Mostar is a city of bridges

I didn't know much about Bosnia and Herzegovina at the time of our trip, but I hadn't even heard of the city of Mostar, to be honest.

We decided to stop in Mostar on the way to Sarajevo.

This bridge is a copy of the previous one.

In 1993, during the Croatian-Bosnian War, units of Bosnian Croats shelled the bridge. As a result of two days of shelling, the bridge took more than 60 hits and collapsed.

The bridge was restored using Ottoman technology. Blocks from local quarries served as the material. Collapsed blocks raised from the day were also used. In 2004, the new bridge was inaugurated.

Since 1968, the competitions have become official. They are held annually on the last Sunday of July or the first Sunday of August. The competition is attended by local athletes as well as guests from other countries: Serbia, Montenegro, Slovenia

Looking at the bottom of the river from the height of the bridge, the instinct of self-preservation flashes red quite actively. The tradition of jumping into the river from this bridge gently hints at the level of extremity of the participants.

On each side of the building there are twelve concrete panels covered with petroglyphs: people, animals, birds and other symbols.

"The building was built on a site that has a slope towards the river. Architect Ante Pelaga solved the problem of visual alignment by lifting the main block on pillars. At the same time, the first floor was completely glazed, which gave the impression that the building's array was suspended in the air. The construction was completed in 1970, and very quickly the new department store became one of the symbols of the city." Source: big-ru.com

Unfortunately, the building was significantly damaged during the war, but the decorative elements – plates with petroglyphs – remained almost intact, especially from Tito Street, where only a corner of one of the plates was damaged.

In addition to the ethnic, architectural and religious differences in Mostar, we were accompanied by a cloud of emotional tension, sometimes so concentrated that we did not want to leave the boundaries of the car.

There was also widespread and universal cigarette smoking everywhere, in cafes, shopping malls, and on the streets. Tobacco smoke permeates the entire space. We've just forgotten how it is. After all, it used to be possible to smoke almost everywhere in our country. There is something socially sound about banning widespread smoking.

The attitude of the Bosnians towards us, tourists, was strikingly different from the relaxed Montenegrin and Serbian communication. Under the influence of numerous ethnic conflicts and as a result of countless clashes on the basis of national discord, a specific attitude towards foreigners has apparently been formed.

In one of the cafes where we went for a snack, but later we limited ourselves to coffee - they began to ask us who we were, from where and where. Having found out this, the owner of the establishment became active: "The Russians have come to us! Look at them!" The people began to slowly pull themselves up, the locals ran away from neighboring establishments. These feelings were new to us, because there was no such thing anywhere else in the Balkans. What were the reasons for such extreme attention is still a mystery.

A similar precedent happened a little later, when we decided to skimp on dinner at a store near the apartment. At the checkout, at the time of payment, a hubbub arose: "The Russians are here!", we were somehow asked to pull everything out of the bags. Not to say that we are timid, but we left the packages without making purchases and left the store.

Forced Googling has revealed that our compatriots should not expect the same friendly attitude from Bosnians as from Serbs. However, it was not possible to find out the objective reasons.

In this regard, my stay in Mostar became somewhat emotionally stressful and I wanted to get out of here as soon as possible. And never come back.

Instead of concluding about visiting this place and the country as a whole, our entire team got the impression that yes, you need to visit such places at least once in order to once and for all feel and see with your own eyes the long-term consequences of any global human dramatic events.

Without exaggeration and metaphors. The scars on the faces of nations as a result of military actions remain forever…