Growing up Catholic, Nicolette and I have both heard lots of stories and reasons why thousands of people make a pilgrimage to Medjugorje every year. Due to its close proximity to Croatia we figured we may as well stop over and do our own little pilgrimage. The border crossing was a breeze since going into Bosnia they didn’t even check our passports they just waved us through. We didn’t get a stamp on the passport, as you know that’s a huge deal for travelers is to get stamps as proof you’ve been there. With no proof how would anyone ever know we were there…. Well by pictures and stories of course!!!
So we left Split that morning and drove towards Medjugorje and we arrived there at about 1pm in the afternoon. We were able to check into our Airbnb so we drove to Apparition Hill which is where Mary appeared to the 6 children in 1981. On the way the streets were lined with trinket shops selling rosaries, bibles, crosses, anything biblical that a tourist might need during their visit. It didn’t feel authentic, but hey everyone has to make a living. As we climbed the hill the jagged rocks and extreme temp made the trek very challenging and became an internal battle. We reached the cross and there were many people kneeling and praying before the statue of Mary. We sat in silence (under the shade) and did our own praying and reflection. Next to us was a 12-14yo boy that was bald from chemo. It made us really give thanks for the opportunity and health we have.
Across town(5min away) we drove by more shops and hiked the stations of the cross hill. With 14 stations and just as rocky and sun baked we took our time at each cross to catch our breath and give thanks. We reached the summit with a great view of the desert stricken landscape that was lined with hotels and shops for the million tourists that travel here each year. It made me question “what did this area look like when Mary visited the children”. We hiked down and went back to the Airbnb to shower and enjoy the AC for the afternoon.
We went to mass at 7pm and to my utter surprise there were thousands of people. It was insane, only the local parishioners could sit inside but outside they had 100’s of benches set out for the 1000’s of people that go to mass here each and every day. We found out they served 200,000 eucharists just in the month of June and now we could see why. Before mass started they had priests from all over the world giving out confessionals and people were lined up of all races and countries. Mass was in Croatian so we followed along and enjoyed the crowd of people from all over the world. That night we went to a restaurant that our Airbnb host recommended and it was very affordable for the portion size. Nic got a chef salad which pretty much was a plate full of tomato’s and I got cheese and meat pancakes. Weird I know, but both were very delicious. Emotionally and physically drained from the day we went back to the Airbnb for our nights rest. One interesting fact is that the Vatican (Catholic headquarters) didn’t start recognizing Medjugorje as a pilgrimage site until 2019.
We had multiple recommendations from friends that we had to stop at Mostar if in Bosnia, so that morning we drove towards Mostar. As we drove through the winding mountain side we dropped into the valley of Mostar and instantly noticed something different about the city skyline. Not only were their cathedrals everywhere but there were also Mosques that littered the landscape. Being in extremely Christian dominant Eastern Europe it caught us by surprise. We parked the car(still not sure if it was illegal or not) and walked towards the main destination of the Old bridge. Throughout the city it seemed that every other building was deserted and abandoned. Much of this had to do with the Bosnian war but also Covid and it’s 2+ years of shutdown. Right along the water is a Marriott that was mid build and today it sits unfinished and empty. I’m sure the owners of Marriott promised jobs and city growth with its completion. Originally the bridge separated the Muslim side to the Catholic side but today the city is intermingled between both religions. The bridge was built in the 16th century but was destroyed during the Bosnian war. As we walked over the 30m high bridge above the river floor we got a picturesque view of the valley and both religions that have had so much conflict for 1000’s of years but that day they seemed at peace.
We walked through the old streets and it made me think back to my days in Instanbul Turkey as we were surrounded by little shops that reminded me of the Grand Bazar there. We found the Koski Mehmed Pasha Mosque from the 17th century along the river and went inside to go up in the minaret to get a birds eye view of the bridge, mountain, and the city nestled in its arms. Because of how small the staircase and balcony were in the minaret it led to quit the challenge of moving around the 10-15 other people that were also trying to get the views and of course pictures. We finally made our way out and I made sure Nics fear of heights hadn’t kicked in. We walked back to the vehicle wondering what sort of hardships the locals had been through during the wars and fighting that had left this many deserted buildings.
Not far down the road was a Blagaj a Turkish based town built around the river that comes out of the side of a cliff face. Again lots of tourists but interesting how they built along the river and cliff faces to fulfill their needs of the time. The locals selling fruits and vegetables had them sitting in the ice cold water to keep them fresh and cold before the sale. On our walk out we ran into a friend from of mine from Montana State, Jamie, her husband lives in Croatia so they were in the area visiting his family. They were refugees during the Bosnian war so he lived in Switzerland for 14 years. Very random running into her and proves just how small the world is.
On our drive into Dubrovnik we were along the coast and saw a tiny sign for restaurant so I slammed on the brakes, backed up and we walked down around into a 3 table family restaurant. The grandpa and dad were sitting at the table shirts off drinking wine, mom and kids down swimming in the sea. I asked if they had any food for us and he said “yes sit down” so we did and enjoyed the sea side view. He came over and we asked what he had for food and if they had a menu, he responded and said “you should get octopus salad, mussels, and fish, and I will also bring out some local wine.” We said, “sounds great”. Best part is as we were sitting there we saw the kids go to the dock and fill a 5 gallon bucket with mussels and the 1 fish, so we knew it was fresh. We got the white local wine and enjoyed the octopus salad(which is just chopped octopus and a couple tomatoes), a massive pile of mussels, and our favorite, the full fish, head and everything. Nicolette saw at guy earlier in the trip at a restaurant just pull from the head and it deboned the entire fish and she nailed the execution of it, so I started calling her Bear Grylls but she didn’t know who that was….. Not sure how they seasoned the fish but it was so good we ate every last bit. We had 3 different seafoods and our only greens were the couple tomatoes and a pickled green bean side dish. It was such an amazing experience.
We got into Dubrovnik just after 7pm and went down into Old Town to walk the streets and enjoy the new city. With a thunderstorm lingering overhead we booked it back to the Airbnb and sat on the porch and watched the storm engulf the coastal city.
With time running out we made the quick decision to get up early and run to Kotor Montenegro, another country we know but Joeri (who we met in Vietnam) said it was the best. As we cruised along the coast we knew we were In for a treat and it was only a 2 hour drive, we were well on track until we hit the border. We didn’t plan on it taking long because of our previous experiences and boy were we wrong. It took almost 1.5hrs to get across. We considered turning back but we were invested. We finally made it across and around the bay we went. The mountains were so steep there was only one road to get us over to Kotor so we followed it as it cut the line between sea and mountain. Parking was a whole other disaster but I finally found a paid lot (always trying to find the free ones) and were parked by 1230pm. Expecting to be hiking by 10, we were behind schedule so we just started hiking and ignored the heat warning. We arrived to the half way point and decided instead of cut it short let’s just do the full hike we planned so we hoofed it to the top. The trail must have been 500+ years old because of the cobble stones used all the way to the top. The fort walls followed us most of the way but then we surpassed them and we enjoyed the view of the steep mountains as the crashed into the water. We stopped multiple times for water break and shade due to the lack of shade and it being midday day. On the way down we found the trail to go through a secret portal into the Kotor fortress and followed the fortress walls into Kotor Old town. Complete exhausted from heat and elevation we got a Gyro from the street vendor and sat in the city center and took a much needed break.
We couldn’t decide if we should beach it in Montenegro or drive back to Croatia and we decided on Montenegro so not to waste the sunlight at the border. We found a local beach and looked around as the mountains and sea took our breath away.
Without much warning we decided to pack up the goodies and try and catch the sunset at a secluded beach just inside Croatia, again we waited at the border this time much quicker and we walked down the steep cliff edge to Pasjaca Beach and had a beer while the sun slipped behind the cliff face.
To avoid the crowds we were up and in Old Town Dubrovnik early. The 500 stairs to get down got our heart rates up. First stop was a bakery that we followed by the smell to our noses. I could smell the fresh bread and I told Nic it was a calling and we had to follow the smells, low and behold around the corner was a bakery fresh baking all the days needed goods. We enter and the lady says “sweet or savory” Nic responds “we don’t know yet” she says “can I recommend you? I mean look at me” as she runs her hands up and down her sides, not a small lady we took her word for it and she loaded us up with a couple croissants and another thing. The croissants were hot fresh out the oven and the chocolate inside folded around your tongue as you bit down into the flaky dough. The other thing was like a pizza in a bread dough, not a calzone but much thinner with honey ham slices on the inside. It was also delicious but nothing compared to the croissants. As we dropped through the staircases and neared the sea the smell of salt and fish enveloped us, but we overlooked it as the views of the old town and Lovrjanec came into view. We climbed up the steps into the ancient fortress in hopes to get a great morning view of the city. We were the first ones in, and we had the place to ourselves. There must have been a performance the night before because there was chairs and speakers littering the place but at the top was the perfect view of OldTown surrounded by the sea. At the top there was multiple cannons and even some old stone cannon balls for reference (wouldn’t wanna get hit by one of those). It was a short trip but the perfect trip for us to solo check it without the mobs of people.
Departing the castle we found a little shortcut around the walls and into a pack of people learning how to kayak from land, it was entertaining to say the least and proved that we truly are blessed to be so well versed in all things of human capability. Inside the Old town walls we walked the famous Stradun which is the main walking street through old town Dubrovnik. The stone floor gleams as if it were wet but it is just the shear smoothness from millions of people walking that street for 1000’s of years. We weave in and out of the streets avoiding other people at all costs eating Burek and walking up and down stairs like we are in a stair stepper class from the 70’s.
We had lunch plans up on the mountain so we departed town early so we could finish some laundry and pack for an afternoon of beach time. 3 options to get to the top, pay an arm and a leg to take the gondola for a 4min ride, hike, or drive the cliff face to the top. We opted for the driving time save money and get our adrenaline up to see how close to the edge we could get while letting another car pass us on the 1 lane road. The views over the city were excellent but the food and costs were less desired. I left the famous Panorama Restaurant a 3 star review on Google because I was expecting at those prices the food would be atleast two notches better then decent. It was just decent and the views were incredible which left us at the 3 star mark.
From the restaurant we picked a beach right on the coast lol (all beaches are on the coast) and we drove down, parking was a challenge but the bigger challenge was finding the beach we had picked out. Per the pictures there were stairs but they must have been private stairs because they were no where to be found. We even asked some people and confirmed it’s only accessible by swimming or boat. With too much water and beer in our bag we were would not have made the swim and didn’t have a boat so had to go to option 2. Option 2 was following the group ahead of us on the street cause they also had towels, luckily this worked out for the better. The beach was a very rocky one but had been paved over years ago so there were lots of areas for people to lay down and enjoy the area. We found shade and posted up there for 6 hours. Yes I said it, we sat in one spot for 6 hours. I’m surprised also, but we swam, jumped off the cliffs, updated our journals, read books, people watched, and just had ourselves the most relaxing 6hrs of our trip. We watched the sun go down and knew with less then 2 days left in Croatia we were really going to miss these moments.
On the way home we ended up driving under Old town, and got stuck in traffic before finding a cut off up a 25% inclined street that made nicolette really question my driving skills. Luckily no one was coming the other way cause I’m not sure I would have been able to start the manual transmission vehicle with that steep of an incline. We finished the wine at the room while we sat on the phone with our insurance company. Just how we wanted to finish the night….. no stress always positive!
Our last full day was used up doing laundry, eating our favorite foods and beach time. We found a beach surrounded by cliffs so we nestled into a shaded area and spent all afternoon there. People were snorkeling and cliff jumping. We caught up on journaling, cribbage, and next steps of our travel. We did witness someone get carried out on a stretcher just as we were getting ready to leave, and the only assumption was he jumped off one of the cliffs wrong.
We got back to the room, folded and washed one last load then Showered and walked into old town to spend the last evening among the city walls. We had Squid Ink risotto (famous dish here) and also a burek, I mean why not!?!? We sat and drank beers along the masses of people.
Sad to leave but happy for the next adventures we joked about our strict, beer, wine, gelato, burek, pastry diet since our arrival in Croatia.
On the last morning we stopped at our favorite bakery and drove to the airport in hopes we left early enough and they let us leave without issues and getting stopped by immigration agents.
We put over 1000miles on the Fiat, we babied the thing. Not like we drove it super fast or anything. When we dropped it off and I told the guy the mileage he was like “no you didn’t, I don’t believe you, that’s so much” well sir sorry we absolutely crushed visiting your country.
