(press ctrl-shift-r for the latest updated
version of this page)
How to travel to Medjugorje on a pilgrimage in
corona times
or How to get get into Bosnia and
Herzegovina within 48 hours after testing
On May 28th 2020 The Council of Ministers of BiH changed and amended
its Decision on Prescribing Additional Conditions for the Entry of
Foreigners into Bosnia and Herzegovina and enabled entry into BiH
for citizens of neighbouring countries, namely Montenegro, the
Republic of Croatia and the Republic of Serbia, still excluding EU
and the rest of the world, see English
home page of the Border Police of Bosnia and Herzegovina
(granpol.gov.ba/home) under "FAQ - COVID-19 – Conditions for
crossing the state border of BiH due to the coronavirus pandemic for
Bosna and Hercgovina Citizens and Foreigners Citizens"
On July 16th 2020 the Council reopened its borders for EU citizens
and Schengen state citizens. if they have a certificate of negative
test for the SARS-CoV-2 virus, not older than 48 hours until the
moment of entry into Bosnia and Herzegovina, see the same English
home page of the Border Police.
Update: On September 11th 2020 the Council reopened its borders for
all foreigners, if if they have a certificate of negative test for
the SARS-CoV-2 virus, not older than 48 hours until the moment of
entry into Bosnia and Herzegovina, see the same English home page of
the Border Police.
So, jubilant as I was after reading this news, I wondered does this
"48 hours after testing" mean 48 hours after your body samples had
been taken or 48 hours after they had been analysed and tested in a
lab? In the former case the 48 hours include the waiting time for
the lab results, which means a lot less then 48 hours travel time,
the latter case means you have almost 48 hours. Since the law talks
about testing I decided to take the bet and called my physician for
a test.
Step 1: call your physician and find a test location in your
country
Q: "Doctor, can I have a corona test for a pilgrimage to Bosnia? I
need a document to cross the border."
D: "Yes, you can go to your municipal health service and have
yourself tested for free, to the GGD".
Q: "GGD, can I have a corona test, I need a document to cross the
border"
GGD: "You can have a test, but we do not send a document, we only
send an SMS"
Q: "That is not enough for the border guard, they need a document,
not older than 48 hours, that one was tested negative for
coronavirus"
GGD: "No, we do not give documents. Coronavirusfree-documents do not
exist. The moment you step out here you can have attracted the virus
already."
Q: "I know, but I only need a document that I was tested negative at
a point in time, not older than 48 hours. That is enough for the
border guard."
GGD: "No, coronavirusfree-documents do not exist. We do not give
them."
etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.
So much for the intelligence of the municipal health authority here
in The Netherlands, a first world highly industrialized nation.
Back to square one, physician.
Q: "GGD does not want to give a document to cross a border. Now
what?"
D: "Oh, we did not know that. Then there is a facility at Amsterdam
Airport, but it costs €145"
Q: "Is that covered by medical insurance?"
D: "No, since a pilgrimage is not medically necessary". Never mind
the answer, my insurance said the same.
Q: "Amsterdam Airport, can I have a corona test and a document for
€145?"
AA: "Yes"
Q: "Is this the cheapest possibility in the Netherlands?"
AA: "No. If you look on the Internet, there are several locations,
including cheaper ones. You have to search for PCR (Polymerase Chain
Reaction)-test". Really helpful guy.
Searching for PCR-test on the Internet I found Het Huisartslab,
https://www.hethuisartslab.com/, set up by U-diagnostics, with a PCR
- test €80, document €10, total €90. Cheaper, with a document, I
could not find them. Test locations: more than 20, varying opening
times. You have to apply, after which a bar code is being sent to
you by e-mail, which you can print (or show with your cell phone)
with which you can enter the test facility. After sampling your
body, you will get ultimately the next day between 3PM and midnight
a signed e-mail from a German laboratory with a positive or negative
corona test result, which e-mail you can print as a document. Great!
It looks to me that this private company started up because they saw
a market opportunity, because of the attitude of the government not
to provide travel documents. General question: are all private
enterprises the result of such a government attitude? :)
So, step 1: call your physician and find a test location in your
country. But do not test yet.
Step 2: check your printer to see whether you can
print the document
It is a very ordinary remark, but check your printer (paper, ink
cartridges) to see whether you can print the document you will
receive by e-mail from your Health Check Centre. You do not want to
receive this e-mail on Saturday at 5.30 PM, with all the ink
cartridge shops closed on Saturday at 5PM and none of your friends
available to print the document elsewhere. I do not know whether a
document on a phone is good enough for the Bosnian border guards. I
only know in my case that a document on paper was good enough for
them, see later. In my case the colour cartridge was out of one
colour and yes, the document of my Health Check Center used that
colour. Print a test page on your printer to see that everything
works fine.
So, step 2: check your printer to see whether you can print the
document. But you cannot print yet.
Step 3: See if you can reach Bosnia-Herzegovina
in 48 hours
The quick way of course to get into Bosnia is by plane. On the news
here in The Netherlands is that flights in these corona times have
resumed, but that people are packed close together on all chairs of
the plane. In buses and trains here the rule is 1,5m distance and
you are fined €95 for not doing so.
Furthermore, on the news here was that if you book a flight, many
times the flight is cancelled and you get only a voucher to book a
flight in the future, it takes a court case to get your money back.
I have to insert here, that when I had reached Medjugorje, I heard
from my pension keeper that one flight to Dubrovnik indeed had
flown.
Then the less quicker way, is to use the train with an Interrail Pass,
https://www.interrail.eu/. It is half the price of a two way train
ticket to Bosnia, the ticket is valid in high speed trains often
without paying extra, many trains have bistro's for which no
reservation is required, people use social distancing, in the
bistros wearing a face mask is not obligatory (otherwise you cannot
eat :) , it is highly comfortable and you can buy the ticket at a
fixed price at the day of departure. However, couchettes must be
reserved beforehand. However, you do not know if you want to reserve
a couchette, if you do not know the result of the corona test,
right? So, asking the International train Travel desk at my nearest
big city, they said that usually the conductor of the sleeping wagon
has an overview of people who did not show up for their couchette.
Having done this several times in the past for the night train
Munich-Zagreb, always with success, I knew this was the way to go.
Check the timetable on the website
of the German railways, https://reiseauskunft.bahn.de. They
are the best, covering all of Europe. There is also an Interrail App
with all the info on Google Play and Apple Store, but you know which
intelligence agency then is tracking your ways.
Until some years ago, the train Zagreb-Sarajevo-Ploče left at around
9 AM from Zagreb, however there are no train connections any more
between the EU and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Bosnia is isolated. (Or you
have the opposite opinion, like the British, who say "The continent
is isolated" :) Zagreb, like all major cities in the world, having a
high infection rate, I decided to pass through as quickly as
possible. I remembered from former bus travels a cosy border
crossing, with a city on both sides of the border, Hrvatska
Kostajnica and (Bosanska) Kostajnica and wanted to head for the
latter one, and finding a motel there, crossing the border as
quickly as possible.
Also the people at Seat
61,
https://www.seat61.com/trains-and-routes/zagreb-to-sarajevo-by-train.htm,
describe this itinerary, but their guide was written at pre-corona
times.
Hrvatska Kostajnica was the one but last stop of the train
Zagreb-Sarajevo in Croatia, Volinja being the last stop in Croatia,
but after Volinja comes only a railway bridge over the river Una,
the border, not a bridge for cars, buses or a bridge that you can
cross on foot. At Hrvatska Kostajnica you can cross the bridge and
border on foot. Of course you can take a bus Zagreb-Medjugorje, but
then you run the chance to be tightly packed in a bus and that was
the reason you wanted to buy the Interrail Pass anyway, wasn't it?
The reason to travel by train in corona times is the comfort and low
infection chance. So, we travel by train as much as possible.
Hrvatska Kostajnica now is the one but last stop of the local train
Zagreb-Volinja. At Hrvatska Kostajnica the EU stops, and adventure
begins.
If you look at OpenStreetMap
at https://www.openstreetmap.org and type Hrvatska Kostajnica and
place the green starting point at the railroad station in the north
of Hrvatska Kostajnica and the red destination point at the bridge
and border crossing, you see it is a 33min walk. Make that 45
minutes.
To check with reiseauskunft.bahn.de from which departure stations in
Europe you can reach Hrvatska Kostajnica within 48 hours minus 45
minutes walking time, you can use the opposite, to leave Hrvatska
Kostajnica and see what destinations you can reach in 48 hours minus
45 minutes walking time. You will be pleasantly surprised to see
that almost all of Europe can be reached from there and vice versa,
for instance from Stockholm you can reach it in time.
Take into account that, after the document arrives and you have
printed it, you have to travel to the International Desk (take into
account their opening times) of the city selling Interrail tickets,
waiting in line, buying the ticket, and travelling to Hrvatska
Kostajnica from there.
At this point in time you know in theory all the departure times in
your country and you know, when the e-mail with the test document
arrives, which train to take to the nearest big city that sells
Interrail tickets.
So, step 3: contact your railway company for international travel
from your country and make sure your travel information is correct.
But do not book yet.
step 4: find a motel just across the border in
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Having to cross a foreign border within 48 hours from your own
country is fatiguing, barely sleeping in couchettes, so you need
rest as soon as you made it and came into Bosnia. As quick as the
journey went through foreign (flat) countries, so slow it goes
through the terrain of Bosnia. Anyone who travelled by train through
the Neretva Canyon from Sarajevo to Ploce, one of the most beautiful
railroads of Europe, knows what I am talking about. So take your
time. Pressure is off now. Travelling from the border to Medjugorje
can take a whole day, so finding a resting point in (Bosanska)
Kostajnica is your priority now.
There is hotel Central in Hrvatska Kostajnica (prices from €33 to
€77) , but what is the point of staying there if you need to cross
the border over the bridge as quickly as possible?
Searching the Internet for motels in (Bosanska) Kostajnica I found
- bungalows at Piralo,
https://www.piralo.eu/, I found while travelling +49 17 3511
0107, but the web site provides +387 5296 1333 . They could not
be opened in the evening that I came and gave me the following
two numbers:
- motel Jelen, run by Martin, who speaks German +387 65295007.
He is willing to open the evening you arrive, simple chamber on
the street side €15, more luxurious on the other side €30.
- another he gave me was +387 5266 3562, but I did not call that
one.
For motel Jelen, after the bridge, on the main road turn left.
After a 45 min walk it lies after several 100m after a large car
shop on the left side above a gas tank station on the right side.
Martin will open up for you.
So, step 4: contact your motel to find out whether you have an
opportunity to rest once you have crossed the border. But do not
book yet.
step 5: go!
Once you have verified step 1 to 4, go and perform step 1 to 4: have
yourself tested, wait some 24hours for the test result, it will be
mailed to you right after the testing, pack your things in the mean
time, in case of negative test result print the document (and one
spare), buy the Interrail ticket, hop on the train, preferably a
high speed one, where you can combine your travelling, eating or
sleeping time at the same time and book your motel.
The practice was in my case
- I applied for having myself tested at https://covid19.u-diagnostics.nl/invite/hhl-reis,
paid and printed the bar code
- went to the test location and had myself tested at 4PM
- packed my bags
- negative (no corona)-test came in by SMS and e-mail next day
at 5.30PM
- hopped immediately on the train to the next big city that sold
international tickets to buy Interrail ticket at the counter.
With one desk, of course there was a man in front of me talking
an eternity from 6u30 PM to 6u45 PM while the high speed train
at 7 PM was leaving... Then the lady at the desk said "there is
no time any more to book couchettes. You have to ask the
conductor of the sleeping wagon in Düsseldorf."
- In Düsseldorf there was 8min train switching time. One could
switch later, with more switching time, but the sooner you have
conquered your couchette, the better. In Düsseldorf the man said
there were couchettes empty. Paying €60 I had a 3 person
luxurious couchette for me alone. At home I had already seen
there were couchettes going to Vienna, so I decided to travel
over Vienna, in order to sleep longer until 8AM instead of 6AM.
That did mean arrival in late evening in Hrvatska Kostajnica
instead of late afternoon, but one needs one's night rest.
- In Vienna there was a beautiful connection to Villach, then
switch to Zagreb, then switch to Hrvatska Kostajnica.
- Walking 45 min in moonlight to the bridge, the border guard of
Croatia only asked for passport. but the guard of
Bosnia-Hercegovina asked "passport..." and then holding in my
other hand the covid-test result he asked "covid test...".
Inspecting it, crossing to another office (he wanted to know of
course whether the 48 hours were from the moment of sampling or
the moment of testing, the document provided both, I had betted
on the moment of testing, otherwise I would take a vacation near
Medjugorje, at Croatia's coastal town Ploce) he came back with
"you did a good job". So the bet was right.
- So at midnight or so, within 30 hours, I crossed the border.
So one could have built-in more sleeping time, but I wanted to
reckon with misfortunes and wanted to know the minimum time.
That is 30 hours from Holland. As mentioned before, within 48
hours you can reach Bosnia-Herzegovina from almost all of
Europe.
- 45 minutes walking to Motel Jelen in (Bosanska) Kostajnica and
had a good sleep.
- Kostajnica is a city in Republika Srpska, although most of the
street writing is in Latin, and the following day was a Orthodox
religious holiday and there would be no buses, only after 6PM.
The bus station is from the border not to the left (direction of
Motel Jelen, but to the right, behind the supermarket). So
someone of the supermarket, which was open, arranged a taxi to
Banja Luka. On the way back I noticed that Novi Grad would have
been a better choice since there are many buses (and even a
train that is not on the schedule) running from there.
- from Banja Luka there were no trains, only from Zenica,
because of corona. So I took the next possibility, a bus to
Visoko (see http://medjugorje.eu/summertour/)
to visit the pyramids and excavated tunnels and stayed at the
Franciscan gymnasium/seminary/Peace Home (seminary where
visionary Ivan studied for a time), which run a bed and
breakfast for €20 a night. You can find them on all bed and
breakfast and booking sites.
- The train of 1PM had been dropped because of corona, so no
connection with the afternoon train from Čapljina meaning taking
the morning train of 5.53 AM from Visoko to Sarajevo, then 7.15
AM Sarajevo to Čapljina, one of the most beautiful train rides
in the world.
- No buses from Čapljina to Medjugorje because of corona, having
myself picked up from Čapljina by my pension keeper, arriving in
the afternoon at Medjugorje, in time for the opening of the
Youth Festival at 6PM.
On the way back
- I had myself dropped off by the pension keeper at
Zitomislici, which is a bit closer to Medjugorje than
Čapljina, taking the 4.50 PM train to Sarajevo.
- waiting for the bus to the Peace Home at Visoko would take
too long, so the pension keeper picked me up from Sarajevo.
- next day I could take buses all the way to Novi Grad, only a
taxi from Novi Grad to Kostanica would suffice, deciding to
use my Interrail days only the next day, so I could some of
Switzerland. I heard that even one train a day from Novi Grad
leaves to Banja Luka, which train is not on the schedule.
- Next day from Kostajnica to Zagreb, then night train to
Zürich. This is however an old fashioned night train, with
only 4 (€30) or 6-persons (€20) sleeping cabins. Being too
late to reserve (I always let it depend on the circumstances),
the conductor told me to enter the normal wagon, he would pick
me up as soon as one person did not show up, which happened
most of the time, he said. After one hour he picked me up and
brought me to a 4-person sleeping cabin, occupied by already 2
people. After some time a 4th entered.
- the border guards of Croatia asked "are you on your way
home?", "yes", and let me pass.
- In Switzerland you get an SMS saying "you entered
Switzerland from a country that is blacklisted because of
corona and you have to register at the kanton where you are
staying within 48 hours and go in quarantine for 14 days
otherwise you are fined CHF10.000, more than €10.000. For
exceptions see webpage so and so. Now you need to know that
Swiss want to earn money and if you click further enough you
will see in the very last paragraph that it is not valid for
transit-passengers (just like in Croatia) if you take the most
direct route through Switzerland. So then you know that 48
hours is the Swiss definition of transit passengers and that
you have 48 hours to leave Switzerland. You see on the map
that more and more beautiful railways in Switzerland are
opened up for Interrail, so you can decide for yourself what
is the most direct route.
- Getting out via Basel, arriving in Holland in the afternoon.
- Getting the hang of it, having myself tested for corona
again, with no corona as result, which was the crown on this
pilgrimage.
Travelling to Medjugorje can be done in corona times!
Next time photo's and addresses of Internet café's in and
around Medjugorje that are still open! Stay tuned!