Split to Medjugorje

Split Airport

Jane and I were seatmates on flights from Columbus to Detroit and Detroit to Frankfurt, Germany.  Then we

Split Airport ... our bus is to the right.

Giant aloe plant

were seated with strangers on the flight to Split, Croatia.  Split, like Dubrovnik, has a somewhat tropical climate.  You can see by the vegetation in the photos.  Our group had to be split (no pun intended) up into two flights.  The group that Jane and I were in arrived in Split first.  While we waited outside the airport, some group members walked perhaps a mile or so to view the Adriatic Sea.  I stayed behind with Linda who had trouble walking so she would have some company.  Later when Linda had to visit the ladies' room, I saw a couple of elderly women who were struggling to take a picture of themselves amidst the tropical scenery.  I offered to take several photos of both of them together.  When they expressed their delight with the tropical plants, I told them that I was a native of Croatia.  We began talking and I found out that one was originally from Columbia in South America, although both of them had been living in Miami, Florida for several decades.  When they learned that I was going to Medjugorje in Bosnia-Hercegovina, they quickly asked me to submit their prayer requests to Our Lady while I was there.  I promised I would.

Split, Croatia and Medjugorje, Bosnia-Hercegovina

  

Our bus to Hotel Mir

As I looked at the bus that was taking us to our hotel, I couldn't help but notice that the name of the hotel was the Croatian word for peace.  I smiled and I thought to myself, "What an extraordinary name for a hotel in a country (Bosnia-Hercegovina) where war impoverished an already impoverished people."

Our bus trip to Medjugorje was a ride through the craggy mountains of the region.  We stopped at the Croatian-Bosnian border. No photographs were allowed and we all had to surrender our passports for inspection by the Bosnian border patrol.  We sat on the bus for approximately 20 minutes before being allowed to journey on toward Medjugorje.  It was a bright, sunny day.  As we drove through this harsh but beautiful environment, I was struck by the stark contrast between the Hercegovina region of Bosnia and Split, Croatia.  One could sense the poverty and simplicity of the residents of the Hercegovina region.  As we passed one limestone landscape after another, I thought to myself, " ... so this is where the Blessed Mother chose to appear to six ordinary children."   It suddenly made sense to me. Mary has oftentimes shown herself to those who were the most destitute ... the poor and the innocent.

The rugged terrain of the Balkans.