Tori’s European Escapade
Summer 2012
August
19/8 – 20/8
Mostar and Sarajevo - Bosnia and Herzegovina
SO APPARENTLY it's Sah-rye-voe, and Hurt-zee-gov-ee-na. If you wanted to know :)
On the way into Bosnia and Herzegovina we stopped at the little town of Mostar. It is a quaint place, but it's extroadinary feature that makes it worth the stop is the Stari Most (Old Bridge) that bridges the Neretva River. It was built by the Ottomans in the 16th century and is considered one of the most exemplary pieces of Islamic architecture in the Balkans. It clears the water at 20m at the apex of the curve, and is a famous spot to plunge into the icy and swift river below - there is even an annual event that sees many action sports stars take the dive.
There is a second platform (7m), further downriver that is used to help train divers, and a few of us jumped of that - I jumped off the rock NEXT to the platform (probably about 2m) - jumping off things has never been something I aspire to. The river was delightful, and really took effort to get across, it was deep, cold and fast. Our driver Marcus and Luke managed to talk themselves into jumping off the top of the bridge after trying the platform, but were told that they were not going anywhere without a few hours of training and the ok from the guys that jumped off for the tourists (if you paid them 20 Euro). We were dubious about their integrity, but the boys backed off anyway.
On the way into Bosnia and Herzegovina we stopped at the little town of Mostar. It is a quaint place, but it's extroadinary feature that makes it worth the stop is the Stari Most (Old Bridge) that bridges the Neretva River. It was built by the Ottomans in the 16th century and is considered one of the most exemplary pieces of Islamic architecture in the Balkans. It clears the water at 20m at the apex of the curve, and is a famous spot to plunge into the icy and swift river below - there is even an annual event that sees many action sports stars take the dive.
There is a second platform (7m), further downriver that is used to help train divers, and a few of us jumped of that - I jumped off the rock NEXT to the platform (probably about 2m) - jumping off things has never been something I aspire to. The river was delightful, and really took effort to get across, it was deep, cold and fast. Our driver Marcus and Luke managed to talk themselves into jumping off the top of the bridge after trying the platform, but were told that they were not going anywhere without a few hours of training and the ok from the guys that jumped off for the tourists (if you paid them 20 Euro). We were dubious about their integrity, but the boys backed off anyway.
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| SUCH a money shot - from the 7m platform down river. |
After the Mostar bridge, we moved on to a much more famous one in Sarajevo - the Latin Bridge was the site of the assassination that triggered World War I. The Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was on a peaceful visit on June 28 1914, when he was killed by a group of Bosnian Serbs. The objective was to fracture the Austro-Hungarian Empire, so that the southern Slavic provinces could combine into a Greater Serbia. As the smaller empire called in it's powerful allies, including Germany, France and Britain were forced to meet them, and it was only one month after the assassination that the Great War officially began.
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| The Latin Bridge |
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| Black cats on graves. Loved the morbidity. |
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