11.50 a.m.: Bus started at 11.30 a.m. At about 9 a.m. Nusrat and one more person from Youth Hostels Association of Bosnia came to meet me at hostel Villa. Edin stayed last night in the hostel and has gone to Dentist now. Muhuvic Nusrat is the Secretary-General of the Association. He does not speak but understands English. His friend was translating. Nusrat told me that he met in Prague when I was the President, IYHF. We chatted. Nusrat is a chain smoker but a good personality. Edin came back from the dentist. Nusrat and Edin talked for a while in their language.
Then Nussrat and his friend invited me for a cup of coffee. They called a taxi. Edin and Zoka hugged me and said good bye. It was a pleasant stay for me here. Nussrat and his friend were giving some explanation why Hostel Villa is not in their map. I hope this will be there now. Taxi brought me to a restaurant which was walking distance from the bus stop. Nussrat asked me to eat something. I asked for small chicken salad which was quite large. I had cappuccino afterwards which was not that good. Nussrat wanted a photograph of me as he would give a news item of my visit in Sarajevo. Edin sent him by mail one photo which he’d taken on the ottoman fort. We walked to the bus stand and bought ticket for 20 KM for Mostar. Bus was 15 mts. afterwards. We had some photos together and then the bus came. Nussrat and his friend kept on standing till the bus moved and waved me good bye. It was good that I could do some hostelling business also.
I am on my way to another town Mostar by bus. There was a US girl sitting next to me in the bus. We chatted for some time and then both of us slept, when I got up the scenery was good. There was a water canyon on one side and green hills on the other side. Canyon looked to be quite green. There were houses dotted in the hill side wherever a village came. Bus stopped at several places and local people got in and out. This was the local transport for them. I could not take any picture as the canyon was on the other side and glass on my side was dirty. I will ask Edin to send me some photographs as he showed me. We reached Mostar at 2.30 p.m. Many backpackers, mostly girls got down. There were some people standing with the names of their hostel written on a paper. There was one person who was from Miran hostel where I had phoned yesterday. I asked to follow him. 4-5 girls and me followed him. US girl was also going to Miran hostel which is the most popular hostel with 10 Euro a bed. Hostel is 10 minutes walk and not 2 minutes as advertised. It is a private house in a lane.
Maya, the driver’s (Miran) wife was greeting and taking the passport of all the guests. Miran has gone to take a team of 18 persons at 30 Euro each. This is a whole day trip and he will come back at 5.30 p.m. I got a place in another home which belongs of Miran’s uncle. There were three beds in this room. There was luggage on the beds and I got the 3rd empty bed. After keeping my rucksack I looked around, came out and met Maya, the owner’s wife. She gave me a map of the Mostar city and I gave her my passport and 20 Euro for the night stay. She returned the passport after noting down. Now I walked out. Miran’s brother who brought us from the bus stand told me that Rota restaurant round the corner is very good. I thought of moving out as I was feeling hungry. Restaurant was good and I asked for a small chicken dish with Pita bread which was tasty. For me the small dish is also large and I can’t finish it. Then I decided to walk the old city although it was still hot. Mostar is a small city and its centre can be covered in 20 -25 minutes. As usual there are shops and restaurants. There are two mosques each one of the same importance and may be having old paintings. There is entry fee of 2 Euros each. I did not like entrance fee for mosque and did not go inside. Outside, there are plenty of souvenir shops. I found one Kashmiri shop but there was nothing from Kashmir. I found people in Bosnia and Herzegovina are not devotee or fanatic about religion. Their names may suggest that they are Muslims but I did not see anyone except in some mosque in Sarajevo, people going for Namaaz. There also I counted one man in mosque only, 11 persons mostly from outside (they are identified as having beard. This is told to me by Edin) otherwise also there are no signs of it. When I asked a question about girl’s behavior, he told me that don’t forget that this was communist country for a long time.
I walked and there was an artist in the street painting ‘old bridge’ on the top of a used leather suitcase. I liked the idea and chatted with the artist. He is a school teacher of Islamic studies and also selling Islamic books and literature by the side of his art shop in the open street. I walked up and now no traffic zone. All of the floor is made up of stones. I went to the other mosque for a view of the old bridge. This bridge is the landmark of the Mostar. This is 14th century bridge which was bombarded in the Serbs war and then rebuild with European Union help. Later Alivia(owner of the hostel Mivin) told me that when the bridge was reconstructed and reopened in 2005, there were 20000 people from the city to see and cross it and equal number of visitors. It took them 6 hrs. to cross it (30-40 minutes). There was a huge queue. This long queue is the nationalism of this part. As the bridge came nearer, the souvenir shops became thicker. I stood on the semi circular bridge and asked Savene to take my photo. After sometime I returned back to my place. I met many hostellers who were staying in Mivin. The building where I was given a bed in the 3-bed room belongs to Mivin’s uncle. When his hostel of 3-beds is full, he shifts people to this building (12 beds) across his home. 12 beds including 2 double bed rooms. His main income is from the tour of the day which he organizes of a village destroyed in war and a waterfall and other natural beauties. He charges 30 Euro each and takes 12-13 persons in one group. Their tours are very popular among young persons who get a chance to swim and take bath and enjoy breakfast in the village.
I came back to the room and slept for an hour when Mivin came and woke me up. He knew my name from his wife Maya. He said that he has received a phone call from the local radio that they would like to interview me tomorrow morning if I agree. They have come to know of my travel from some news agency. I know it is Nussrat from Sarajevo who has most probably given this news. I agreed and Mivin phoned the radio office. Then Mivin invited me to come to other side of the hostel for a drink which he offered to all hostellers in the evening.
I thanked him and took shower. Then I went to the main hostel building. It has small open sitting area than Mivin’s uncle house. Mivin brought cold drink, a bottle of table wine and beer bottles. Many young persons of different nationality were already there. After a long, I heard hostellers exchanging their experiences of different countries. Some of them were coming from Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Sarajevo and some of them were going there. I enjoyed their talks and enjoyed giving answers to their questions of my travel. One hilarious experience was that one Danish girl’s rucksack was opened by customs official in Bulgarian and took out a pouch. Every other person sitting in the train and some of them were here in this hostel, thought that this is drug but this girl was sitting cool. It was her washing powder. Everyone laughed when this incident was told. This is the spirit of hostelling and enjoyment of young people irrespective of their nationalities.
Maya told me that I am the first Indian staying in their hostel, since the time they opened it in last five years. I came to my side of stay. Mavin’s uncle family has finished their dinner. They invited me for a chat. His son and daughter-in-law and their two children had come from Oslo, Norway, where they work. At 10.30 p.m. I ate some bread, salad and fruits. It was a day of good experience.
Two other people came late to sleep. There is a pedestal in the room which is good.
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