Turns out the off-season was not playing favourites and we actually had to pony up for 4 seats instead of two to get our Bosnia day trip off the ground - Yay! And we don't say that often when needing to pay double - but it was actually a bargain - 1400 kunas for 4 seat 'group tour' just for the two of us - vs. 2200+ kunas for an actual private tour. We headed off bright and early (that's code for painfully early and not yet properly light - 7.30 am in fact). Our first main stop was an out of the way Roman villa as we'd had to detour due to a closed border crossing into Bosnia. The Roman villa dated from the early 4th C. and only lasted 100 odd years until the Visigoths rampaged through. It was actually near our guide's home town - he played in the grounds of the villa as a kid. Not a huge amount to see but an interesting olive and grape press. Next stop? Počitelj - a town from the 15th to 18th C that reflects both medieval and Ottoman influences. It is beautifully tucked into a natural karst stone amphitheatre on the banks of the river Neretva. It is watched over by a fort on the clifftop - an easy walk on a dry day (that was not today). The town has died over the years and now sadly has only 40 or so elderly residents. Apparently it perks up a bit and flogs icecreams in summer as it's on the main road and only 30 kms from Mostar. Both quaint little stops in their own way - but no urge to do much trekking about in heavy rain. We continued on to Mostar, the focus of today's trip to Bosnia & Herzegovina. The name of this town actually comes from the Mostar - the guards on the Stari Most (Old Bridge) which spans the Neretva river.

The Old Bridge was built in stone by the Ottoman Empire in 1566 (replacing a wooden bridge). Ordered by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent (and modest) it's 20 metres high and was considered a wonder in its own time - even now it features on lists of Best Bridges in the World and is part of the Red Bull cliff diving competitions - though they add a platform to bring it to an even scarier 28 metres. There is still a tradition of local young men jumping from the bridge to prove (or lose) their manhood when they turn 18 - and there are still fatalities, including tourists who pay €35 for a certificate and the chance to jump. As always - it's not the fall that kills but rather the river below - now 8m deep but in summer as shallow at 4.5 m - with a rocky bottom and vicious currents that form whirl pools, dragging people into caves below the surface and drowning them. It was considered to be the best example of Islamic architecture in the Balkans and stood for 472 years. It is now (sometimes) referred to as the New Old Bridge as it was bombed to smithereens during the war in 1991-93 (coincidentally by the Croatian general who committed suicide by poison in the Hague just a couple of weeks ago - revered by some Croatians and reviled by the people of Bosnia). The bridge was reconstructed in 2004 with €11 million contributed by Italy, Netherlands, Turkey, Croatia, The Council of European Development Fund and The World Bank. The old town of Mostar became a Unesco World Heritage site in 2005 - as our local guide said, "Better late than never". He wondered if it might have been so badly bombed if it had had recognition prior to the war... but it didn't save Dubrovnik from the Serbians and Montenegrins.

We always enjoy having a local guide when we do a day trip - our driver and 'guide' Gabriel came from a great local tour office, but Tarik in Mostar had some thought provoking opinions. For instance, 'Karma brought about the war' (most recently in 1993 - but basically every 50 years in order to clear the bad blood) - because the mountains surrounding Mostar are rich in natural resources such as copper and aluminium and the area has always produced weapons. We found his brief history of Islam in the area fascinating - when the Ottomans came to power and butted heads with Rome, the locals eventually converted to Islam - but no head scarves (women didn't like they idea in the heat), alcohol was OK (they were Slavic after all... just do it on the quiet) and they didn't want to have up to 4 wives - they thought one was probably enough. The currency these days is the Convertible Mark (though they take Euro, Kunas, everything). We figured Mostar was the land of the Convertible Mark and Negotiable Islam - certainly fascinated us.

Before we started travelling we didn't know how much we didn't know. The more we see and the further we go, the clearer it becomes how much we still don't know. The war in this region from 1991-93 is incomprehensible (still), even after a few days of meeting folks from some of the warring parties - like looking at geopolitical/geographical affairs through a kaleidoscope - ever changing and shifting with a different view depending where you stand. We figured to just enjoy Old Town Mostar without fretting too much (though in the grey and rain of the day... with shrapnel and bullet scars still apparent, quite hard). Our first scenic stopping point was the Crooked Bridge (AKA the Small Bridge). It was basically a practice run for the semi-circular Old Bridge and still sits intact on the Catholic side of the River Neretva. We saw that roof tiles in the old town were very different to say the red/orange terracotta of Dubrovnik's Old Town. In Mostar they are made of limestone - they are much heavier and resistant to the wind that can power through the valley and also lighter in colour - designed to reflect heat. We didn't know that Mostar is actually the hottest place in Europe - with temps of up to 52 degrees in the sun in the height of summer.

One of the many interesting things about Mostar is its proliferation of mosques. When Islam came to stay it was said that if you built a home for God on earth (a mosque) then you were building yourself a home in heaven. They had a lot of mosques. Less now, but still they are making use of several in novel ways. The mosque in what was the Tanneries area is now a communications tower. The Tanners were essentially stinky - all that fresh ammonia - so they had their own mosque and own bath house (hammam) right next to the tanneries. From that square we could see the Catholic church tower (huge... massive... the leaning tower of Mostar as it's lifting away from the ground rather alarmingly), the largest Orthodox church in Bosnia (on a hill) and also a mosque - they were a relatively tolerant place in the far distant past. Relatively.

We are not in the habit of asking for (or for that matter following) a guide's lunch recommendations - too often they presume that we either a) want to pay through the nose or b) think they've earned a kick-back from the restaurant. In this case he directed us to a spot called the Urban Grill in Mostar which does, without doubt, have the best view of the old bridge. It's rather telling how bad Mostar is still doing, especially on a wet winter's day, but the food actually is all the same and does cost the same at every single restaurant. We checked the view at the Urban Grill then enjoyed a stunning chargrilled vegetarian platter, cevapis (little meat sausages) and some local beer and wine, all on our ownsome, on their outdoor terrace with the best view in Mostar.

After a teensy bit of shopping in the bazaar street - a badge for our bags and a couple of little Turkish bags, we hoofed it to the car - only to stop briefly for a Bosnian coffee and baklava. It's just like Turkish coffee... except in Bosnia. The Bosnian delight that came with the coffee was particularly sweet & cheerful. We hurtled back to the car only 10 minutes late (heaven knows why - it was our car after-all) then we headed to Kravica Waterfalls - about 40 km away. Small (though certainly not the smallest - 20 m high) and perfectly formed. During the summer months everyone on the tour will pile out and go swimming in the lake under the falls. Not so much of an option today - but thankfully our little camera is waterproof - so after a couple of photos it was time to point the car towards Dubrovnik. Due to it just being the two of us we were back in our apartment by about 5.30 pm (vs. 7 pm + if it had been a group tour). Tomorrow? Off to Rome, the Eternal City and a great housesit that sees us to the beginning of March 2018.