Mostar and the Old Bridge

Mostar, the largest city of Herzegovina, is one of the most beautiful and poignant places in the Balkans, its old town a UNESCO World Heritage Site built around the graceful Stari Most, the Old Bridge. This single soaring stone arch, first built by the Ottomans in the sixteenth century, spans the emerald-green Neretva River in a perfect leap. Destroyed during the 1990s war and painstakingly rebuilt, it stands again as a symbol of reconciliation, framed by cobbled bazaar streets, minarets and stone houses, and famous for its daring bridge divers.

History

Before the stone bridge, the Neretva gorge was crossed by a wooden bridge hung on chains that, as the Ottoman geographer Katip Çelebi wrote, swayed so much that people crossed in mortal fear. Commissioned by Suleiman the Magnificent and designed by Mimar Hayruddin, a student of the architect Mimar Sinan, the new single-arch bridge was begun in 1557 and completed, according to its inscription, in the Islamic year 974, that is 1566-1567, when it was the widest human-made arch in the world. It collapsed on 9 November 1993; Spanish military engineers put up a temporary bridge in three days, opened on 30 December 1993, and the rebuilt Old Bridge reopened on 23 July 2004 (Wikipedia, Stari Most).

What's there

• The Old Bridge (Stari Most) - the soaring rebuilt Ottoman arch.
• The bridge divers - the daredevils leaping into the Neretva.
• The old bazaar - the cobbled Kujundziluk of coppersmiths and stalls.
• The riverside views - the emerald Neretva and stone old town.

When to go

May to September, for warm, sunny weather, though spring and autumn are quieter; summer sees the traditional bridge divers plunge into the river and the old town at its liveliest, if busiest. The bridge is beautifully lit and atmospheric in the evening once day-trippers leave.

Practical notes

Mostar's compact old town gets very crowded with day-trippers in high summer and is quite touristy right around the bridge, so staying overnight or visiting early or late reveals its quieter magic. The scars and memorials of the 1990s war remain visible and moving throughout the city. The rebuilt bridge and its cobbled Ottoman quarter, though, are genuinely beautiful and deeply symbolic.

Nearby

Blagaj, the Kravice waterfalls and the Herzegovina wine country are close.

Key facts