Sheva Tours and Travel Team Members
ŠEVKO
Ševko is the owner and head tour guide of Sheva Tours and Travel. Beyond that, he has a number of other titles including father, son, carpenter, soldier, uncle, and diver. He is easily recognizable by his long beard – no doubt you will see him around town both during and after your tour with him, as he is a local fixture. If you are looking for him on a hot summer afternoon, you will likely find him on the bank of the Neretva, under the Old Bridge, taking a swim to cool off! Ševko grew up in Mostar during the last decades of Yugoslavia and experienced its dissolution first-hand. One only need to go on a tour with him to understand his genuine love for Mostar; his local upbringing provides a unique authenticity to his story-telling ability. His deep and ever-expanding knowledge of the more recent history from the late 19th century to present day along with his direct experience of the wars of the 1990s shape the impactful tours that he provides on Mostar and the region’s more difficult history and current socio-political context. Ševko offers tours in English, Italian, and local languages.
ARNELA
Arnela joined the Sheva Tours and Travel Team in late Summer 2023, but she has years of experience working as a tour guide in and around Mostar. The depth of knowledge and experience she has to share with guests is truly astounding. Her professional background ranges from working as a language assistant with the UN Peacekeeping Mission to BiH to experiences working with NGOS, including those focused on women’s capacity building and outreach as well as democracy development in the local community. When not sharing Mostar and the surrounding region with guests, Arnela loves spending time with her son; she enjoys staying active through training, dancing, and swimming as well as reading, traveling, and meeting new people from different cultural backgrounds. It is not surprising that she should enjoy guiding visitors to the region – it keeps her moving and enables her to engage with new people every day! If you are lucky enough to go on tour with Arnela, you will quickly learn that her passion and enthusiasm for Mostar and its beautiful surroundings is infectious. Do not be surprised if you find yourself planning a return visit before you even leave town! Arnela conducts tours in English and local languages.
INA
DIVNA
CAROLINE
Caroline’s first visit to Mostar was in 2006. This started her love affair with the Balkans and, more specifically, Bosnia and Herzegovina! She returned to the city and explored the wider region repeatedly over the next decade, only to relocate permanently in 2016 while she was undertaking her doctoral research in Herzegovina. Caroline is a landscape historian and archaeologist with research interests focused on cultural heritage reconstruction, development, and use in contexts recovering from war and with a focus on local narrative and the construction of social memory. Since then, she has called Mostar home. Caroline and Ševko worked together to develop and launch Sheva Walking Tours in 2018. While Caroline will happily answer your questions on local and regional history, culture, and politics, you will most often find her at work behind the scenes or wandering the streets with her camera. Although she has plenty to say, she believes that the true experts are local community members who can draw from decades of personal experience as well as their deeply rooted cultural memory. In her free time, Caroline is launching a new NPO dedicated to the community Cats of Mostar!
