Sending My Most From Mostar!

I realized that starting my blogs with 'Dear all' is not very blogger-esque. Bloggers just jump into what they are saying, they don't write letters home. So I am going to try it this way.
Perhaps that intro destroyed the tone I was trying to set. I guess a job at Gawker is not in the cards for me.
We got into Mostar this afternoon after spending three and a half days in Sarajevo. Mostar is a bit different from Sarajevo- actually, it's quite different. The town is famous for its old bridge, a stunning white stone bridge above its beautiful, clear blue river. It was built in 1566 and, for centuries, people came from around the world to see it. In the early 1990s, after the Serbs left this area, infighting began between the Croats and Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims) in the town and the bridge was destroyed. After the war, pieces of the bridge were pulled from the water and from 1999 to 2005 people worked to rebuild the bridge using the same methodology that had been used in the 16th century. There was no 'modern' machinery involved.
Anyhow, the point of all of this history is this: in contrast to Sarajevo, in Mostar there is still a lot of the tension left from the war. Today, Bosnian Croats live on one side of the bridge and Bosnian Muslims on the other. For a tourist, the tension is not obvious but if you talk to locals it is clear that both groups really stick to their side of the bridge and few really cross over. It is quite safe and stable here, though. The man we were talking to today said that the only place tensions really build is at football games!
There are a ton of tourist here who wander back and forth on the bridge and are warmly welcomed on both sides. Just sad that at this point the locals cannot say the same. But the war is still very recent, as, I am sure, are horrible memories of what happened. I am sure tensions will subside as the younger generations begin to mix and intermarry as they did before the war, when (according to a German ex- Nato soldier we talked to today) almost 30 % of people in the country were in a mixed marriage.

Alright, I am off, with promises to continue adding pictures!