Monday, March 2, 2015

Visiting Capljina: Back in my Hometown

Capljina is a small town in the south of Bosnia and Herzegovina. I was born there, and Mostar, where I live now is only a 30 minute drive away, so it's not that hard to revisit this place from time to time. The river Neretva flows through the municipality which has the same name as the city and flows into the Adriatic sea just over the border. The town's landmark is a statue of King Tomislav, which you will see in the first shot.

We begin our visit on the main town square, where the aforementioned statue of King Tomislav is located, as well as the town hall, whose walls are painted in blue and yellow, the official colors of the town. The Church of Saint Francis Assisi is right next to the town hall, at the end of a small walking lane. Right next to the church there is small courtyard.


Selma and I visited on a quiet Saturday afternoon, so there weren't many people on the streets, which was actually nice, since it gave me some great photo opportunities.


A close-up of the statue. King Tomislav was a ruler of Croatia in the Middle Ages. There are many monuments to him spread out in the former Yugoslavian countries.

The name of the town derives from the word "caplja", which on Bosnian language means "heron".



In a small park area, you will find a statue of Croatian painter Ivo Ducic.



Next up is a shot of the building where I lived as a kid. You can see our balcony on the first floor on the left side, above the blue street sign.



Unusual little houses, ravaged by time, can also be found in the town if you start exploring a bit deeper.




Another remnant of the past is the shopping center, which, back in the days before the war, was a very prominent part of the city. Privatization problems nowadays are stopping this place from being redone and modernized.


We had some nice weather this past weekend, and even the temperatures rose which made for a nice walk through Capljina.


Admittedly, the main reason for our visit here was because we wanted to have lunch in a great restaurant called "Calipso".


I had rolled chicken breast filled with mozzarella cheese, served with a blue cheese sauce. It was really great.



Selma had some nice thin steaks topped with mozzarella and served in a delicious gravy.





I hope you enjoyed this little tour of my hometown. Do you live far away from yours?


28 comments:

  1. Thanks for showing us your hometown Mersad. Is really was a pleasure to take a virtual walk in Capljina!
    have a nice monday.

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    1. You too Hilde, thanks so much for visiting.

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  2. Your place of birth is an outstanding community as judged by your wonderful photos. Thanks for showing this town to us!

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  3. I live 385 miles, a 6 hour drive from where I was born, but i live in the town where my mother and all her family was born...
    number 18 is my favorite today and the black and white is number 2... as i went through the slide show twice, i noticed how very pristine and clean everything is, from streets to buildings. a beautiful town... anyone reading this comment, if you don't enlarge the photos you are missing the beauty.

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    1. Thanks so much for your lovely comment. That's why I always type "click on the images for a bigger view" in each post, because there is always more to see and uncover. And the images in each post are lightbox enabled, which means you can click on one and with your arrow keys move through the images.

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  4. Hello Mersad, your hometown is very pretty. I love all the different colorful buildings..The statues are neat! and your lunches look delicious! Wonderful images and post..

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  5. What a beautiful town! I love seeing the colorful buildings!

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  6. I did enjoy it very much Mersad. Love the choice of blue and yellow as the towns colours. So nice that you can visit from time to time, especially your fav restaurant.

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  7. What a beautiful little town. I love the statue of the artist. I live about 1500 miles from my hometown in Illinois. Every time I go back I see subtle changes but, nothing like the constant changes that take place here in Arizona.

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  8. Das ist auch bestimmt immer interessant die Veränderungen am alten Heimatort zu sehen^^. Also meine Entfernung /Luftlinie beträgt mittlerweile schon ungefähr 3.431 km, aber schon in D hatte ich eine Entfernung zum Geburtsort (mit 14 Jahren von Köln in den Norden) in Höhe von ungefähr 250 km.

    Deinen Heimatort finde ich schön, schaut sauber und gepflegt aus, und solche kleinen Häuser mittendrin lockern ein Stadtbild auf.

    Herzliche Grüsse

    N☼va

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    1. Finde es sehr interesant über dienen Heimatsort zu lesen. Das ist ja recht weit entfehrnt von Teneriffa wo Du jetzt lebst.

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  9. it looks like a great town. love the statue of the king!

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  10. Blue and yellow strikes me as an unusual colour combination for a building. Actually those are the colours of the Swedish flag but I can't recall seeing them used on a building like that! ... My birth town is about 100 km from where I live now but as I don't drive, and don't have any family left there, it's been at least two decades since I last visited it.

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    1. That's a long time. Then again if you don't have anyone there, there is no real reason for going back. But having said that, I don't have any family left in Capljina as well.

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  11. That looks like a great place to visit. Nice shots

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  12. nekada davno sam često dolazila u čapljinu...imala sam lijepo društvo u njoj...tvoje slike su predivne ali, ja ovdje ništa ne poznajem...puno pozdrava

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    1. Iskreno, Čapljina se nije toliko izgledom mijenjala. Po koja fasada je nova ali sve u svemu grad je isti kakvog ga se i ja sjećam.

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  13. What a lovely, old town! And your photos are superb as always! I think it's great that you live so near and are able to visit there often! Terrific statue of the king! I'm sure you have wonderful memories!! Hope your week is off to a great start, Mersad!! Enjoy your day!!

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  14. Hi Mersad,
    Beautiful city photos with subtle colors - I love them.
    Also, love the name of the river - Neretva. I think it sounds so pretty!
    Have a Beautiful Day!!
    Peace :)

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    1. Thanks Chandra. The river Neretva is indeed as beautiful as its name. If you search for "Neretva" in the search box on the right side of the blog, you will find many posts with this river. Thanks again for stopping by.

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  15. Your hometown is very pretty, Mersad. I like the large tress and pastel colored buildings. It looks very clean and quiet.

    My hometown is Brooklyn, New York. I lived there my entire life until two years ago when my husband and I moved west to Colorado to live close to our children and grandchildren who settled here. We like our new home state very much!

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  16. The cleanliness of the town is striking. I don't think I have seen anywhere quite as pristine before. Perhaps part is due to the colour combination on the buildings.

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  17. Wow - the town is amazing, a mix of old and new and color and stone!

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  18. Beautiful, I love how all the buildings are so bright and colourful.

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  19. Mersad, you have such a lovely hometown! Thank you so much for sharing this tour. I love the colourful buildings and architecture, and it looks so peaceful and clean there. :)

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  20. So pretty how the main building is in blue and yellow. Thank you for the tour AND for linking up to Song-ography.

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  21. Thank you . Looks like a great place to be:)

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