TRAVEL AND LIFESTYLE DIARIES

I miss blogging... it's such a nice feeling to see the blog again. I really need to write and post pictures more often again. I know it's not an excuse to be very busy with the daily grind and the stress accompanying it. Right now, I feel bad not finding time to take care of this blog. Why is it so difficult to promise these days? *sigh*  Anyway, I was going through the drafts and saw this one of the last days we had in Mostar. The pictures were already in the draft, so might as well post them :)

A few years back I went on a Balkan road trip with my friend Bubbles. I blogged this trip, however, I didn't get to finish it so here I am back again, picking it up from where I left. From Amsterdam, we flew into Tuzla in the north of Bosnia. We spent the evening here and in the morning we drove to the capital,  Sarajevo . We stayed a good few days before taking the 2+ hours winding road to Mostar, the capital of Herzegovina. What makes this drive amazing is that the highway follows side by side the route of the beautiful Neretva River. We had amazing scenery throughout the journey. What a joy! Finally, in Mostar, we checked in at the  Kriva Cuprija Hotel & Bridge  followed by a delicious traditional lunch with a view of the river at  Restoran Lagero . This is the view from our hotel room: We had a little balcony. What a splendid view to watch the nightfall from here. 

For starters, Mostar can only be reached by land by international tourists, either coming from the capital in Sarajevo or from Dubrovnik in Croatia and sometimes Split as well. Although a large number of tourists from Croatia coming to Mostar are day trippers from Dubrovnik (of the cruise ship package trips). The Neretva River in Mostar. Beautiful huh? So we came from Sarajevo with our rental car to Mostar, our 3rd stop in the Balkan road trip. Bubbles and I were quite excited because we have seen a lot of pictures about this town. Little did we know though that Mostar is actually a huge city and is the capital of the Hercegovina region. We were totally not expecting to be welcomed by a big city when we arrived in Mostar. It is the 5th largest city in Bosnia & Hercegovina after Sarajevo, Banja Luka, Tuzla and Zenica and the city is located in the valley of the Neretva River. We have romanticized the beautiful postcard perfect pictures of Mostar Old Town thinking th...

Bubbles and I arrived around lunchtime in Mostar and our plan after checking in to Kriva Cuprija Hotel is a quick stroll in the Old Town and then lunch. The lunch with a perfect view in Mostar. I was eyeing a particular restaurant on the Neretva River with the perfect view of the iconic bridge for lunch, however, I was open as well for other suggestions. In my experience, nothing beats it when you are at the location yourself to survey the area. I know for sure that the restaurant I had in mind will have a lot of competition. My idea of the perfect lunch in Mostar would be, of course, good Bosnian food and a spectacular view, and I was hoping, of the UNESCO world heritage site, the Stari Most (Old Bridge). Restaurants with outdoor terraces hanging from the cliffs of the Neretva River with the Stari Most (Old Bridge) as its iconic backdrop. After a thorough online research about the eating out scene in Mostar, I have learned that a good number of restaurant...

When Bubbles and I were looking for hotels in Mostar, we both decided that we will stay in the Old Town and that it must be very central, in the core center and with a great view. The hotel entrance from the main road. We found the Kriva Cuprija Hotel online and were right away smitten by its ambience. We booked the room with the balcony and a view to the Old Town. We are only staying for a night in Mostar so we made sure that upon stepping out of the hotel, we are stepping into the Old Town. This was very important to us. The hotel is named after the Kriva Cuprija bridge which means ‘Crooked Bridge’. It is a small stone one-arched bridge that closely resembles the UNESCO world-heritage Stari Most (Old Bridge), the iconic symbol of Mostar. The small arched bridge is located right at the foot of the hotel with the Radobolja creek flowing under it. Umm, sounds very romantic, huh? =) The surrounding views from the hotel's entrance on the main road. A nice out...