Saturday 11th June and this was the final place we were taken to on our Guided Walk of the Old Town of Mostar.
The old Ottoman house is hidden behind tall walls, we entered into the outer courtyard of the house though the wooden doors in the wall.
Here we learnt that the house had been been been built by a wealthy family back in the Ottoman times. The owner was the tax collector on behalf of the Empire.
From there we went through another set of doors which let us to the inner cobbled courtyard of the house. Where the kitchen, toilet and fountain are located.
There were a number of signs of opulence, the high walls around the house, the outside toilet and kitchen.
Although privately owned, this perfectly preserved example of an Ottoman House is now a National monument. There is an entrance fee of 2 KM, less than £1, children were free, this was included in our tour price, this goes to the owners. We were unable to enter the rooms downstairs, the owners used them for storage.
While we waited to go upstairs, another tour ahead of us, we sat in the covered area in the courtyard and drank some Turkish coffee, definitely an acquired taste.
Before we climbed the stairs we had to remove our shoes. At the top of the stsirs we found ourselves on a wooden veranda shich led us into a large sitting room where the ladies of the house would sit. There were the most wonderful coloured carpets on the floor.
On the left hand was the bedroom where the owner would sleep with his wife, it was permitted to have more than one wife.
At the rear was the best room, where the men would sit. Looking through the windows there were great views of the Neretva River below. Although the room is square a carved wooden circle in the ceiling gives the appearance that the room is circular as in a mosque.
We were informed that during the war there was do much devastation in the City, miraculously thus old house was virtually unscathed. It only lost a few tiles off the kitchen.