two traffic cops doing their patrol, who informed me the next accommodation would be 25 km away. Thank God for Darko, he was enjoying the evening watching a soccer game outside a cafe and he pulled some strings and found a flat for rent right in the center. We had a good time chatting about life - and death, too - him telling me about the perils of the Balkan war. There was a sort of cultural event going on, with presumably Muslim ladies singing folkssongs.

I covered some 140 kilometers that day, not too bad.