Our first stop today was Medjugorje. That's the place in Herzegovina where a bunch of kids had a vision of the Virgin Mary back in the '80s. It has gotten to be a huge tourist attraction - or rather, a pilgrimage site - especially for Italians and Irish. Since we are skeptics we couldn't quite believe how the stories of a bunch of kids could result in such a phenomenon , but there it was - unbelievable!
We crossed the border once again - this time from Bosnia-Herzegovina to Croatia. We drove north along the Dalmatian coast, stopping in the town of Makarska for lunch. Scenery along the coast is spectacular. This is a good time to be a tourist here. Temperatures are a little cooler than in the summertime, and the crowds of tourists have thinned out a bit. For those tourists coming for time on the beach, the water of the Adriatic is warmer now too, after a summer of warm, sunny days.
We arrived in Split around 3:00. We are staying in a newly remodeled hotel that is very close to the old town. We went there for supper tonight and will be having a walking tour there tomorrow. We had some excellent seafood for supper tonight - including black risotto, featuring cuddle fish and octopus ink - really good! Squid ink sounds gross, but it sure was good in risotto!
This bronze statue of Jesus is said to be "miraculous" - there is a weeping (i.e.-a water drip) coming out of the leg. The woman you see is wiping up the water (and weeping while she does this). She will later put this in a baggie and take it home.
Sandy had to try the local beer in Makarska.
Makarska is a very quaint little seaside town.
From our room in Split you can see the port area. Split has a large number of ferries to the various island in the Mediterranean. (There was also a cruise ship in port)
We crossed the border once again - this time from Bosnia-Herzegovina to Croatia. We drove north along the Dalmatian coast, stopping in the town of Makarska for lunch. Scenery along the coast is spectacular. This is a good time to be a tourist here. Temperatures are a little cooler than in the summertime, and the crowds of tourists have thinned out a bit. For those tourists coming for time on the beach, the water of the Adriatic is warmer now too, after a summer of warm, sunny days.
We arrived in Split around 3:00. We are staying in a newly remodeled hotel that is very close to the old town. We went there for supper tonight and will be having a walking tour there tomorrow. We had some excellent seafood for supper tonight - including black risotto, featuring cuddle fish and octopus ink - really good! Squid ink sounds gross, but it sure was good in risotto!
Medjugorje was a small (less than 200 families) village when the village priest decided that they would need this large church - so it was built! About 20 years after it was built five girls had a vision of the Virgin May on the hillside above the church.
This crowd (I would guess about 800 or so) is listening to prayers in Italian. Inside there is a service in Croatian (packed) and on the side is one in Greek (also packed). There are schedules around for prayer services in 6 languages. We were told that over 1,500,000 people come here on pilgrimage each year.
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