Djurdjevic - Personal Photos

January 23, 2011

Personal photos, September 2005

Serbia 2005

Tour of Serbia - Part 2: Mt. Kopaonik, Studenica, Kraljevo, Uzice, Mt. Zlatibor...

SERBIA, Sep 15, 2005 - Thursday started out atop Mt. Kopaonik very foggy and misty. With a light but steady drizzle coming down, it made me appreciate what it is like to live in a cloud, though not on cloud nine. :-)

"What's the forecast for the day?" I asked the hotel receptionist. "It doesn't matter (what Belgrade TV says)," he replied. "Our weather is always different. It changes all the time."

The wonderful sports facilities at the hotel Grand made up for the foul weather outside. Besides this pretty pool, which looked so peaceful moments before I dove in, shattering its serenity, there is also a full-size basketball court and tons of other exercise equipment.

Spacious dining facilities were virtually empty. But there was lots of action outside... Not the kind one would normally expect in around a luxury hotel. As I stepped in front of the hotel, I heard the sound of a cow bell. "Can't be," I thought. At first, I could not figure out where the sound was coming from, given the dense fog...

... then I saw it - three cows emerged from the fog and walked right across the hotel parking lot. :-)

About half a mile down the road, I recognized this structure. Back in 1961, the last and the only time I visited Mt. Kopaonik, this was the only accommodation facility. I stayed here with a group of teenage skiers in freezing cold for about a week (there was virtually no heating at this place). I remember I could hardly wait to go home. But that was not the worst of it...

The day we were supposed to leave, a blizzard had socked in the mountain, cutting us off at the top from the rest of the world (the above imaginary silhouette is what might have been visible this morning from about 3,000 feet, had the fog not enveloped the summit). One of our leaders, a PE teacher, decided we could ski down the mountain. So he asked for volunteers. Most of the kids volunteered, because we could not wait to get off the freezing mountain. That was lunacy. I only realized today how crazy that teacher's idea was after I had driven the same distance (some 25 km; or 16 miles) down the mountain. Except that we did it on skis, in a blizzard, lugging all our gear with us. Most of my friends had backpacks, but I skied the 16 miles with my suitcase in one hand, and two ski poles in the other. It took us all afternoon and most of the night before we finally made it to the train station at the bottom of Mt. Kopaonik. God only knows how we survived the trek. Because we did, I am now able to write these lines...

A scenic view from the Mt. Kopaonik foothills, with the summit still enveloped by clouds.

On my way up (northward) the river Ibar canyon, I spotted a road sign pointing to Monastery Studenica, 12 km (8 miles) west of the river Ibar. On a spur of the moment, I turned left and followed the road to it. I am glad I did. Even though I have been there once before (10 years ago), the visit to this magnificent 12th century monastery was the highlight my day today, even a day full of wonderful experiences and great scenery.

This Mother of God church, the biggest on the site, houses some of the most beautiful frescoes...

...as you can see from this interior shot - of its altar. At the time (late 12th century), only Byzantine art compared to this. Most of the rest of Europe was lagging behind, culturally, economically and spiritually.

Here's a close up (from a postcard) of a detail from the fresco depicting St. Sava (1175-1235), the founder of the Serbian Orthodox Church, also nicknamed "the educator" or the "enlightened," symbolically holding the church in his hands. St. Sava spent some time at the Studenica monastery after his trip to Constantinople.

A short distance from the confluence of the river Studenica into the river Ibar, I was stunned to see a figure of a Serbian soldier carved on top of a rock. I pulled over to take this shot. As I drove by, I saw the inscription - "to the Serb heroes from Ibar 1912-1918." Overall, the Ibar canyon is spectacular in its rugged beauty.

As I was approaching the end of the canyon in the direction of Kraljevo, I spied another surprising sight - a medieval castle atop a hill. As I was in heavy traffic, I snapped this photo through the windshield of my car. I could not help but think of my darling wife Karen who loved all the "ruins" we saw during our last year's trip through Italy and Montenegro. "This is probably the biggest ruin of them all," I thought. "Wish she were here."

Later on, I learned that this was the Maglic Castle, built by the French-born queen Queen Helen, who was married to Uros I, a Serb king at the end of the 13th century.

And then I was finally in Kraljevo... The countryside was again fairly flat, with rolling hills bordering fertile valleys, just as it was in central and eastern Serbia through which I drove from Belgrade to Nis.

When I turned around, this is what the Ibar canyon looked like from which I had just driven. Mt. Kopaonik is hidden somewhere in the distance by all those clouds.

On my way westward from Kraljevo, I passed through this village that seems to be the cabbage capital of Serbia. Ever heard of Mrcajevci? I had not before today. Looks like these people are getting ready to do some serious celebrating during their "Kupusijada," roughly translated as Cabbage Country Fair.

I drove through some more ruggedly beautiful canyons between Cacak and Uzice, before arriving at this delightfully cheerful-looking mountain town - Uzice.

I arrived at my final destination for the day, Mt. Zlatibor, around 6PM. I have never been here before. So I went through the same routine as last night at Mt. Kopaonik asking some locals their best hotel was. I was told it was Hotel Olimp. Voila! (the above photo).

In keeping with, what I've found out, was the theme of this place - Mt. Zlatibor a favorite site for training of many athletes for major international events - the hotel has two large pools. Alas, they are unheated. And in the 50F-weather, they are good only for pictures.

A view from my hotel room toward the huge sports complex where athletes live and train. I saw, for example, the Kuwaiti Kazma soccer club players practicing on a field above this one.

Over the bar in my hotel, there are pennants of various famous international soccer and basketball clubs that have stayed here... Moscow's CSKA, Belgrade's Red Star, some Spanish and Italian clubs, too.

But you don't have to be a professional athlete to take advantage of some of the sports facilities. Here are several dozen kids and "weekend warriors" practicing their skills at soccer, tennis, etc. The crane visible in the distance is helping build a new church.

Lo and behold, thousands of miles from home, I came across this man-made lake called Phoenix, or Feniks, as the locals spell it.

This is also where the Serbian royalty vacationed, as far back as the 19th century. This is the fountain/well with ice-cold mountain spring water that bottling companies would die for (Calistoga and Evian, eat your hats!). It is dedicated to Alexander I, the Serb king in 1893. About 10 years up the hill from the fountain, there is a memorial to two local members of parliament who helped develop Mt. Zlatibor. The date is 1923. How's that for early democracy in Serbia?

The Hotel Danube may look a little worse for wear, and it is certainly not a four-star hotel like the Olimp, but it wins my first prize for ground's maintenance. Aren't these flowers beautiful?

The best part of my first visit to Mt. Zlatibor happened in an otherwise crass and chintzy area that looks and feels like a tourist trap. Amid dozens of small restaurants, cafes, and souvenir shops, I made a new friend - a tiny kitten no bigger than my hand. It brought back memories of another kitten who "adopted" me at a Montenegrin restaurant last summer.

This one even posed for me before disappearing into the bush behind her. Quite a flirt at young age!