Balkan Tour: Herzegovina

We were all up early and on the bus to head to Međugorje, a very religious town, unbeknownst to me, which came as quite a shock as I was not expecting this. They coined it the Vegas of the Holy world due to the gold and popularity of the continued apparitions of Mary, the crying statue and the two mountains to climb during ones pilgrimage. The only thing in the brochure that hinted towards this being very religious was it stated ‘Sunday mass is optional’. I was going to give the nightly masses a miss since they were not in English, and well, I am not religious. I cannot even follow a mass in English, let alone in any of the other languages they were doing it in. After our plain feast of fish (since it was a Friday) our table made sure to finish off not only our wine, but the wine at the next table, as well as the wine of the table next to us. We could not let it go to waste! Since we were to be locked in each night at midnight, we went for a quick stroll past the hundreds of little religious shops selling statues, pictures, jewellery, crosses, you name it, they had it with some religious theme. I am not exaggerating when I say I saw millions of Mary statues.

The next morning was Apparition Hill, where we climbed a steep hill to where Mary had first appeared to 6 children nearly 30 years ago. There were 5 stops up the hill, where at each station we did a decat of the rosary. For those that do not know, since I did not know, it is one Our Father, ten Hail Marys and a Glory Be. I was able to blend with the group and able to hide that I had no idea what was going on. I had no idea what to say or do since it was said in Croatian or Gaelic just to make it more difficult. We had to do all the hiking in silence, which was OK, as I needed the exercise as well after eating so much good food in Croatia. At the top was a statue of Mary, where she had first appeared, where we were to pray and stuff. I sat in the shade and took in the countryside view. I only moved out of the much needed shade when a little snake slithered past me. I am not afraid of snakes, but I am of those that are poisonous, and these ones were. We took a leisurely climb back down where we boarded the bus for a lunch of a roasted piglet and lamb on a spit. After filling our bellies it was off to Kravice Falls. They may not have been Niagra Falls, but in the semi circle of rock there were dozens for small waterfalls cascading down into a large pool before heading off as a river. It was absolutely breathtaking and the mist was a warm welcome after the sun that decided to pierce through the clouds.

The following day was a very early climb, with only five of us, up Mount Križevac. This was MUCH larger than the other hill. Hill vs Mountain. This mountain had 14 stations of the cross, but by the end of it we had done 17. There were only 5 of us willing to do the hike, so come station number 6 when it was my turn to do a decet of the rosary, my secret was out, and my heathen ways were known. Out of respect, I participated by reading them from a little book Jožo our guide had given me to lead the group. I was slow on my first one, but by the last one I lead, I was super fast. The cross at the top contained a piece of what is alleged to be Jesus’ crucifixion cross, so there were many people up there praying at it. I was amazed by the view. Since the mountain is a big overgrown, I could not see the views until the top. They were spectacular of the entire valley. We took a long winding, not so steep path back where we enjoyed a few beers, before heading to mass. This was the one time I was going to go since the young girl did not want to go alone, and thankfully it was in English. There was even an Irish film crew there filming it for the 30th anniversary show that will be June 24th. Who knows, I may even end up on the telly.