It is a truth universally acknowledged that travel is easier and more rewarding in even-numbered years.
Or maybe it isn’t. But here’s the thing. This is a fine time for looking forward, and if you’re perusing these pages, you know that travel is well suited to days that end in y. And the year 2020 does have a nice ring to it.
The Bosnian War ended in December 1995,and the multicultural nation of Bosnia-Herzegovina has begun a new chapter with rising tourism. Through the first nine months of 2019, visitor arrivals increased 11% to 1.2 million.
The center of gravity is Sarajevo, the capital whose old quarter includes churches, synagogues and mosques that date back centuries.
The cable car to Mount Trebevic — a 1984 Winter Olympics venue destroyed in the fighting of the early ’90s — reopened in 2018. The bridge at Mostar, built in the 16th century, destroyed in 1993 and rebuilt in 2004, is a popular day trip about 80 miles southwest of Sarajevo. Mostar hosts summer music festivals and an August high-diving competition. (Yes, divers leap from the bridge into the Neretva River.)
The town of Medjugorje, southwest of Mostar, has been a Catholic pilgrimage destination since reported sightings of the Virgin Mary on Apparition Hill began in 1981. The pope authorized the site as a pilgrimage destination in May 2019, Los Angles Times writes.
