Old Bridge Area of the Old City of Mostar and Potkuk in Bitunja
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
117 km
Riding-time estimate
2 h 29
Journey
Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A 117 km round trip from Mostar - roughly 2 h 29 in the saddle. It goes by way of Stećci Medieval Tombstone Graveyards, Potkuk in Bitunja and back through Stećci Medieval Tombstone Graveyards. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,050 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Old Bridge Area of the Old City of Mostar
The Old Bridge in Mostar is a single stone arch, slender and impossibly high, leaping across the emerald-green Neretva between two fortified towers. The Ottomans built it in the 1560s, designed by an architect named Mimar Hayruddin, and for more than four centuries it stood as a symbol of the city. On 9 November 1993, during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, it was shelled and collapsed into the river. It was rebuilt with the original techniques and stone recovered from the riverbed and reopened in 2004, and the following year UNESCO listed the Old Bridge Area as a symbol of reconciliation and cultural coexistence.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Old Bridge Area of the Old City of Mostar is where the day begins. Next is Stećci Medieval Tombstone Graveyards.
2. Stećci Medieval Tombstone Graveyards
Radimlja, just outside Stolac in Herzegovina, is the finest of the stećak graveyards, and it lies right beside the main road, which makes it one of the easiest pieces of medieval Europe to stop for. Stećci are massive limestone tombstones, shaped like chests, slabs or little gabled houses, carved between the twelfth and sixteenth centuries across the medieval kingdom of Bosnia and neighbouring lands. Many are decorated with reliefs: spirals, vines, crescents, stars, hunting scenes, dancers holding hands, and knights with swords and shields, and one figure at Radimlja raises an oversized right hand in what may be a greeting or a blessing. In 2016 UNESCO listed a group of these graveyards across four countries together.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Stećci Medieval Tombstone Graveyards comes up about 33 km into the recorded legs. Next is Potkuk in Bitunja.
3. Potkuk in Bitunja
Grey limestone, thin grass, a scatter of oaks and juniper, and among them heavy blocks of carved stone lying where they were set some six or seven hundred years ago. Potkuk, near the hamlet of Bitunja in eastern Herzegovina, is one of the necropolises of stećci, the medieval tombstones that were added to the World Heritage list in 2016 together with sites across Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Old Bridge Area of the Old City of Mostar. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Old Bridge Area of the Old City of Mostar to Stećci Medieval Tombstone Graveyards
Old Bridge Area of the Old City of Mostar → Stećci Medieval Tombstone Graveyards is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Stećci Medieval Tombstone Graveyards to Potkuk in Bitunja
Stećci Medieval Tombstone Graveyards → Potkuk in Bitunja is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Potkuk in Bitunja to back through Stećci Medieval Tombstone Graveyards
Potkuk in Bitunja → back through Stećci Medieval Tombstone Graveyards is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Stećci Medieval Tombstone Graveyards to Old Bridge Area of the Old City of Mostar
back through Stećci Medieval Tombstone Graveyards → Old Bridge Area of the Old City of Mostar is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.