Side Trip to Medjugorje

Leaving Makarska we continued to follow the scenic coastal road until we came to the town of Ploce and the delta of the Neretva River.  The valley of the river provides access through the coastal mountains into Bosnia & Hercegovina and is also a major agricultural region of Croatia.

 

We turned inland and followed the river a short distance until we came to the border crossing into Bosnia.  At the small passport check station shown below Annette got scolded by the guards for taking pictures, so we realized that things in Bosnia were probably a little different than in Croatia.

After several weeks without seeing any mosques or minarets we passed one at about the same time we started to see some high snow-capped mountains farther to the east near Mostar.  However, this part of the country is Hercegovina, which is more Christian than predominantly Muslim Bosnia, so churches were a more common sight than mosques in the little corner of the country that we visited.

After a short drive we arrived in Medjugorje.  As you may know, in 1981 the Virgin Mary "appeared" to 6 children on a hillside near the town, and continues to appear to 4 of the 6 who still live in the area.  Annette will probably do a blog entry with more information on the "apparition" story so I'll go on with the sightseeing part of the day.

This is the front of St. James Church, the epicenter of activities for the swarms of "pilgrims" who come to Medjugorje each day.

The outdoor altar at the back of the church - a huge venue.

They do confessions in a big way here.  This is one of two large groups of confessionals outside the church where they put little signs on the outside of each confessional booth to indicate the languages spoken by the priest inside.  

Behind the outdoor altar "stadium" is a large statue of Jesus on the cross, without the cross.  In the town are wall-to-wall gift shops where you can buy all the Medjugorje souvenirs you could ever want.  There must have been at least 50 similar shops near the church and other important "apparition" sites, selling rosaries, statues, t-shirts, etc.

 

We spent the night in a nice new pension owned by a former teacher who taught where the "apparition" kids went to school.  She shared lots of good stories with us while she was serving breakfast in the morning.  We spent the rest of the morning visiting the hillside "apparition" sites.  The first one was the blue cross, a short walk up a short rocky slope.

The Virgin Mary appears here on occasion to the "apparition" kids, who are now in their mid-40 or early-50s, and may not feel like walking all the way up the hill some days.  The rest of the time She appears on Apparition Hill, the site of the original vision back in 1981.  The walk up to Apparition Hill is much more rigorous, since it is up a fairly steep, very rocky slope of jagged limestone outcroppings.  At the site of the "apparition" there is now a large white statue of Mary and a beautiful view of Medjugorje and the surrounding Bosnian countryside.

 This is the steep, rocky route up Apparition Hill.

 The Church of St. James is in the middle of the photo with the two bell towers.

The end of the trail and the end of our visit to Medjugorje.  Back in the car we took off for Dubrovnik.