We had more than the usual level of insurance shenanigans with Bosnia and Herzegovina. Apparently, UK insurers are meant to cover the region, but ours don’t according to the policy documents and most of the border crossings don’t have an insurance office. Cue endless Googling, route planning, and calls to Admiral. At one point I just huffed to Mr G ‘well if we can’t go, we’ll just miss Mostar out, it’s only an effing bridge!’

Fortunately Admiral came up trumps, because it turns out that Mostar is much more than a bridge. The old town is gorgeous, the river is such a glorious shade of turquoise that all my pictures look like l’ve used a filter, and the bridge towers over it looking magnificent. 

The iconic Ottoman bridge and Mostar old town were destroyed during the Balkan conflict and, despite great restoration the city is still scarred by bullet holes. On this journey, we’ve seen plenty of war damage in great cities- but it felt particularly poignant because the wars in the former Yugoslavia are so recent. The Museum of War and Genocide in Mostar was compelling and harrowing. It was run by survivors and showed images, objects and personal experiences of mass murder, concentration camps, ethnic cleansing and neighbour turning on neighbour. All less than thirty years ago.

We ate in the evening sunshine overlooking the bridge, a delicious and enormous traditional Bosnian mixed grill platter. The reviews on Trip-advisor were appalling, but we’ve found the restaurant reviews more and more unreliable. We’re increasingly old-school and just go to places that look OK, without obsessive research. This is VERY unusual for me. 

Quick campsite comment:

We stayed at Camping Neretva on the river just outside Mostar. It was in a beautiful but blustery spot on the river. We walked the 2 miles into Mostar and back, although allegedly taxis are available for around €4. 

The good bits: Clean, comfortable site with great views, clean showers and loos, decent WiFi and what looked like a nice bar and restaurant. €20 a night, all in.

The bad bits: It was so windy we couldn’t put up our pop-top and the chairs blew away! It’s not clear if that was unlucky, or whether the geography creates a wind tunnel effect. The restaurant was closed when we were there.