Mostar and beyond

Katie and I are in Mostar as the guests of Aida. What a terrific host she is. Before we get to that though, the trip from Split to here was absolutely jaw dropping. The secenery along the Dalmatian coast was magnificent. It truly is one of the great places on earth, and no police either. We arrived in Mostar last evening and met Aida. She won a scholarhip to a very prestigious school here. After that she has a scholarship to 4 years of college in the US or Britain. Her school shares a building with the regular cshool. The students live in a house and get lunch and dinner in a restaurant. Not too shabby. She got us rooms at the Pensione Botticelli. It,s basically a B&B but unlike anything I,ve ever seen. It sits OVER a river. The river ran right underneath my room! And the water roared through all night. My balcony was overlooking the falls and Katie had a similar room. We were the only guests here and breakfast was great. All for €30 a night. You must be kidding me! Old Mostar is magnificent. It dates from the 1500,s, Old Town is full of shops and restaurants overlooking the Old Bridge, originally built in 1566 but destroyed in 1993 and rebuilt. The whole area is on the UN World Heritage Site List and deservedly so. After shopping and picture taking last night we has dinner and then went to Aida,s favorite cafe where we sat on huge pillows under a canopy next to the roaring river and had cappuccino. The group at the next table were having lots of fun smoking from a huge hookah. This place is very unique and special. There are mosques and churches all over. Last night they shot off a firecracker to signal the end of the fast (its Ramadan) and it about scared me right into the river. The 3 of us are heading over to Medugorje, the site of the supposed Marian apparations. That should be so interesting. After that it,s back to Sarajevo and on to Italy for a little R˛and R. I know that you think we had a week or recreation, but it was work too! Bosnia and Croatia could not be better. It is magnificent and everyone has treated us royally. Katie and I can.t wait to come back next October with 5 4-h members from Delaware. See you soon. We have lots of pictures and souveniers. Hvala!