Taking a quick 3 1/2 hour bus from Sarajevo to Mostar, I arrived in the city of Mostar in the early afternoon. I checked into Taso’s Guesthouse and spent the afternoon exploring the town. Mostar is a picturesque town that is easy to find your way around.

There is a beautiful old bridge in town, Stari Most, which locals jump off of every day, and the bold tourist may even do so for a small fee. Red Bull holds a competition there every year.

I did a walking tour my first evening there, but I would not recommend it. I don’t think the guy was even from Mostar…or Bosnia…either way, the tour wasn’t that great, but you still get a feel for the city. You can still see remnants from the war.

On my second day in Mostar I took a day trip with the hostel. We started out by having breakfast in a picturesque place, and for breakfast we had…Burek. For breakfast. If you’ve never experienced burek before, you’re missing out. It is delicious, flakey bread filled with one of the following: meat, cheese, potato, or pumpkin.

Our breakfast view:

My clothes hate me but my stomach loves me for the massive amounts of burek I have consumed on this trip.
Our next stop was the medieval city of Pocitelj. It was built around 1383. One of the crazy parts about the Balkans is you can climb all over historical monuments, hang upside, whatever. Go crazy. And no one is anywhere around to stop you. It is wild when you think about how it is in Western Europe.

Our next stop on the tour- the Kravica Waterfalls. The water was clear, the falls were beautiful, AND YOU CAN SWIM THERE. It was surreal. The water is slightly chilly (okay freezing) but you get used to it after awhile and it is so refreshing.

Our last stop on the tour was at Tito’s secret airbase carved into a mountain in order to hide it from the Russians. Today it is completely deserted and you wouldn’t know it was there unless you are a local. We were able to drive through the cavernous structure. You can see the steel doors that would have sealed it from the outside world, and even standing on the edge of it and saying something creates a giant echo.

If your find yourself in Mostar, stay at Taso’s Guesthouse. The owner, Taso, is great and his hostel has a very relaxed atmosphere.

One last note, if you still aren’t sold on Mostar, they bring you ketchup with your pizza…

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