Herzegovina Source of Buna .. Stjepanov Bridge

Map 11b - Mostar and surroundings

River Buna near to its source/spring: In the foreground is the Lehina æuprija (Leho's bridge), built about the end of XVI and beginning of the XVII century. In 1890 its two middle arches were demolished, and the bridge was put back to use by the provisory wooden construction seen on the slide. Between two world wars the Leho's bridge was carelessly restored for traffic by covering the remaining pillars with concrete construction. In the deep background a minaret of the Sultan Suleyman Mosque in the town of Blagaj (the capital of Herzegovina before Mostar) is seen, and the source of river Buna is still behind it, at the foot of the hill and overlooked by a steep cliff (see next slide). At the top of the hill is the old (XV century) fortress/castle Stjepanov Grad, called after its former owner Herceg/Duke Stjepan Vukcic (after whom a whole Herzegovina was later named).
Photo was taken from the point just downstream of the Leho's bridge, towards NE.
River Buna is a short but water-plentiful left-bank tributary of Neretva south of Mostar. The source of river Buna is a kind of natural phenomena, since the river springs up in full strength beneath a steep cliff. It is a kind of those underground rivers common in a kras/karst terrain, which go underground at some point and resurface somewhere else. The source of Buna was a popular destination of excursions from Mostar. There were several bridges (of turkish provenance) over Buna, which were destroyed at one time or another during XX century. The only extant today is the Karaðoz-beg bridge (somewhat upstream of Leho's bridge), which also was heavily restored after the WWII.
The title of the slide is somewhat misleading: Neither 'Source of Bucca'(Buna, actually) nor 'Stepishov Bridge' are shown. It should read as 'View towards source of Buna from the Leho's bridge'