Monday, November 30, 2009

Croatia-Bosnia

It was a long trip, but I will try to keep the post short. The first day we traveled all day starting at 2 pm, first by bus to the port and then by boat, we were on the boat all night. The next morning we landed in Croatia and it was back on the bus to take us to Medjugorje and our hotels, we arrived at 11. On the first day there, we stayed in Medjugorje for the first day. We toured the two miracle sites that they claim to have. The first is the statue of Jesus that is near the church, it is leaching an unexplained oily substance from the knee. The second site is up on a hill where six children claim to have seen the Virgin Mary many years ago. I touched the knee and it had a fluid substance bubbling slowly out of it but there are non miraculous theories that may explain what is causing the liquid. After the tour we went back to the hotel for a break. That night for dinner we celebrated Thanksgiving dinner at our hotel, it was veal with potatoes and green beans, but it was still thanksgiving because I shared it with a family of sorts, my Gonzaga family. After dinner we went to the only pub in town, almost all the students we had a great time.

Statue of Jesus

Apparition Hill

The next day we went to Mostar, it is known for all of the violence that occurred during the conflict during the 90's. On the way there, our bus celebrated the start of the Christmas season by playing Christmas music. We toured what is left of the old city, seeing a famous bridge that was rebuilt after the conflict. After the tour we went to lunch at a restaurant where they served us a traditional Bosnian lunch, which was a giant pita filled with sausage and french fries, it was quite good. After lunch one of my friends, Andrew Doty, played the piano. He is quite good, he did a lot of contemporary pieces, including the theme to The Office. We didn't stay long in Mostar because it was a Muslim holiday and many stores were closed. For dinner that night we went back to that pub, upstairs there is a restaurant that was quite good, we stayed after for a few drinks but called it an early night because we had to be up earlier the next day for our trip.

Evidence of the Conflict

The bridge in Mostar

Bro pic with Me, Grant, Kepfer, Doty, Dorman, and Larry

Doty on the piano

Saturday, we went to Dubrovnik, which is in Croatia. It rained all day but I still had fun, it took a little while for all of my stuff to dry out after. Once we arrived we had a short tour of the city followed by lunch. I went to The Admiral with Doty, Tim, and Larry, I had cream soup and shrimp risotto. After lunch we tried to find our way on to the wall that surrounds the old city, but we got there to late and it had been locked up for the night. We explored around the city and found the Jesuit Church and a playground. It was a long bus ride back, everyone was wet. When we returned to Medjugorje we didn't have a chance to dry off, it was a race back to the pub for dinner, I had the stuffed chicken, it was delicious.

Jesuit Church

Us at the playground

By the water in Dubrovnik
(I need to shave in this pic)

Sunday was the start of our trip home. We went to Split and had time to kill so we found a place to eat. I had pizza amerikana and a local dark beer, the beer was a little heavy for my liking but it had good flavor and I am glad that I tried it. We got on the boat for another 12 hour adventure with little to no sleep. Arrived in Ancona at 7am where we boarded the buses for the last leg of our return.

2 comments:

  1. Interesting contrast of pictures... Italy and Croatia/Bosnia. Definately can tell it is greatly affected by the war.
    Love,
    Mom and Dad

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  2. You need to get that friend of yours to teach me The Office theme song! I want to learn how to play it soooooo bad!! =)
    We had the Jamboree tonight. Lost to Wapato and beat Sunnyside. I played really well =)
    <3 Analisa =)

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