Pilgrimage to Medugorje

Our second stop in Bosnia-Herzegovina was the small town of Medugorje. This town is the 4th most popular Catholic Pilgrimage destination in Europe. Big surprise for me!
Long story short, six teenagers were on a hill overlooking the town in 1981 when they all were visited by the Virgin Mary. The town now gets over 1m pilgrims a year to pray at the local church and to climb the hill where the “visions” occurred.
The town is now full of shops selling icons to the pilgrims.
The hike up apparition hill is very steep with only jagged rocks on the path. It was hot, and the worst footing I’ve ever encountered on any trail. The church and town have left the trail and the area natural (unimproved) so as not to change the environment and feel of the area.
The stores in the town almost exclusively sell religious items. Some items (like the salt and pepper shakers in the photo) are more playful than others.Read more