2geonomads

Monday 12th May 2014

In  line with everything else in this fine B&B the breakfast is of the highest quality and Nermin is full of information on what happened to his family and the city in general during the tragic and brutal war of the 1990’s. He points out the shell of a high school next door to the B&B which had been virtually obliterated at the time and that his current building had been created from similar ruins. It is now a very fine, elegant hotel with evidence throughout of his wife Dzanita’s interior design flair.

While waiting for more contact from Fleet we check out the Old Town and come across a man who turns out to be tourist guide. He had apparently lost his whole family in the war but had a relative in Australia, whom he was planning to visit. He was a Muslim but married to a Catholic and really was at a loss to understand why enmities continued to exist in this part of the world. He was also touting for business but at 20 euros per person for a 2 hour walking tour we felt that this was a bit exorbitant.

Coffee at a small cafe near Stari Most and then have to return to the hotel to await the arrival of Local VW mechanics to check out the car (  I had previously had a lengthy conversation in German with someone at VW warning me of their arrival ).

Checks using a mobile computer appeared to suggest dirty fuel or more likely a fuel injection problem. Leaving M and G in town J and I go off in our car driven by one of the VW guys ( both non-English speakers ) to their main service facility. We are promised that it will take one hour to complete the full check on their main computer so we venture out to enjoy the ‘ scenery ‘ of the Industrial Park. On returning after one hour we find that they haven’t started yet so wait another 20 minutes. We then told that they can find no problem but on the advice of VW have replaced the car’s computer software.

Tomo, the Service Manager, takes us on a test drive , during which the warning light reappears and the car exhibits the same problems. Another phone call to Fleet to tell them that we need a new car at the hotel early the next morning so that we can continue our journey to Sarajevo. Take our car back to hotel and while we are getting temporarily lost in the Mostar traffics J points out to me that the red roses across the street are very nice. They probably were but at that particular moment botany was the last thing on my mind!

Receive a call from Anna, the manager from Fleet Dubrovnik Airport with the news that a replacement car will be delivered by 8.00 am the next day. Buoyed by this news J and I set off on a walking tour, mainly of the east bank of the river and see further evidence of the catastrophic damage caused to its during the futile Balkan War.

Along the way we visit a small cemetery where almost all of the graves commemorate people who died in 1993, the worst year of the war.

To say this is confronting and heartbreaking is an understatement and to see so many young lives lost underlines the futility of these hostilities.

Back to Hindin Han for another fine meal, overlooking Stari Most.

Gail Maureen & John

We will leave Mostar the next day encouraged by the progress, albeit slow, being made to return this beautiful city to its former glory but also deeply saddened to see the wanton damage  and death caused over a relatively short period in the 1990’s.

On that sombre note I’m off to bed

Cheers

The Obese Ferret