Back in 1981, 10 years before the outbreak of destructive war in the Balkans, six local children in the little mountain-shrouded town of Medjugorje were reportedly blessed with an apparition of the Virgin Mary. It's said she appeared to the group on the rocky hill of Crnica, which rises just above the centre of the town, just a stone's throw from the Croatian border. Fast forward more than three decades and that tale of apparition has become one of the most revered on the planet. Millions of Catholic pilgrims a year now flock to the spot where the ethereal figure is thought to have appeared, and there are dedicated Medjugorje tour guides dedicated to telling the mysterious tale of the religious event. That's all made this erstwhile backwater a major centre for prayer, with colossal worshipping houses like the St. James Church dotting the streets. For the unreligious, there's always the historic majesty of ancient Mostar just to the north.