Local tavern in Mostar, place for stories and friends

Bosnia and Herzegovina is adorned with the title of being the country where the purest foundations of local taverns can be found. Today in the Balkan area these taverns are called “kafana”.

The local people know it also under the names birtija or buffet, where only domestic alcohol is served together with traditional Bosnian coffee, so these two separate these establishments from the traditional aščinice ili čevabđinice.

We all know the tavern as the place where the sad lover drowns his sorrow in alcohol, the business man closes the desired deal and the longtime spouse comes to take a break from the family problems.Through the tradition in Bosnia and Herzegovina, for a long time the tavern has the reputation of being the place where only men come to get away from the women.

There are many similar taverns today in Mostar where you can go and enjoy the real atmosphere.

These places welcome their guests with a relaxation and being at ease, like you are in your own house. At night, in many taverns you can hear the sounds of instrumental music or local folk music. People who go to these taverns have their favorite songs, some of them are „I tebe sam sit kafano“ by Haris Džinović and „Kafana je moja sudbina“ by Toma Zdravković.

Many local people say that Toma Zdravkovic songs are the most loved ones in all of the older taverns in Mostar.

What makes the tavern different from other pubs where alcohol is served at night, is that here only local alcohol drinks are serves like šljiva (rakija made of plums) or travarica (rakija made of domestic plants), but from season to season there are other flavors made of rosehip or zova. During time some of the taverns started serving food to their regular guests. The food would mostly include traditional Bosnian dishes such as the ćevapi or a plate with prosciutto, cheese and bread.

One of the most famous taverns in Mostar is the “Bife Kod Biše” located in Cernica, very close to the Old Town.

Every tavern in Mostar has a regular group of people who come back there every day to enjoy time together long into the night. What makes people from Mostar special is that they will gather several times each week in their favorite tavern just to enjoy each other company.

In many taverns in Mostar, the custom is that the owner is the one who directly works with customers in order to leave good impression.

A smart owner will very often treat his customers with their favorite drinks.

At the end, our favorite tavern is the place where “Mostarska raja” gathers regularly. You can hear the sounds of ex Yugoslavian rock music, the waiters love the customers; this is the place where smart women also have drinks and many nights the crowd stays until the early morning hours.

People show each other respect on these gatherings, those who love hiking, liberals and the opposition, local and foreign journalists, officials; regardless of occupation, nationality or political affiliation.

This kind of tavern is an institution where tolerance, peace, non-violence, coexistence and understanding.

This blog post was written in a tavern.