Your prayer petitions made it to Medjugorje!
It was my honor to carry your prayers this weekend to the Shrine of our Lady of Medjugorje, located in the Herzegovina region of Bosnia and Herzegovina. I prayed for you all as a group during the healing part of the evening program and then I lit a candle for each of your petitions and read them out loud. The prayers I presented to Our Lady included requests for healing, growth in holiness, family members, marriage, and many more. I am so thankful you shared your requests with me and I now entrust them to our mother Mary and our Almighty Father. The featured photo on this blog post depicts the candles I lit for your prayers.
Information about my trip to Medjugorje
How did you get to the Shrine of our Lady of Medjugorje?
I flew into the beautiful Croatian city of Dubrovnik, which is definitely worth at least a day visit. From there, I bought bus tickets to Mostar (located about 25 KM from Medjugorje) but as often happens (as I later learned), the outbound bus I was supposed to be on was very late arriving into Dubrovnik. I really wanted to be in Medjugorje for the Saturday evening Mass so I splurged on an Uber which cost me close to 200 euros. I later learned that the cheapest way to take a private car to the shrine is to call a taxi from Medjugorje to come and pick you up in Dubrovnik. The price should be about 150 euros.
A note about buses in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina
Do not believe what the attendants at the bus ticket windows tell you. They do NOT care. They will give you the wrong bus platforms, make wild suggestions about how to get to Medjugorje, and otherwise do everything possible to make you go away. I observed a number of tourists getting into confrontations with the attendants because they had been given inaccurate information. I also experienced this myself.
Buses are regularly late in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. While I was waiting for my own late bus in Dubrovnik, I met a group of tourists who had just been stuck in a bus on the side of the road for three hours because of mechanical issues. You will want to give yourself plenty of extra time, especially if you have a plane to catch.
The other issue compounding the late arrivals and departures is that despite Medjugorje being a popular tourist destination, there are surprisingly few daily bus options to and from the shrine. It is important to schedule your trip out in advance to make sure you don’t get stuck or have to shell out a bunch of money for private transportation.
Also beware that the bus station in Medjugorje, located just a few minutes walk north of Saint James, only accepts cash. You can purchase tickets online through FlixBus, but you will be charged a few extra euros service fee.
How did I leave Medjugorje?
Because of the limited bus options leaving Medjugorje, I had to take a taxi first to Metković (just back inside the Croatian border), and then a Flixbus from Metković to Split. The bus picking me up in Metković only arrived 30 minutes late but we still somehow managed to arrive in Split an hour later than planned. Inexplicably, the bus driver would just pull over to the side of the road for 10-20 minutes and cut the engine.
Where did you stay in Medjugorje?
Medjugorje is surprisingly cheap, with plenty of hotel rooms available for under 50 euros a night. I highly recommend Hotel Flowers, which is located just a few minutes walk south of Saint James on the road which leads up to Apparition Hill. The rooms are small but cozy and clean, and the managers of the hotel, Gerardo y Helia, will make you feel at home. The hotel owner and managers also run a Catholic TV channel called Maria Vision Medjugorje (TV and Radio) and are always looking for Catholics who are willing to share their testimonies on the air. I was invited to tour their lovely studios and enjoyed getting to know the staff and volunteers.
How does money work in Medjugorje?
The official currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina is called the mark, but euros are also widely accepted in Medjugorje. The currency exchange for mark is twice the amount in euros so if you are purchasing a 10 euro sandwich for example, you would either pay 10 euros or 20 marks.
The acceptance of credit cards is hit or miss, so make sure you always have some cash on hand. Also, there is usually a ten euro minimum if you want to use a credit card.
The only place in Medjugorje where I saw a sign for currency exchange was at the bus station, but the service window was closed when I visited on a Monday morning. The nearest currency exchange, according to Google, was more than 30 miles away.
ATM machines are plentiful in the town but they only dispense marks and the exchange rates are atrocious, not to mention the exorbitant fees you will be charged. My suggestion is to exchange money in Dubrovnik or Split first before traveling to Medjugorje.
Is Medjugorje real?
I am not going to spend much time on this topic because you must come to your own conclusions about the shrine. I am not here to tell you one way or the other. However, here are a few observations from a priest with whom I ate dinner near the shrine. He has been coming to the shrine for 30 years, back when the town was mainly covered in dirt roads, and there were few shops or restaurants.
Here is what he told me:
- The Catholic Church will not make a decision about Medjugorje until the apparitions have ceased.
- Other shrines around the world, such as Fatima and Lourdes, were visited by hundreds of thousands, it not millions of people, before the Catholic Church recognized them.
- The Vatican sent a retired Polish Bishop, Henryk Hoser, to observe the goings-on at Medjugorje. The Bishop spoke very favorably of the Shrine and predicted the Vatican would recognize the apparitions.
- In 2019, the Vatican officially authorized pilgrimages to Medjugorje.
Is Medjugorje worth visiting?
I highly recommend a visit to Medjugorje and suggest that you spend at least a couple of days there.
The town is clean and beautiful and the Franciscans who oversee the Church and the daily programs run a tight ship. The music I experienced at the Church during the Mass and adoration was some of the most beautiful music I have ever heard. The food and lodging are cheap, and Medjugorje is a great place to meet other pilgrims from around the world. Climbing the beautiful, rocky, hills, praying the stations of the cross, and visiting the site of the first apparition was exhilarating and uplifting. I can promise you will not be disappointed! Go to Medjugorje and allow the Lord to fill your heart with His peace and joy!
Tell us about your experience at Medjugorje below!
