Neretva River, Mostar

A river can hold many mysteries, drowning some and revealing others. The ancient settlement of Desilo, an important trading center for the Romans and Illyrians, has been underwater for two thousand years. Boats loaded with urns of wine wait silently on the bottom, still moored to their docks.

A ruined 4th-century Roman farm estate and the 5th-century Church of Saint Hermagor overlook the Neretva as it flows through the town of Capljina on her way to the Adriatic Sea. Five miles south of Capljina is Gabela, a medieval Venetian village. From the remains of the town walls, a stone lion watches the Neretva go by.

In Mostar, the Neretva glides smoothly under the Old Bridge, ordered by Suleiman the Magnificent in 1557. No one knows how the graceful stone arch was anchored to the cliffs on either side of the rushing river. Destroyed in the 1993 civil war and rebuilt in 2004, young men have used it as a diving platform since 1566.

The Battle of the Neretva is a motion picture depicting a German attack against partisans called "Fall Weiss" in 1943. The battle raged, and the river flowed on. Famed Bosnian poet Mak Dizdar relies heavily on the motif of the Neretva in his poetry. Songs, music, and civilizations along the river may be old, but the river is timeless.