Mostar’s tragedy is that it was the center of Yugoslav arms manufacturing. So when the viscous civil war broke subsequent to the disintegration of Yugoslavia in 1992, Serb, Croat and Bosnian military forces all descended on Mostar in an attempt to grab the arms factories. Initially, Muslim and Croat Bosnians fought on the same side against the Serbs, but by early 1993, the battle had become a free-for-all with all sides fighting each other. For the next two years, the city was under siege and bombarded relentlessly. 80% of Mostar’s buildings were either badly damaged or completely destroyed including all but one of the city’s 27 Ottoman-era mosques

But the most potent symbol of Mostar’s misery was the destruction of the old bridge across the Neretva River completed in 1566 during the rule of Suleyman the Magnificent. The bridge, considered one of the world’s architectural marvels had survived the Italian occupation during World War II but couldn’t withstand the deliberate targeting and constant bombardment of the Croatian military (the bridge was hit once by the Serbs, “a stray shell”). So this bridge linking two alleyways in Mostar’s old town and designed to allow horses to safely cross was destroyed by the Croatian military they claimed because of its “strategic importance”

With the help of UNESCO and the global community, the bridge and much of Mostar’s old town was faithfully reconstructed by 2004. The same can’t be said for the rest of the city’s buildings, many of which have not been repaired or reconstructed since the war - in fact fewer than half have been repaired. Sadly, we see many shell and shrapnel-scarred buildings - and they are the lucky ones!

We’re staying though in an undamaged building on the edge of the old town - a Bosnian National Monument, the Muslibegovic House, a wealthy Ottoman businessman’s house built in the 17th Century and now a museum which doubles as a small hotel. Much of the (limited) accommodation is in a newer building in the complex, but we get to stay in two of the rooms on the top floor of the original house. We, or rather our wonderful guide and driver from Slovenia, Matej struggle up the two flights of very narrow stairs with our crazy amount of luggage most of which we leave in a lounge-like area adjacent to our room. And this much to the consternation of the inn-keeper (who doubles as the museum’s curator) who tells us that we must clear out before 10am when the first museum tour is booked!

But whatever, we realize we seriously lucked out when we bump into our recent fellow Sea Cloud passengers in the heat and humidity of the late afternoon in the old town, who are on an organized “extension tour” from the ship. While we’re searching for the best place in the old town to enjoy dinner that evening, they look sorry they ever signed up for this....