Mostar

From Dubrovnik, we traveled across the border to maybe the world's most awkwardly named country - Bosnia & Herzegovina. Our first stop was Mostar, scene of some of the most intense fighting in the war in the early 90's, and a city still divided along ethnic lines. The old town has now been beautifully restored but the carnage from the fighting is very visible elsewhere. It really felt like this is where the western world ends and the eastern begins, as church belltowers gave way to the minarets of mosques.

Mostar's Old Town, with the famous Old Bridge (destroyed in the war but now rebuilt) forming the visual and social centrepiece

Outside the town centre, condemned buildings are frequent

Advertising billboards hide the destruction behind

Young guys show off to the girls by jumping from the bridge into the Neretva River- later we saw a foreigner try it and end up with a bloody nose. The river is the coldest in the world, with a summer temperature of 7 degrees

Early morning sun hits the cafes just off the bridge

Copper coffee pots in the market

Signs of the war still abound

Some buildings show how incredibly intense the fighting must have been

The beautiful dusk colours of Mostar- even today, Croats mostly occupy the western bank of the river and muslims the east