Bosnia-Herzegovina Day 25 — Patti Part Two

If you would have asked me even 6 months ago if I would ever visit Bosnia I would have said unlikely, but that’s one of the many great things about life’s journey. Be open to the possibility and interesting things can happen. So on Day 25 of our 4 week adventure Julie and I found ourselves getting picked up at 7:15 AM for a day trip to Medjugorje and Mostar. Never say never!

We booked the day trip through Viator.com which is a great online resource for lots of day trips around the world. If you don’t want to rent a car or can’t for some reason it gives you a great option to get somewhere with a fairly small group and a tour guide. I’ve had good luck in the past and while I wouldn’t say this was my best experience we made the most of it. The guide wasn’t very informative and a little hard to understand and the trip wasn’t exactly as described, but we accomplished our main goal which was to get to Medjugorje.

If you’ve never heard of Medjugorje here are the Cliff notes. Medjugorje is a very small village in Bosnia that became quite famous in religious circles in 1981 when 6 teenagers claimed to have seen The Blessed Mother up in the hills behind the village and she spoke to them. They told their village priest about it and about her message. She appeared to them a number of times and while this apparition has not been certified by the Catholic Church millions of believers come from all over the world to visit the site. Similar in many respects to the apparition of The Blessed Mother at Lourdes and Fatima.

In looking at a map and seeing how close we would be to Medjugorje while in Dubrovnik we decided to take a day and visit. The trip was described on Viator as a two hour stop in Medjugorje and then on to Mostar where we would spend an additional couple of hours. In actuality we only got one hour in Medjugorje so the amazing race for Julie and I to actually make it up to apparition hill was begun.

The terrain of Bosnia is quite a bit different from Croatia. My pictures were taken while moving from the van and didn’t come out very well but suffice it to say it is mountainous and very rocky. We drove through tunnels that seemed miles long because they were cut through the mountains, and the homes we saw seemed to be mostly made from cement blocks. There just seemed to be huge boulders everywhere and in the valleys farmland. Coming from the US we didn’t need any special Visa’s to get in, but did have to go through a couple of passport checks.

We arrived to Medjugorje and the guide informs us we have an hour there so Julie and I are determined to find Apparition Hill. The driver brought us to the church which was built before the apparition occurred so not really in close proximity to the hill. You would think someplace that brings millions of people to the town would be easy to find but that was not the case. I had read that you had to walk a mile up a steep and very rocky hill to get there, but we had no idea how far we had to walk to get to the one mile mark, so we started asking directions and couldn’t get an answer out of anyone - are you kidding me? Finally someone point us in the direction and we took off - almost running because time was flying by. To make a long story short we walked/ran about 2 miles asking for directions along the way when we could find anyone and finally found the start of the hill. There were literally no signs and it was I believe divine intervention that got us there. To say the hill is rocky is an understatement. I have no idea how old or unsteady people get up there, as they have purposely done nothing to make the climb easier. It’s supposed to be a pilgrimage and a sacrifice so the climb is challenging. We expected big crowds which would have made our climb harder but by another miracle there was hardly anyone there - even though at the church there had been tons of buses and people everywhere. We started running up the hill and passed a couple of older people who had walking sticks and canes. I had read that some people do it barefoot - ouch!! It had taken us at least a half hour to get to the start of the climb so I was nervous that we wouldn’t even make it to the site before we needed to be back at the bus, but Julie was adamant that we were getting there no matter what so we kept running. There was no way I was leaving her and it had been the main purpose of our trip so up we went. We made it to the sacred site and gave ourselves time to say prayers for our family’s, friends and other intentions, but we wished we could have stayed longer. There were people sitting off to the sides under shade treees and you just knew they were going to spend most of the day there. I can’t imagine how it is with crowds of people, it was so peaceful when we were there.

Julie and I at the statue. There is also a cross off to the side, and the bottom right is the view from the statue.

We took off running back down the hill and I believe all the hiking we had done previously prepared us for this feat. We got to the bottom and another miracle - a taxi waiting just for us! We jumped in and had him take us back to the church and we were less than 5 minutes late! We were also dripping with sweat and everyone else looked at us like we were crazy. I’m still trying to figure out why anyone would go to Medjugorje and not climb to Appartition Hill? A mystery yet to be solved but Julie and I were so happy that we got to be at such a sacred place.

Mostar was about 45 minutes away and is one of the more famous places to visit in Bosnia. It is the 5th largest city and it’s most recognized landmark is the Mostar Bridge originally built in the 16th century. In fact Mostar is named after the bridge keepers who guarded the bridge called mostari.

Bosnia as you probably know was involved in a terrible war in the early 1990’s and was almost destroyed in the process. Much of Mostar was bombed including the Old Bridge. In 1993 it was basically leveled, so what you see now is an exact replica of the original. They used the original blueprints and materials and the people love it dearly and still refer to it as the Old Bridge. We had a really good tour guide in Mostar that spent about an hour with us and showed us around. There are 3 religious groups that live there - Catholics, Muslims and Greek Orthodox. Prior to 1991 they all got along well but then started fighting over land and the war occurred. The guide said now they are all friends again. Seems crazy to me but who am I to judge. There are churches and mosques in abundance and 5 times a day over a loudspeaker the Muslims are called to prayer. I’ve never been to Turkey but from what I’ve read it’s very much like what we saw in Mostar.

A beautiful river runs through town and there are lots of stands and shops to buy intricate mosaics, fabrics and various other types of merchandise.

At this point the major thing I was interested in was food! I was starving since we had no time for breakfast or lunch and it was almost 2 PM. The tour guide left us at a restaurant that he said was good and had fair prices. Now what to order? I am not a super adventurous eater but I knew I wanted it to be cooked. The stuffed peppers were recommended so that’s what I thought I was ordering. Apparently not!

The round tan thing at the top was a stuffed pepper but not sure what the grape leaf roll and fried patty were. Also mashed potatoes.

I did eat the stuffed pepper and a few bites of the mashed potatoes but not enough courage to try the other items. Julie the big chicken just had 2 glasses of wine!! She said wine is always a safe bet.

I’m glad we got to see at least a bit of Bosnia and I learned so much. Like the people in Croatia I have a deep respect for how they have rebuilt and moved on after the war. It’s still very difficult for me to understand how war, death and destruction is a better option than diplomacy and compromise but it really makes me appreciate even more the country that I live in.

On our way back into Dubrovnik we made a quick stop to take pictures of the most famous and most expensive bridge in Croatia. It is called the Franjo Tubman Bridge and it’s right on the main highway into Dubrovnik. Quite striking especially at sunset. It was built in 2002 and took 4 years to complete. It was originally supposed to be built sooner but was postponed due to the war.

That was our day in Bosnia - Herzegovina so thanks for coming along. One more spectacular day in Dubrovnik to write about and then we’re on our way home!