Diary Entry
The Sufis withdrew to this place many centuries ago to have their peace. The Blagaj Monastery is located at the foot of a steep mountain by a cave from which a river leads into the open.
But the calm was over when the word “tourism” made it into the dictionary.
A modest entrance fee is charged at the gate of the monastery and there are more restaurants along the river bank than Sufis in the monastery.
Of course, we find that scandalous and punish the restaurant that is closest to the holy place with our presence. A wonderful meal, good wine and the most beautiful view of this place, which has already been abandoned by tourists, cannot make the desecration of the place forget.
In the small town of Jasna we find a place to stay for the night. The family uses a house on their farm as accommodation.
We get delicious wine and spend a few hours talking to our hosts on the warm summer night. This gives us the chance to learn a little more about the messy situation in the country where the Bosnians are only a small part of their country, which is otherwise Croatian and Serbian.
Lesson on Bosnia & Herzegovina: Minority in your own country
People who live in Herzegovina refer to themselves as Croatians, even if they no longer have any relatives in Croatia. The same applies to Serbs, who even call the autonomous Republic of Srpska their territory in Bosnia. During the Yugoslav war, Serbia and Croatia wanted to cut their cultural slices of the cake from Bosnia. But that’s only a small part of the big story. Bosnians and Croats also fought against Serbs, but every other constellation also existed through the war. It was also a religious war because the Bosniaks are Muslim and the others are Christians. The Christians are, of course, Orthodox, but also Catholic. The multi-ethnic state of Yugoslavia broke up after the death of the dictator Tito and one country after the other declared its autonomy, but with the maximum possible advantages for themselves. In the end, nobody got what they wanted, but there were millions of dead people and even today whole areas are inaccessible because the positions of the landmines are no longer known.
