Nature & Culture
I deliberately took only one photo of the city of Mostar.
If you're searching for this city up on the internet, you'll be totally bombarded with photos of the old town bridge, reconstructed stores and houses, etc.
When I take a picture, I want to take a picture that no one else has. A photo that is unique and special with its own story.
I only took one, to give you a small interpretation about the old town bridge.
This page will be a lot longer than you might be used to, because I had a lot to discover in Bosnia & Herzegovina.
In the terms of text, I will (try to) keep it a little bit short. It's mainly the pictures that I want to show you.
On this page you will also find some extra information about the politics of this country.
I'm writing about it on purpose, because I am convinced that politics can make a big difference in the culture of a country.
Stari Most - Old town bridge Mostar:
Before the year 1993, Mostar had only one bridge.
So it was a strategic set by the Serbs to destroy the bridge.
After destroying the bridge, people at that time did not have the possibility to get to the other side of the city. Especially in times of war, this is a major setback.
The war in Mostar lasted from 1992 to 1995.
During this war, Serbia tried to take the city to gain land and for political reasons.
Because of America's influence in this war, Bosnia had a negative turn when it came to politics. On the buttom of this page, I will tell you more about the politics.
From now on, Mostar has a total of 6 bridges.
Starting in the year 2004, these were built to expand the accessibility of the city.
What makes the Stari Most so special is that it still has the old construction as how it used to be. In addition, the bridge has a rich history from 1566, which makes it unique compared to other bridges.
Daorson:
About 300 to 50 years BC, the Illyrian tribe built their capital in the city of Daorson, which is now called Stolac.
This city is located in a valley on the Neratva River.
Previously, the city of Daorson was mainly visited for trade, administrative and religious purposes.
Because a lot of trade with Greece took place in this city, the Greek language was very dominant. Both in speaking and writing.
Trade consisted mainly of, amphora, fine pottery, bronze defense material, granite sculpture and Illyrian art.
Now, circa 3.500 years later, the surviving remains of the wall still show that the city of Daorson was a major power in this surrounding.
The remains of Daorson also shows us the end and beginning of a new era in this area.
Perućica rainforest (the lungs of Europe):
What many of you may not know, is that this rainforest is the last one in Europe.
Before I left to Albania, I tried to go into the rainforest to take a few pictures.
Unfortunately, because of the snow on the road, it was not possible to drive through it and get to the top.
The fog you see are the clouds I drove through. The clouds were created by the snow that's evaporating.
Extra photos on the road:
As I promised I will try to shorten my writing a little bit.
The politics:
The clown: Try to imagine; walking down the street late at 1:00 a.m. and suddenly being chased by a clown, without saying anything.
Hopefully you understand that I was briefly surprised, so I stopped to strike up a conversation.
The conversation went as follows:
Me: "Good evening, how are you?"
Clown: "Not so good, I feel a little depressed."
Me: "Why?"
Clown: "I feel depressed because of the politics in the country, things are not going well."
Me: "Hhhmm...okay, is this the reason you are dressed like this?"
Clown: "Yes that's right, I know many people are thinking the same thing and I'm trying to cheer people up and make other people aware of what is happening in this country."
Her story inspired me to delve into the country's politics.
Below, I will briefly talk more about the politics of Bosnia & Herzegovina.
The politics: I always find it a difficult subject to write about.
In Bosnia & Herzegovina, you have three different regions, with five different presidents in one country.
During my stay in this country, I talked a lot with locals and asked each individual the same question, "What about politics in this country?"
From everyone I got the same answer: "Bad!"
If you get this answer from one person you can still have your quistionmars about it
But if I get the same answer from everyone, there must be something to figure out.
I looked into it a bit more to get more clarity of what was going on.
During my search I found out that it's quite difficult to describe it all clearly within a few words.
To make it easy for you as well as myself, I found a video that briefly shows how the political system works.