Sunday 11th September - Medugorje and Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina

MOSTAR
Today we  took a guided tour to Mostar and Medugorje.  The minibus collected us at 07.30am for what would be a full day excursion.  Having been half frightened to death by the crazy speed at which we travelled home on the previous excursion, Angela wasn’t at all sure she  wanted to risk life and limb again today, but we’d paid in full so she decided to take a chance.  Fortunately, this driver drove at a a very sedate pace – a blessing because once we got off the motorway we were on incredibly winding mountain roads with amazing panoramic views and correspondingly mind blowing drops.  This was certainly not a road we would have liked to have driven ourselves. Angela kept her eyes closed for much of the journey!

Mostar is in a basin, being surrounded by three mountains.  We were warned that this made for incredibly high temperatures in the summer, with 45/50 degrees being considered completely normal.  We were also warned not to stray away from the old town to ensure our safety, and to watch our belongings when approached by gypsy beggars.  (We actually only saw one, so this wasn’t a problem.)  We were also warned not to expect traffic to stop at zebra crossings.  Our local guide said that Mostar drivers take road regulations as suggestions rather than laws to be obeyed.
There are Franciscan, Catholic and Orthodox churches, as well as a Mosque and a Synagogue in Mostar and this was held up as evidence of religious tolerance and harmony, but our guide said that there was still a way to go.  The streets of the old town are very narrow, sloping and extremely slippery, being paved with cobbles that have worn to a smooth and treacherous shine. The streets are crammed with many souvenir stalls but they all sell the same things; beaded purses, glass mosaic candle holders, bags and silk scarves.  Everything is very inexpensive, even cheaper than in Croatia.  We had our cheapest but best coffee yet at one of the street cafes. There was ottoman influence in Mostar and it certainly shows in the coffee.

Mostar’s iconic Stari Most (bridge) was completely destroyed during the war, but rebuilt with UNESCO money, employing the building techniques used on the original bridge with many of the original stones being reclaimed.  The bridge is fast becoming the home of a new tourist attraction, the bridge jumpers.  They wait until they’ve collected enough money (25 Euros) to make it worth their while to jump, and tourists gather around to take pictures of them jumping.  It’s very dangerous, not only because of the drop into shallow water but also because of the dramatic drop from the hot air temperature to the icy  water temperature, 21 metres below.  They have to bring their body temperature down first with cold water before they make the jump, consequently they drench their swimsuits in water.  We were told that there was a recent incident where one young man (a novice) had had a heart attack after jumping without taking this precaution.

Our tour guide expressed the hope that we would go home and tell people about our trip so that they would want to make Mostar a holiday destination rather than just a day trip to be made from elsewhere. Tourism is obviously incredibly important to them. However, whilst the city is of great historic interest, distant and recent, there was little that we thought would hold your attention for more than a day, even if we weren’t put off by the incredible stifling heat.

    
              Despite the rebuilding, the scars of the recent war are still evident around Mostar


    
                             The iconic Stari Most (bridge), rebuilt after being destroyed




Bridge jumpers risk their lives for money


    
                                                            Views in both directions from the bridge



                          Mostar  Old Town

Roland was at the front of the minibus so had the opportunity throughout the day to get into conversations with the tour guide, Tony and the driver, Ivan.  They seemed to suggest that there are still tensions between the nations, but that this is more notable amongst older people, presumably because they lost their sons to the war.  Younger people on the other hand think that the past was another country.  However, there does seem to be undisguised animosity towards Serbs.  There was an example of this at the border crossing, pointed out by Ivan.  We were behind a Serb coach which was also crossing into Croatia from Bosnia. However, our bus was waived through with little formality whereas the Serbs were having every document individually checked against the people on board. 

According to our young guide and driver there is also a generation divide as far as Tito is concerned.  Most young people are positive towards him and feel that he contributed a lot to the countries of the region.  Older people do not look so generously upon him.
As elsewhere, we found little difficulty being understood, many people speak some or good English.  Most other foreigners also seem to use English as a first resort when touring Europe.

MEDUGORJE
On our way back from Mostar we took a detour to the small town of Medugorje.  It was here in 1981 that 6 children claimed to have seen apparitions of the virgin Mary, and continue to claim to receive messages from the virgin Mary as adults.  The Catholic church has not given its full blessing to the site, giving it a label of non constat. They don’t dissuade people from going, but merely state that more evidence is required for the site to be given more significance. 

It was a rather grey and thundery afternoon (as are lots of afternoons in the region) but we decided that we should at least make the effort to climb the couple of hundred metres to the top of Apparition Hill.  We were expecting a well trodden path up the hill, but in fact it was a rock strewn scramble.  Those people who were either ill equipped in light sandals and flip-flops or people who were less stable on the feet, soon fell into difficulty.  None of this was made plain at the start.  Angela and I made our way up until about 5 minutes from the top, but by this time it had started to rain and lighting was striking the hillside.  We decided that being on a hillside in a thunderstorm was somewhat foolhardy, and not being Catholic or believing in miracles (only of the man made kind) we decided to head down. The ‘path’ seemed even less defined on the way down and the rocks were getting quite slippery in the wet.  Just to emphasize the above we had to wait for about half an hour at our bus for one gentleman who had got disorientated at the top and lost his way down. 

The town has exploded on the back of the claimed apparitions and the site is now a pilgrimage for devout Catholics.  The majority of the people, not surprisingly, are from Croatia, but also Spain, Italy and Ireland. 

The best part of our visit to Medugorje was the visit to the Catholic church, but not for the huge stage and arena outside. 


Arena outside the Catholic Church in Medugorje 

Angela and I stumbled inside the church to get out of the heat and just sat quietly in the cool.  Angela marveled at the new stained glass windows (she’s into stained glass).  After sitting in silence for some time, the silence was broken by some wondrous singing from a local youth choir.  Now that was magical!