Dalmatia
This summer I visited Dubrovnik, Croatia as well as making a trip to nearby Mostar, Bosnia. What struck me was just how beautiful and vibrant a place it is with such rich colours everywhere you look – from the many shades of blue that make up the surrounding sea to the dazzling sunsets, from the distinctive red rooves to the colourful streets of the city.
But this is a place that still bears the scars of the war of the early 90s. You wouldn’t think it to walk the streets, but drive through neighbouring Bosnia and you’ll see the bullet holes still there from a war that divided and tore this part of the world apart not so long ago. Mostar, especially, is striking. One of the worst affected cities, the three ethnic groups who lived there destroyed the infamous, centuries-old Mostar bridge in the fighting. What united the city’s two sides collapsed, leaving them physically divided as well.
Round about the city, there are still buildings scarred by bullet holes. As you will, see in one of my favourite pictures here, there is one abandoned site surrounded by barbed wire and broken buildings where I captured a girl looking through the bars. She seemed so vulnerable against that backdrop. But this will now be the site for a new synagogue, and soon a church, a mosque and a synagogue will stand metres from one another. Suddenly that image becomes an image of hope, of restoration, of unity and a shared future. That’s the wonderful thing about this part of the world: it’s apparent there are still some tensions and scars – the war wasn’t that long ago, after all – but it’s amazing learning about that history and yet seeing how vibrant the life is there, how healing and restoration can begin to transform a place, how bridges can literally and metaphorically be rebuilt. A beautiful and inspiring place.
Christabel Rose Blog 