Balkan Roadtrip - Bosnia Herzegovina: Visit to Medjugorje / Medugorje

My friend Bubbles, whom I was travelling with in the Balkans, had a request that we stop over at Medjugorje. We got lucky because Medjugorje was on the way to Dubrovnik, Croatia, which is our next stop.

Half an hour into our driving, we reached Medjugorje. Parking was not easy to find, but we struck lucky and found a space not too far away from the Saint James Church.

Medjugorje or Medugorje is a world-famous Catholic pilgrimage site due to the Our Lady of Medjugorje, who claimed to have seen a series of apparitions of the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus, to 6 Bosnian children at Križevac Hill.

I knew about this story growing up. Our family was by default Catholic until my parents moved to become Pentecostals in my teens. I still went to a Catholic school, so I was largely familiar with the practices of Roman Catholicism.

Being a curious and open-minded individual, I do not mind participating in any religious activity.  Although I do not believe in a god, I find it a richly rewarding experience to partake in these activities. I have learned to appreciate the differences in our cultures and find them very special.

Many souvenir shops sell religious items, a treasure trove for Catholic pilgrims.

We visited the Saint James Church. There was a mass service going on when we were there. The interior of the church was quite simple, far different from the Catholic churches in Western Europe. 

At the back of the church is a large outdoor area with an altar. It probably has a seating capacity of close to a thousand or perhaps even more. It can surely accommodate more people standing. 

Beside the church is this bus-terminal-like building with an open area and many little rooms. It took us quite a while to figure out what the place was all about. Who would have expected the minuscule rooms to be all confessional rooms? Yes, mass confessional rooms, and the open area is space for people to queue up.

The confessional rooms cater to different languages, and this particular booth has a long line. 

We retreated to a cafe restaurant across the church, Viktor's Pan Restaurant, where we had some coffee. The restaurant is family-run and has a nice balcony seating area just above the souvenir shops with a direct view of Saint James Church.

Bubbles wanted to buy some religious souvenirs, and I also wanted to find a special crucifix for the Dutch mother-in-law and my sister, so we scoured the row of souvenir shops below and on the main street.

The tiny bottle has bits of the grounds of the Apparition Hill.

The main street leading to the Saint James Church.

The crucifixes I bought for my sister and Dutch mother-in-law.

We then went to the Apparition site at Križevac Hill. 

We realised that we would need to hike up the rocky hill to reach the site where Mary appeared to the children. Bubbles was not in the mood to do the climb, so we just stayed for a few minutes watching the people making their way up. It was relatively busy, and it looks like they made a few stations of the cross before you reach the Apparition site. Well, that was enough for us.

Back on the road, to Dubrovnik, Croatia!

Travel Period: April 2017

Destination: Medjugorje (Herzegovina), Bosnia & Herzegovina

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