HILL OF APPARITIONS

Once called "Black Soil Hill" (Brdo Crnica), this 370-meter-high hillock is now known as "Apparitions Hill" (Brdo Ukazanja). It was here, halfway up the slope, that on June 24, 1981, four of the six child "witnesses" from Međugorje said they had their first miraculous apparition of the Virgin together. The place has become an important Catholic pilgrimage site (not recognized by the Vatican). If one is in good physical condition and with the right shoes, the 150 m of elevation gain is quickly swallowed, in less than twenty minutes. But for others, it is a real ordeal. The more you climb, the more the path bristles with large reddish stones, sometimes slippery, sometimes sharp. In the middle of summer, with the crowd, the tiredness and the sun which knocks, that can take one hour or more.

Statue, offerings and souvenirs. Some pilgrims push the difficulty to the point of climbing barefoot or on their knees, even crawling. It is very impressive. More in any case than the spectacle at the arrival. The view is not great. The statue of the Virgin that marks the spot of the "miracle" is a replica of the one in the square of the church of St. James in Međugorje. It was installed here in 2001 on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the first of the countless supposed apparitions in Međugorje. Since then, the small statue, known as the "Queen of Peace", receives its share of offerings almost every day: rosaries, scarves or graffiti carved into the rocks. After a prayer and/or a pause selfie, we leave in opposite direction. We have this time the time to discover the works in bronze of the Italian artist Carmelo Puzzolo (born in 1934) which punctuate the edges of the way. Pilgrims especially stop in front of a wooden cross that marks the spot where, still in 1981, Our Lady first addressed a message of peace for Yugoslavia, the world and Međugorje to one of the six children. We then return to the small crossroads of the hamlet of Podbrdo ("under the hill") where a convent, cafes-restaurants and Christian souvenir stores have taken up residence. If you don't have a car, you have to take a cab to the center of Međugorje. But if you have a car, you can go on another climb popular with some pilgrims - but unrelated to the famous apparitions: the hill of Križevac, located 3.4 km to the southwest. At the top of this hill, at 350 meters above sea level, the Franciscans erected a large cross in the 1930s. The view from there is more beautiful.