Mostar is a town and municipality (district) in the southern part
of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the seat of the canton of
Herzegovina-Neretva, the largest settlement in Herzegovina, the
cultural and political center of Bosnian Croats. The city got its
name from one of the bridges across the river Neretva, the so-called
“Old Bridge” (in Serbian Croatian Stari most; stari = old;
most = bridge,). The small town with its medieval Ottoman complex is
one of the main tourist attractions in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The
Old Bridge is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The bridge, which
was demolished during the Civil War and then rebuilt (with the help
of the Hungarian Armed Forces), was inaugurated on July 23, 2004 and
has since been seen again in its old form. During the South Slavic
War, Mostar was the de jure capital of the Croatian Duchy of Bosnia,
proclaimed by the Croatian minority but never officially recognized.
The city is still ethnically divided. Bosnians and Croats also
have separate universities and football teams. The most popular
sport in the city is football and sports history curiosity, that the
first Bosnian ball was received in 1903 from Budapest. Mostar, which
is frequented by tourists, is very hot in summer, as it is the
highest temperature city in Bosnia and Herzegovina: up to 45 ° C on
hot days.
Mosques & churches
The city's attractions include very
beautiful mosques and churches. These include the Koski
Mehmed-Pasha's mosque on the banks of the Neretva (from the minaret
a perfect view of the old bridge) and the Karadoz-Bey mosque.
Admission is 4 KM per mosque (as of July 2014).
Castles,
chateaux and palaces
There are various Islamic residential
buildings that can be visited. It is a matter of
Biscevic's
house
Kajtaz house
Muslibegovic's house
Buildings
In
Mostar, one of the main attractions is the Stari Most (Old Bridge)
over the emerald river Neretva. The arch bridge was built by the
Turkish builder Hajrudin in 1566. It was destroyed in 1993 and
reopened on July 23, 2004 after five years of reconstruction. Since
July 2005 it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site. There is a small
river that flows into the Neretva; his name is Radobolja. If you
know the way there, you will find the same bridge, but only smaller;
it is called Kriva Cuprija (English "Aslant bridge"). The bridge was
also reconstructed by UNESCO after it collapsed due to war damage
after a flood in winter. Near the Old Bridge, further up on the
slope of the left bank of the river, is a clock tower ("Sahat
kula"). It can only be viewed from the outside.
Monuments
Partizansko groblje. The partisan cemetery.
Museums
Museum
or cultural center, at the well-known Rondo (roundabout).
Museum
of Herzegovina, on the clock tower.
In the tower on the right
bank of the old bridge there is an exhibition with war photos.
Museum of the Old Bridge, in the tower on the left bank of the Old
Bridge.
Streets and squares
There are many restaurants in
Cernica, the center of town. There is a large white park on top of
the Musala.
Parks
Every stroll along the rivers resembles
dreamy parks, especially on the outskirts, where the Neretva is
still quiet.
Various
On Mount Fortica it says "BiH volimo
te" ("BiH (Bosnia and Herzegovina) we love you"). It used to be
written there, "Tito volimo te". It can be clearly seen and it was
written from stones.
By plane
The city of Mostar has an international but not very
busy airport (IATA code: OMO), which is a good 7 km south of the
city center. This is only served seasonally by charter flights,
although (as of May 2017) there are no direct flights from
German-speaking countries. The most important airlines represented
here are Croatia Airlines and the Italian Mistral Air.
Alternatively, you can use the larger Sarajevo Airport, which is
approx. 125 kilometers by road from Mostar. From there you can take
a taxi to the Sarajevo bus station (around € 10 with the city taxi).
You should inform the taxi driver before departure that you want to
continue to Mostar, as there are several bus stations in Sarajevo.
Beware of private taxis. They are mostly painted in one color, with
or without a taxi sign. These private ones are usually also in front
of the airport at the normal taxi rank and are usually twice as
expensive.
There is also the possibility of arriving via
Split Airport, which is 170 km away. There are several daily bus
connections from Split to Mostar. Before doing this, you have to
take a bus or taxi from the airport to the bus station in the city
center. Dubrovnik Airport is a little closer to Mostar (155 km), but
the bus connection is less convenient and the journey takes longer.
By train
Mostar is located on the scenic railway line between
Sarajevo and Ploče on the Croatian Adriatic. The drive from Sarajevo
normally takes around three hours. Passenger traffic from Croatia is
suspended until further notice (as of 2019).
By bus
From
Germany there are buses from Berlin, Hamburg, Hanover, Hildesheim,
Göttingen, Kassel, Würzburg, Munich, Ulm, Stuttgart, Nuremberg,
Ingolstadt, Karlsruhe, Pforzheim, Mannheim, Offenburg, Frankfurt am
Main, Freiburg, Düsseldorf, Cologne, Bonn, Dortmund, Bochum, Essen
and Duisburg. The long-distance bus station is in close proximity to
Mostar station.
From here there are several daily bus
connections to Sarajevo and other cities in Bosnia-Herzegovina and
neighboring countries. It consists i.a. also a daily connection at
7:00 am to Kotor (in Montenegro). The journey time is 6 hours, leads
via Dubrovnik and costs 67.50 KM (as of July 2014).
There are
also inner-city bus routes. A ride in the city center costs 1.50 KM.
In the street
Mostar can be reached relatively easily by car.
However, the city is surrounded by a mountain range, which can make
the journey difficult depending on the direction. The main roads are
in good condition. The fastest way to get there from German-speaking
countries is via the Croatian A1 motorway via Split; at Metković you
cross the border and reach Mostar after 70 km via the M-17 from the
south. The journey via Slavonia and Banja Luka – Jajce – Jablanica
is significantly shorter in kilometers and the landscape is much
more interesting (especially from Eastern Austria via Western
Hungary), but it is slower to drive.