Aug 4 - Not much this morning, mostly writing, then we dodge traffic down to the market district to eat lunch and change some money. Take taxi to train station and wait around for the 16:50 train to Mostar.
I chose the train, even though it leaves a lot later in the afternoon than I wanted, because it uses new, modern carriages, and winds through dramatic mountainous terrain. It served well on both counts. The route goes through dozens of tunnels, and winds up and down major mountain ranges, with very few towns visible.
About an hour in, the vegetation and geomorphology shifts dramatically from the older, folded sedimentary units to the classic Dinaric Alps limestones we saw all along the Croatian coast. The forests suddenly lose all the larger pines and other conifers, changing to stunted oaks interspersed with limestone boulders.
Arrive in Mostar about 19:00, a fair bit later than the scheduled arrival. The station is old and dilapidated, with a bus station attached at its southern end. Sun is already going down but the air is hot and our apartment is up a hill. Get a taxi for 10 KM. The apartment has a great view across the valley. Now that I’ve seen the steep valley Mostar sits in, I understand why this place is infamous for hot weather. The heat just gets trapped down here. Get a simple dinner at a nearby restaurant and stock up with food at ‘megamarkt’, Mostar’s answer to ‘Konzum’.
An interesting point that I did not think about before. Why is the country composed of two names with ‘and’ between them? Turns out the Kingdom of Bosnia, where we have been while in Bugojno and Sarajevo, is a rugged, mountainous area with thick forests. The area known as Herzegovina, in the southern part of the country, is roughly equivalent to a dry, limestone-dominated (and also mountainous) land. While Bosnia usually has cold, snowy winters, Herzegovina does not.
Bosnia and Herzegovina