ADRIATIC TREASURES: Orasac Village, Mostar and Split

Today we depart for the city of SPLIT driving through Dalmatian landscapes of seaside villages and farmland to the village of Orasac, founded in 1040.  Our visit to a private family owned farm was on the agenda so we could see the time honored, and ancient, steps of producing olive oil. Although the family still produces olive oil for commercial use among the other villagers, the stone shed used for the process is now a virtual museum of the old processes of crushing grapes and making olive oil. A horse was hitched up to an old grinding mill of two huge stones which crushed grapes. And there was an old olive press where the farmer demonstrated using long pieces of strong timber to lever the press to crush the oil from the fruit. He explained in broken English how the processes worked. Afterwards we did an olive oil tasting with some bread, cheese and tomatoes.

View of the farm as we walked back up to the road

The Olive Press

Bread, cheese, and fresh olive oil

We soon departed for a visit to Mostar in Bosnia, known for its old Turkish houses and Old Bridge, Stari Most, after which it is named.  Damaged during the 1990's conflict, the Old Bridge, built by the Ottomans in the 16th century and designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, has been rebuilt, as have many of the edifices in the Old Town.  A guided walk features a visit inside a Turkish house where a resident who lived through the bombings of 1991-1995 war shares personal stories of survival.

Inside a Turkish house

The Old Bridge built in 16th century by Ottomans

Koski Mehmed-Pasha Mosque's minaret in Mostar

Courtyard within the walls of the Turkish home

One of the remaining vestiges of the bombings in the 1990's

Bosnia and Herzegovina is an almost landlocked country – it has a narrow coast at the Adriatic Sea, about 20 kilometres (12 miles) long surrounding the town of Neum. It is bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south; Serbia to the east; and Montenegro to the southeast. It has a population of 3.5 million people. In the central and eastern interior of the country the geography is mountainous, in the northwest it is moderately hilly, and the northeast is predominantly flatland. The inland, Bosnia, is a geographically larger region and has a moderate continental climate, with hot summers and cold and snowy winters. The southern tip, Herzegovina, has a Mediterranean climate and mostly mountainous topography. The country is home to three main ethnic groups or, officially, constituent peoples, as specified in the constitution. Bosniaks are the largest group of the three, with Serbs second, and Croats third. A native of Bosnia and Herzegovina, regardless of ethnicity, is usually identified in English as a Bosnian. Minorities, defined under the constitutional nomenclature "Others", include Jews, Roma, Poles, Ukrainians, and Turks. Bosnia and Herzegovina has a bicameral legislature and a three-member Presidency composed of a member of each major ethnic group.