Pansion Ivanka-Beba Radic Medjugorje

... This was an english mass and it was packed. Last night we walked to town thru the fields. This is the shortcut to town. Coming home it was dark so was a little tense. I kept thinking where eealse could you walk around like this without fear. Today Marijana has her apparition at 9:00 nAM. This is who we are staying with. People come from all over town to witness this. Afterwards ...

... Mostar, when on June 24th 1981 when 6 teenagers, claimed they had seen an miraculous apparition of the Virgin Mary, although the Catholic Church hasn't officially acknowledged the apparition (if you are not religious don't make this a stop on your itinerary when you come to Bosnia, a horrible town, well in our opinion).
After a freezing dip in a local waterfall and a wine tasting, were we got a 1L bottle of wine for only €3 and it tasted bloody good to, we ended ...

... leads to a small chapel. No photos are allowed in this chapel, so words will have to suffice. There were stained glass windows, and an icon of Jesus on the cross. But really, I hardly noticed the rest, for looking at the life-size and life-like Jesus on the Cross. This was not a 'life-like' wooden depiction. It was more like Madame Tussaud's, a figure with hair, a beard, hair on the arms and legs. Very realistic looking nails Larry and I left and ...

... have beautiful grounds and an incredibly gorgeous chapel featuring an icon made by three of the men. Cenacolo has, if I remember correctly, 57 houses around the world, including three in the States. After dinner, someone pulled out a guitar and there was singing until Mate gave us a geography and history lesson on Bosnia-Herzegovenia and Croatia.

We reached Matti's family home-- a three story house with about 20 bedrooms now to accommodate pilgrims-- around 5:30 p.m. local time. We found our rooms, I found I am rooming with Lynn, who is traveling with her daughter, son-in-law, and two granddaughters. Matti's mother served us a wonderful dinner of soup, salad, green beans in garlic and olive oil sauce, and the most delicious spaghetti ...

We hadn't set out to a whirlwind tour of the various states of what used to be Yugoslavia but we wound up doing just this: one day in Slovenia, one and a half in Bosnia, and now one in Herzigovia, or more specifically, Mostar, the jewel in the crown of this rather unknown region. For reasons we were not able to figure out completely, Bosnia and Herzegovia are one country (whereas the rest of the Yugoslavian states, even tiny Montenegro, have split off ...

... I could join her and she said it wouldnt be a problem. I got ready quickly and in no time we went out looking for a Bosnian restaurant. We had a good dinner and a good chat as well. We were both heading out to Sarajevo tomorrow so we made plans to go together. It was going to be an early start to our day so we quickly walked through the old town after dinner and then returned to our hostel. So tomorrow I am off to Sarajevo. Dino Vagabond

Maanantaina oli aika lahtea pois Korčulasta. Yhdeksalta aamulla lautta vartin paahan Orebiciin, siita bussi niemimaan toiselle puolelle Trpanjiin ja taas lautta Pločeen, josta lahtee rautatie Bosniaan. Kroatiassa rata katkeaa Splitiin ja seuraavan kerran kiskoja loytyy vasta etelampaa Pločesta. Siella joutuikin sitten tappamaan aikaa hetken. Saavuin vahan puolen paivan jalkeen ja juna Mostariin lahti vasta viidelta. Siina ajassa ...

... about the beautiful scenery - lots of mountains with lakes and villages dispersed throughout them - but I had a hard time enjoying them because I was so tired that my eyes kept trying to shut themselves. We arrived in Mostar at 9:30am, dropped our bags off at the luggage storage room, and set out to explore the town before the 12:45pm bus to Split, Croatia ...

... up a rocky hill in a landscape of countryside fields and vineyards, fall colored trees in distant mountains that everyone commented reminded them of either Montana or Idaho. There are statues for each joyful mystery of the rosary so we pilgrimaged up praying the rosary with our reverent tour guide leading. Surrounding us were people praying in all languages, some barefoot on the scraggly rocks, some so old they were almost crawling or using bushes to ...