The Old Bridge area, with its pre-Ottoman, eastern Ottoman, Mediterranean and western European architectural features, is an outstanding example of a multicultural urban settlement. The Old Bridge was recently rebuilt and many of the edifices in the Old Town have been restored or rebuilt with the contribution of an international scientific committee established by UNESCO. In the 1990s conflict, however, most of the historic town and the Old Bridge, designed by the renowned architect Sinan, was destroyed. Mostar has long been known for its old Turkish houses and Old Bridge, Stari Most, after which it is named. The historic town of Mostar, spanning a deep valley of the Neretva River, developed in the 15th and 16th centuries as an Ottoman frontier town and during the Austro-Hungarian period in the 19th and 20th centuries. I observed a woman being brought up in a stretcher by two men because she could not do it on her own and was not denied the experience. The statue of Our Lady where she appeared to the children in 1981 is breathtaking. The hike up the hill is not easy, but it is not hard either. It takes less than an hour to get to the top. Making our way up the rocky trail, bronze images of the mysteries of the Rosary are good places to rest and reflect. Also at the bottom of the hill are the blue crosses marking where Our Lady has appeared to the children after first appearing on top of the hill. Before long we came upon the village of Bijakovici, which is at the base of Apparition Hill. We encountered some fruit stands and souvenir stores along the way. We walked by several vineyards and a few houses. We were greeted by beautiful countryside along the way. Starting out at the Hotel Toni, in Medjugorje, the group I was with began our hike early in the morning with Apparition Hill being our destination.
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