Mostar: Waterfalls and Cliff Diving!

From Sarajevo, we traveled south through Bosnia and Herzegovina to the much smaller city of Mostar. Mostar is home to Stari Most, which is easily its most famous attraction. This bridge was actually bombed and destroyed during the Bosnian war in 1993 but was rebuilt exactly the same afterwards. 

It's traditional for Bosnians to jump off Stari Most as a sort of coming of age tradition, the bridge is 23m high (in other words HIGH) and there is a very good chance of injury or death. We ran into an Aussie guy who had jumped off the bridge who told us because of this risks you have to do a lot of preparation and practice your jumping style before the locals will allow you to jump off a bridge of this height.

We arrived late in the afternoon but had some time to wander around the old town of Mostar and of course grab some food. The old town is a really cool cobblestone area with plenty of little touristy shops and lots of locals selling their goods. 

We stopped by a restaurant that the hostel had recommended that we go to and we were definitely not disappointed! The waitress was super efficient and super lovely and the food was amazing! On the right is Michael's HUGE meat platter (which cost approx £3.50) and my chevapi (which was even less - WOW), this is a traditional Bosnian food which is similar to a rissole - they LOOOOVE their meat in this country!

Lastly, we managed to find some good views of Stari Most from some viewpoints which appeared to be free to enter at night time? Well there was nobody around so we considered it free and got to enjoy some nice views of the old bridge. 

The next day was going to be a big one! 

We planned on heading to some Bosnian waterfalls as well as watching some cliff diving! I took some photos on the way to the waterfall tour office, the pictures above of the beautiful Neretva river and Stari Most completely contrast to those below which showcase some of the damage done during the Bosnian war - apparently of all the cities involved in the war Mostar was the most badly damaged. 

First stop for the day was the Kravice Waterfalls. We were happy to find that there was only one other person on our tour to the waterfalls and she was a lovely Aussie, also living in London. This meant that we got to choose how long we were at the waterfalls for and anything else we wanted. 

A picture of Michael admiring the waterfalls from above. 

Michael and I striking a pose in front of the beautiful Kravice waterfalls. Like all the lakes/rivers in Bosnia this one was also fueled by water that runs off the mountains so we were expecting to have a pretty cold swim!

While the water was most definitely cold we were pleased to find that it actually wasn't completely freezing - I would compare it to Melbourne beach water rather than the freezing water we had experienced on our rafting and hiking trips from Sarajevo! Our new friend Kirby and Michael were the first to jump in as I am (admittedly) a complete pansy when it comes to cold water. 

Michael and I posing for a picture, this is before I got brave and actually submerged my shoulders!

Some pictures of the waterfalls up close and the lovely Kirby - sorry I used your photo but it really is an awesome one! These waterfalls were quite similar, in a way, to some of the beautiful ones that we visited in Croatia last summer but obviously nowhere near as well known or full of annoying tourists (haha).

I really like this photo of Michael in front of the waterfalls! None of us were brave enough to go and swim underneath them, it was definitely not warm enough water or a warm enough day to be doing that!

Myself, taking a dip in the Kravice waterfalls. All up the three of us lasted a good hour or more swimming in the waterfalls before the cold got the best of us and we retreated. It was really fun though and I am glad we got to visit!

Final shot of the Kravice waterfalls as we were leaving! In this photo they actually do look quite a lot like some of the Croatian waterfalls.

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Part two of our full and fun day involved cliff diving! Coincidentally, the Red Bull World Series Cliff Diving was being held in Mostar while we were there, this is probably the biggest thing to happen in Mostar all summer so of course we wanted to check it out!

A pretty good shot of the crowds of people that had gathered to watch the cliff diving. On top of the bridge you can also see the platform that the divers were diving from, in total they were jumping from a height of 27m - the thought of which makes me feel sick!

Here is a link to a really cool YouTube video that pretty much sums up the events of the day if anyone is interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSfWHzQtLN4

As you can tell from the above photo some of the divers got right into the spectacle of the event and were loving the crowd involvement! There were divers from all over the world, mostly from European and Asian countries but also some American and Canadian divers as well. 

I've tried to insert one of my videos below but I am not sure how good the quality is!

In true Red Bull fashion there was music playing and some of the competitors got right into it and did some dancing before they dived - it was a really cool atmosphere and great timing that we got to be there to see it. 

An action shot of one of the divers half way through his dive! It was completely terrifying but really cool to watch - these guys must have no fear!

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We have had an absolutely incredible time in Bosnia and Herzegovina! We have been white water rafting, swimming in waterfalls, hiked through mountains and watched cliff diving, all of which were unforgettable experiences! We have learnt a lot about the history of this area and most importantly been welcomed by every friendly Bosnian we have met - they really are lovely people!

Cheers to the beautiful country of Bosnia! 

xxx