FROM MONTENEGRO

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Answering a Mountain Call: Preparation

MONTENEGRO, May 8, 2008 - As some of my close friends know, on April 2, I got a call from my two mountains to come to them before I set off for Machu Picchu and other Holy Mountains in Peru in late June (see "Lord of the Mountain...", Apr 2008, password-protected).  If you think it's weird to have a relationship with mountains, don't bother wasting your time on stories like that.  But if you do, or if you are curious about how that can be possible, e-mail me if you don't have the access information, and I'll share it with you.

Anyway, that's what this trip to the Djurdjevic Mtn is about - visiting the mountain where my ancestors lived for about 300 years (between the late 1300s and late 1600s, when they migrated northward toward Belgrade -see the maps).

Before the 1300s, the Djurdjevic's were the nobles with properties in the area of today's southern Macedonia-northern Greece, near the birthplace of Alexander the Great.  When I was a kid visiting my father's homestead, I'd heard that they were always nicknamed "the Greeks."  I never knew why until I did this genealogical research circa 1990.  Shortly after that, I visited the Djurdjevic Mtn and the Djurdjevic Tara river (above right) with my family for the first time (two right photos). 

I've only been there one more time, during one of my wartime trips through Bosnia.  My escorts and I crossed the border from Bosnia into Montenegro in the vicinity of the Djurdjevic Mtn, so I just could not pass up the opportunity of stopping by, even just for a few minutes (right photo).  And tomorrow, I am about to do it again.

Only this time, it is not just a casual visit.  There are certain rites that I need to perform there.  And to prepare for those, I climbed today to the Praskvica monastery, a beautiful early 15th century holy site within about a 20 min-hike from Przno, where I am staying.

A modest road sign on the main highway points to this monastery as a historical monument (left).  Little would casual travelers know what a priceless cultural treasure awaits them only a few hundred yards away.  A narrow winding road leads through an ancient olive grove (middle left).  For centuries, monks worked the fields on monastery properties and were self-sustaining when it comes to wood and lodging.  This is still an active monastery, and thus cultivating olive groves, grapes, figs, tomatoes etc. is all a part of an ancient lifestyle that continues to this day in Serbian monasteries. 

I have been to Praskvica several times before during my 2004 visit here, but its beauty at the first sighting still stopped my heart this afternoon (middle right).  I did not get to savor that for long.  A vicious sounding dog that must have had some chow in his genes was not happy to see me.  That's unusual.  The last time I was here another dog wanted me to adopt her. She followed me all the way back to the highway, so I had to turn around and bring her back, lest she be run over by a car.  Well, I just ignore the barking of this well fed big guy, and walked right past him.  "Okay," he said.  "Guess you don't scare easily."  And then he plopped himself down on the patio stones in royal indignation while I took a picture of him.

By the way, the Serbian churches are never locked.  So unsurprisingly, the front doors were open when I entered the monastery's main church (left - the altar).  I was the only one there for the 20 mins or so that I spent inside.  As I said, I have been there before several times, but never before have I really SEEN this gem of a church.  Guess that's what happens when you're on a spiritual journey.  Your eyes and other senses get sensitized to notice things most people don't pay attention to.

For example, I had no idea this monastery was built as far back as 1415 (middle left).  Nor had I noticed before that there is vast number of ancient original frescos wonderfully preserved on its walls (two right shots).  It gave me goose bumps to think I was standing in front of the art created nearly 600 years ago.  If that were somewhere in the West, one could probably not get to within 10 feet of priceless treasures like that.  Yet over here, the doors were wide open, and there was no security to prevent a visitor from looking at the frescos close up, as I did.

I then started to take some close up shots of the ancient frescos. The text is written in old Cyrillic, so it was hard for me to figure out exactly what it meant.  But I was able to decipher at least the detail in that right fresco, that it was a portrayal of St. Sava, the first Serbian Archbishop and educator (1175-1235).

Three beautiful large frescos grace the oval ceilings of that chapel (three left pictures).  They were evidently portraits of a Serbian royal family - a king, a queen and their son?  But I could not figure out who they were.  The art was exquisite.  Although tiny by comparison, this ceiling should not take a back seat to Vatican's Sistine Chapel famous ceiling, which Michelangelo's completed in 1512, almost a century after this unknown Serbian fresco artist (or artists) completed this ceiling.  Finally, there is even a section of the wall adorned with frescos behind the alter (rightmost shot).

After that, I lit three candles, and did what I needed to do to prepare for my mountain journey tomorrow.

While the interior of the church was a feast for the eye of an art lover, the views from a little cemetery above the monastery (middle left) were simply breathtaking.  The rightmost shot is a view of St. Stefan island-resort that was also featured in my yesterday's travelogue.  Only now you can see how high up in the hills the Praskvica monastery is based.  It's not an arduous, but is a pretty steep 20-minute hike from the sea level hike.  You would think that with mountains like this, no one in Montenegro would be suffering from heart diseases.  :-)

There were also some pretty lavender and purple wild flowers around the monastery that I picked for the ceremony that I plan to perform tomorrow at the Djurdjevic Mtn.

And that's all she wrote from this beautiful, clear but slightly chilly day on the coast of Montenegro.

P.S. Well, not quite... I should also show you some fringe benefits from having a beachfront office...

... such as watching some bathing beauties like the one in the left picture.  And when that gets boring, you can turn around to the west, meditate on the cliffs high over the ocean while the sun bids you goodbye and goodnight one more time.

CLICK HERE to Montenegro DAY 3, Part 1/3...

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