EXCURSION

MOSTAR

The name Mostar, first recorded in 1474., does not, as most guide books sugest, refer to the famous stone bridge but instead means “Bridge Keeper.” Before Ottoman rimes, Mostar’s tiny urban center grew up around Neretva river: a small hamlet hundled near a perilous wooden bridge along the principal road from Bosnia to the Adriatic coast. “It was made of wood and hung on chains,” the Ottoman geographer Katib Celebi later wrote, “and, …shook so much that people crossing it did so in mortal fear.” As Mostar’s economic and administrative importance grew under the Ottomans, the wooden suspension bridge required replacement. In the rule of the Fatih Mehmed a timber bridge was constructed, but Mostar owes its immortality to Stari Most, the bridge built in 1557.-66. at the height of the power of the Empire, during the reign of the Ottoman Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent. Its construction was a critical step in the transformation of the city of Mostar from a modest settlement into a vibrant colonial crossroads. The bridge crossing at Mostar was one of the means by which Suleyman’s army would reach the gates of Vienna.Stari Most was designed and executed by Hayruddin, disciple of the famed architect Sinan, and supervised by Karadjoz Mehmed Beg, brother of Rustem Pasha, and the patron of Mostar’s most important mosque complex. A single sweeping arch twenty-eight meters long, and twenty meters high, the bridge was an engineering wonder in its own time and remained the single largest stone span in the world until its destruction in this decade.

KRAVICA

The most attractive location of Trebizat waterfall Kravica, three kilometers downstream from Vitaljine in Studenci near Ljubuski. It was created Trebizat river, so as a natural phenomenon under state protection as a natural curiosity. The height of waterfall is 26-28 meters, with aquatic amphitheater under a waterfall of 120 meters in diameter. Over sedronosna layer from the bottom to the top of the falls has grown grasses, mosses and lichens. Near fall konopljika, figs and poplars. Sometimes the fall were active many mills and stood for rolling cloth. To create the most significant fall was bigar, tufa or travertine. It is in the water steadied limestone, which is constantly rising and raises travertine barriers creating waterfalls (the waterfalls Trebizat such real and Pliva and Krka). Tuff is characteristic for the rivers rich in calcium carbonate (CaCO3). It is interesting to say that entrepreneurs are Jelic and Srincic 1905th a request of the Austro-Hungarian authorities cede to them slap Kravica for the construction of facilities for processing cotton and jute. Even more interesting and hot Studenčić rivers, tributaries Trebižat.

DUBROVNIK

The very favourable geographical position of Dubrovnik made its development based on maritime and merchant activities very successful through its History. From the entrance to the Adriatic Sea, Dubrovnik is the first port protected by islands on the maritime route to the West, and by way of the Neretva Valley, it has the fastest connection with its hinterland. New archaelogical excavations in the foundations of the present City prove that a settlement existed in the 6th century or even earlier.
It was enlarged by the arrival of the Croats after the destruction of the ancient Epidaurum (present Cavtat) in the 7th century.The intensified traffic between the East and the West during and after the Crusades in the 12th and 13th centuries heralded the prosperity of maritime and merchant centres in the Mediterranean and Adriatic of which Dubrovnik was one. Liberation from the Venetian influence which Dubrovnik achieved by the Zadar Treaty in 1358, was crucial for its later successful development. The other Dalmatian towns did not succeed and they finally came under the rule of the Venetian state in 1420. During the 14th and in the 15th centuryies, Dubrovnik, along with Venice and Ancona, became the most significant seafaring and merchant centre at the Adriatic. By agreements and land-purchasing Dubrovnik enlarged its territory from Klek in the north and to Sutorina at the entrance of the Bay of Boka including the islands Mljet, Lastovo, Elaphites and Lokrum.
In the 16th century the legal status of the Dubrovnik Republic was completely established which meant the independent election of the rector and councillors,its own currency and the flag with its patron St. Blasius, the independed legislature and the right to establish consulates abroad. On the basis of the aristocratic social order the permanent supreme power was vested in the Great Council, which consisted of members of aristocratic families. It elected members of the Senate and of the Small Council which was the executive body of the Great Council. The Rector was elected for a period of a month only as a nominal symbol of power.
As early as in the 15th century the Dubrovnik authorities had a very successfully organised transit trade with the Balkans hinterland. Under pressure from the aggressive expansionism of the Turks in the Balkans the Dubrovnik Republic accepted Turkish patronage on payment of an annual tribute in 1525 but, in return it obtained a licence for free trade throughout the entire Turkish Empire with payment of only 2% customs. The small state,deprived of its army, brough its defensive system to perfection by skilful diplomacy and wide consular activities. Non-interference in international conflicts and the patronage of great states, particularly of Spain and the Vatican, enabled the Republic to uphold its sovereignty. The only permanent rival and enemy of the state was the Venetian Republic.

The golden age of the Dubrovnik Republic was in the 15th and 16th century. The basis of prosperity was seaborne trade. The Dubrovnik merchant navy in the 16th century reached the highest level of quality and nautical skills with some 180 to 200 vessels in its fleet. Shipbuilding developed with larger ships of different types – galleys, trabacolas and navas – and they sailed on distant and more dangerous journeys along the Mediterranean, Black Sea and to England North sea as well as to India and the Americas. Dubrovnik seamen became well-known and sought after as cargo transporters with widespread maritime interests and trade.
Material prosperity and a feeling of security and freedom formed the basic of the culture of living in a humanistic way and stimulated a creative spirit. Dubrovnik reached a magnificent stage in its urban and architectural development which has been sustained to the present time. Famous names in literature and poetry are Marin Držia, Ivan Gundulia, Ru?er Boškovia in science and there are many more in the arts and culture.

A general crisis in maritime affairs at the Mediterranean in the 17th century struck the Dubrovnik mercantile trade as well. The disastrous earthquake in 1667 forced the Dubrovnik Republic to fight for its exsistence and the protection of its political sovereignty. In the 18th century Dubrovnik found an opportunity for economic revival in the seaborne trade under a neutral flag until the arrival of Napoleon and the fall of the Dubrovnik Republic in 1808.
At the Congress in Vienna in 1815 Dubrovnik region became a part of Dalmatia and Croatia and it shares the same political destiny with them ever sinceFollowing the declaration of the independence of the Republic of Croatia and the subsequent aggression of Serbia against Croatia, Dubrovnik was attacked in October 1991 with extreme force by the Serbs and Montenegrans who intended to burn and destroy the whole territory completely. The Dubrovnik region was occupied and devastated and the City itself was totally encircled for eight months, bombarded many times and brutally destroyed particularly on the 6th of December 1991.

Today the cultural and historic heritage of Dubrovnik has been restored. Reconstructed hotels, and the valuable assets of the Dubrovnik Summer Festival as well as the other cultural events are essential elements for the development of modern tourism.