[Around The World #7] Mostar & Međugorje, Bosnia and Herzegovina. 2012.

Good evening

Ladies & gents... this will be by far my favorite post. Probably out of all I've written. You will get the chance to get a glimpse of paradise, two of the most beautiful places I have ever been to in my entire life - so far.

Mom, Haris, his best friend Kemal and I decided to go on a "little trip" and visit Mostar and Međugorje since those were the cities that I've always wanted to see - for a reason.

I've heard a lot about Mostar before, for several reason, one unfortunately being the war. There were two things I was most excited about: 

• Number 1: The "bridge of Mostar". 
I didn't knew she was called "Stari Most" until I was in Bosnia for the first time. When I was a child all I ever heard were 2 words "bridge" and "Mostar". I guess it always came on the radio. It's strange what kind of things you remember, I couldn't have been older than 3. I knew it was destroyed during the war and if you are from Germany or probably America you will know that there are all kinds of rumors surrounding especially Stari Most, the biggest being: they are still rebuilding it/they didn't rebuild it at all. Well, as you see above, they did. And it is beautiful.
Here are pictures of the bridge before the war and shortly after it.

(August 1974, from the German wikipedia article)

(I guess 1995, from google)

In my opinion they did a pretty good job at rebuilding it. This bridge has by far more meaning than just connecting two riversides. It connects the predominantly Muslim part of the city with the predominantly Catholic part of the city. Imagine what not rebuilding it would have meant. It was considered (and still is) as the symbolic connection between "East and West", "Christianity and Islam" and even "Catholic and Orthodox Christians".

• Number 2: The Neretva. 
See, I've read German author Juli Zeh's book "Die Stille ist ein Geräusch - Eine Fahrt durch Bosnien" (my sloppy translation: "Silence is a Sound - A Journey through Bosnia."). She tried to describe the color of the water, of the river Neretva. She comes to the conclusion that she has never seen a color like that and is not able to find the right words to "do it justice". The Neretva's color is just one of the questions she hopes to find answers to on her trip. At the end she comes back with a lot, not with an answer to any of her questions though.

"Wo wachsen die Melonen? Wie grün ist der Neretva-Fluss? Warum war hier Krieg? Wer hasst wen und wie sehr?" ("Where do the melons grow? How green is the Neretva-river? Why did the war start? Who hates whom and how much?")

I understand her. Of course I wanted to know whether what she said about the water was true. Whoever knows me knows that water has an extremely special meaning to me and I believe one of the reasons I consider Mostar and the area around it a sacred place is the color of the water, which is - extraordinary. No camera could ever be able to pick up that color, not really. It is almost surreal. That is why I have found a name for it, and mine is - as already mentioned - sacred. 

I could go on and on and on about Mostar but I will just continue, with another - for me and many other - sacred place. 
The topic "religion and me" is not always a good one and never easy. I am not at all a religious person but I am very much a spiritual one. I was raised as a Protestant and would say that out of all the World Religions Christianity is the one that personally suits me best - but even Christianity is not what I fully believe in, not at all. And believe me - I know a little about Religions. I read. I read everything I could get. I've read the Torah, the Bible, the Qur'an. I am still missing the Tripitaka and Veda - which I am actually most excited about. I would not talk about something I don't know ish about. 
Personally I started to pick out what I liked and what makes most sense to me - still: Humans come before any saint or god. 
Mostly I have been interested in Goddesses or rather in every little female character you can find in several different religions. 
That mainly derives from my strong interest in Egyptian religion (I mean the ancient one - of course) and my love for Sue Monk Kidd. Her books deal with the Sacred Feminine in a lot of ways, especially "The Secret Life of Bees" containing the "Black Mary" and OF COURSE: "The Dance of the Dissident Daughter - A Woman's Journey from Christian Tradition to the Sacred Feminine". After these books and even before, my strong interest in the Holy Mary became apparent - which is funny since mostly Catholics worship her. For me, the love a mother has for her child is the most natural thing on earth and in heaven (short explanation).

That's why I was so thrilled to go to a place of pilgrimage dedicated to the Virgin Mary. We didn't see all of it and didn't climb the mountain where children originally said they saw HER (which made this place so special for Christian (Catholic) pilgrims around the world). I definitely have to go back again. With more time. 
Those are the main reasons why these two places out of all I have visited were probably the most special to me. 
I'm sorry for my rather intimate ramble but I believe that you can still look up more "objective" and general information on the net, and of course everything else you should know.
You can always find a collection of important information on Wikipedia but there are also other, maybe not so objective pages like this one for Medjugorje.

When it comes to Mostar I find visitmostar quite helpful.

I will end this post with two quotes

***
>> Of everything that man erects and builds in his urge for living nothing is in my eyes better and more valuable than bridges. They are more important than houses, more sacred than shrines. Belonging to everyone and being equal to everyone, useful, always built with a sense, on the spot where most human needs are crossing, they are more durable than other buildings and they do not serve for anything secret or bad. <<
Ivo Andrić (for more information check my next post)
***
***
>> You don't have to place your hand on Mary's heart to get strength and consolation and rescue, and all the other things we need to get through life. You can place it right here on your own heart. Your own heart. <<
 Sue Monk Kidd
***

Yours, 

Lea. 

Mostar

Međugorje

[Around The World #6] Visoko, Bosnia and Herzegovina. 2012.

Hey everyone!

After ages I am finally back. I'm not going to make up any excuses I just didn't have enough time and a bunch of stress the last couple of months. Therefore I also achieved lot of things. :) I passed all of my exams, moved back to Bonn, organized everything for my internships and New York.

I have to finish up the posts about my summer vacation quickly because I still have to pack my bags among other stuff since I am leaving for NY tomorrow. I thought about not doing them anymore but thought it would be sad even though it is kind of ridiculous since my vacation was 6 months ago (if I'm not mistaken, time seriously flies) and I will be back in Bosnia by the end of March anyways.

A short update: I decided not to go to Romania this year since I was offered two internships in Bosnia for spring and summer: one in Sarajevo and one in Banja Luka. I will probably stay for about 4 months. Neither would I have enough time for Romania nor money.

Concerning the last four posts (including this one): I wrote them a while ago, wasn't happy with it, deleted everything, wrote it again and didn't finish editing, looked at it now and realized that a lot just wasn't up-to-date anymore. Here I am again with not enough time on my hands, trying to keep the texts short - quoting a lot - keeping the focus on the pictures. I'm aware of the fact that this actually is neither doing the places nor the people justice. Bear that in mind. 

Let's get it crackin'.

If you've read the title you'll know that we took a trip to the lovely town of Visoko and its pyramids (which you actually can't see but guess, since that was the exact place where the pictures were taken).

Besides its pyramids Visoko has a breathtaking landscape and is the home of a bunch of amazing people.

I don't know whether all of you are familiar with the Bosnian pyramids or have even heard of them before. As a matter of fact: You should have. They are not only extremely interesting and fascinating but also highly controversial. There is a whole debate on whether they are actually pyramids or not etc., man-made or a "hill". Honestly, none of it makes sense to me. They definitely look like pyramids. Arguing whether people lived in there or not, were buried there or not is in my opinion absolutely unnecessary. I am 100% positive that they are NOT "natural" furthermore they have an extremely complex structure. I don't get why people even argue whether they are man-made or just "hills". As far as I can say, even though I am not a scientist, the wikipedia entry supporting the latter is BS. I have eyes. I don't think that nature can built something that precise.

Since I don't want to say anything wrong, here are some more information about the "bosanske piramide". Maybe I will also include a video the next days, a documentary my dear friend Haris (who was there with his mom, my mom and me) posted on FB after our trip:

Bosnianpyramid.com

Just for your information: We were on the Bosnian Pyramid of the Moon where we had an AMAZING little tour guide. If I'm not mistaken he was not more than 12 years-old and told us that he had worked at the pyramids for years, showing tourists around without asking for any money. After talking to our friends in Bosnian and a little English here and there he suddenly started talking German, the moment he realized that my mom and me were speaking it. Let me just say that his German was damn near PERFECT! He seemed proud to say that he learned it from TV. That little guy truly got himself a place in my heart, and all of my respect. 

After lunch we went to see the Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun where we met a boy from Germany/Poland with his Polish father who ended up exploring the rest of the city/pyramids with us. Since it was extremely hot we didn't went all the way up and decided to visit the Tunnels. They were by far the most interesting. I had never been in ANY pyramid before and apart from that not with a tour guide as good as the one we had for the Tunnels. I tried to convince him to write something for my blog since he would have been able to write way more detailed, having obviously more knowledge. The tunnels were not only interesting because of their architecture but also because of a lot of spiritual "myths" (as some might call it) surrounding the place.

When we got out we wanted to see even more but it was already evening and we were way to tired. We decided to go back to Zenica, had coffee at our friend's house and then me and my mom got back to the hotel.

I am outraged and cannot understand why the pyramids don't get more international attention. As most of it in Bosnia, they deserve it.

All I have to say is: If you ever visit Visoko - which you definitely should, if you get the chance - hit me up for the info on the tour guides. 

On that note and again a long post: toodles! I'll be back with Mostar and Međugorje in a couple of minutes.

Yours,

Lea.

A Bosnian Summer. - or: Dobro došli!!!

Zdravo dolls!

Yes - I am back from my trip to Bosnia. And yes - I didn't upload any posts during my stay. Like Marilyn said: "I've tried to change my ways but the things that make me late (in this case: the things that wouldn't allow me to spend time on blogspot) are too strong, and too pleasing."

Anyways. I had an AWESOME time and wish I could go back or at least could have stayed a bit longer. Unfortunately I had to go back since I am moving on Friday and university starts in less than a month. 

Just like the last two times I went to Bosnia I arrived with a lot & returned with more. With more  information, stronger feelings, more soul & more will to come back again (also: more stuff... don't judge me ;-)). I feel like I got to know myself a little bit better, once again. Besides my 'personal growth' it is amazing to see how much changed in only 3 years. Houses which were still destroyed by the war are now back to their old beauty. People look different. More at peace, even though there is still some tension and obviously pain in most of their faces. I can't even put my finger on it but something has changed. It is like the country grew, grew stronger. Not to what it was before the war, I guess, but into something else. Something new. I believe once BiH finishes growing it will turn into a totally new form of beauty (if there can ever be an end to growth like this). Bosnia is a country which evolves, quickly - even though I am not too sure whether this quickness is good (I can't imagine people suddenly having enough money to rebuild their houses in 3 years if they didn't have the money to do so for nearly 14 years. But that's another story.) In my opinion the fact that there is a development is most important & the fact that this development goes way deeper than building new houses or driving new cars. It is about the people I've met, the people I know. 

My mom and I spent 4 days in Sarajevo and 6 in Zenica where we were visiting good friends of mine (I'd actually call them family...). Despite the fact that our hotels were located in these cities we also  made a lot of road trips to the cities of Travnik, Mostar, Međugorje and Visoko, just to name a few.

I will definitely upload pictures of all of the places we visited. As a matter of fact here's the deal: The next days (maybe weeks) I will upload and include them in my 'Around The World series'. I've also got a haul coming up, containing the stuff I bought while I was out there.

On that note: Laku noć!!!

Yours, 

Lea.

Taking a break in Austria.

Nice boy selling 'lubenica' near the Bosnian/Croatian border.

Near Doboj.

Hotel #1. Hotel Grand in Sarajevo.

View on the Avaz Twist Tower from our hotel room. The first night in Sarajevo.

Hotel #2. Motel Almy in Zenica.

Mommy. :-)

Zenica.

>>Bosnia is under my skin. It's the place you cannot leave behind. I was obsessed by the nightmare of it all; there was this sense of guilt, and an anger that has become something much deeper over these last years.<<
  - Paddy Ashdown.