Month: October 2012

Halloween (Noć Vištica)

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The kids loved all the Halloween parties this weekend! The holiday, known as “Night of the Witches” in Serbian is not celebrated in Serbia, but in our expatriate circles and the international school, it is one of the most anticipated events of the year. Kids get so excited to dress up and trick or treat and even the non-American parents, get into the spirit of the event and dress up as well.

On Friday night the kids attended the school Halloween party (photo above). Owen’s outfit was from the obscure movie “Tron”, Oliver was Iron Man, and Ocean was a princess.

The Canadian Embassy hosts a costume party every year and Nadia and I went with friends again this year. Our friend Claudiu brought costumes from the USA and we went with traditional Bavarian folk costumes. We had a lot of laughs and one of the best things about the night, is the costumes allow strangers to interact with one another. Everyone has their “act” with their costume or we try to guess what they are dressed as.

Nadia, Bill, and Charmaine

The fun continued on Saturday evening with the American colony, Banovo Brdo, hosting a trick-or-treat and party. The kids went around to many of the homes in the gated community. Then Robert and Julie turned their home into a Halloween Amusement Park with decorations, food/drink, and a haunted walk in their yard. Absolutely brilliant and I would like to give them a big thank you! The kids ran around and laughed and had a blast.

A special part of the evening was Ocean losing her first tooth. She was so excited that her tooth just fell out. Nadia luckily found the tooth on the ground and the tooth fairy left 200 RSD for Ocean last night. My angel princess is so beautiful!

Hiking Through the Hills of Rajac

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Nadia, originally uploaded by bill kralovec.

Last weekend our school’s hiking club went for a long walk through the hills, forests, and meadows of the Rajac region. This area is about 100 kilometers south east of Belgrade. We started the hike on the famous summit of Suvobor. This is the sight of a great battle in World War I. The Serbian army on December 4, 1914 took control of the hill from the Austro-Hungarian Army. They eventually also took the city of Valjevo and drove the Austrians out of Belgrade and across the border. It was a Phryic victory for the Serbs, but it did give them 10 months of control in Belgrade. The losses from the war combined with a typhus epidemic, really took a toll on the soldiers.

98 years later, we were there in much better circumstances. It was a gorgeous day Saturday as you can see from the photos. It is not the most dramatic scenery of Serbia, but it is quite nice and typical of the type of topography of Šumadija. It was also great to have the entire family on the hike, including my wife, Nadia, who usually doesn’t like to go with us.

Boys love weapons – Owen doing his “Children of the Corn” impression

Goodbye Stara Planina

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095, originally uploaded by bill kralovec.

We got to appreciate the beauty of Stara Planina yesterday as the fog lifted allowing us to go on a couple of hikes. Above, we are at top of one of the many ski runs around the hotel. There was a nice walk through the woods to get to the scenic look out. Behind us is the trail to Midžor, the highest point in Serbia. We’ll save the 8 kilometer hike for the next time we come.

The boys and I did have a successful hike to Babin Zub (Grandmother’s Tooth) through the fog and high winds in the morning. Just as we got to the top, the skies cleared and it was really nice. We did some rock climbing and Owen commented how he felt he was in a National Geographic documentary. The boys were a little scared as we got to the top due to the fog, but we had an easy way down when the winds took away the low clouds.

I can see the potential of this place. It is just as nice as the major Serbian ski resort of Kapoanik. The Austrians are building the infrastructure and in the years to come, the place will fill up. It will be sad if they do it wrongly, and I would had to see the beautiful trees cut down for chalets and lodges. Right now, they are lacking a good highway to get to the hotel, nearby supermarkets, and restaurants, and private accommodation. I am tempted in buying some land up here as an investment. It is really beautiful place to relax and enjoy nature. We will definitely be back, at least, to hike to Midžor.

 

I also highly recommend the Hotel Stara Planina. The staff were very courteous, the facilities were excellent, rooms comfortable, and reasonably priced.

Owen in Front of Babin Zub

Fogged In

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Oliver Backflip, originally uploaded by bill kralovec.

We spent the day inside the hotel because of the dense fog. Visibility was about 10 meters and so we relaxed at the hotel. You can see Oliver in the video above practice his back flips. The hotel has a nice spa, children’s playroom, dining room, and weight room. We had a good day together, despite not being able to explore the area as planned. This morning it looks a bit better so we’ll try to scale Babin Zub and maybe even visit the nearby town of Pirot.

The hotel is owned by an Austrian company called Falkensteiner. They have over 30 hotels in central and eastern Europe. They are building another hotel up here and the plan is to have an entire resort village to support the ski complex. It is a bit sad to see forest being cut down for ski runs, roads, and accomodation, but on the other hand, southern Serbia needs economic help. The government is wisely supporting this development. I’ll try to snap some photos of the hotel and surroundings. It will be interesting to see what this place looks like in 20 years.

Stara Planina

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Our plans to visit Transylvania didn’t work out for our October Break, so instead we headed the other direction and are visiting the Stara Planina (Old Mountain) national park. The park is located on the border of Serbia and Bulgaria. We are staying at the new ski resort hotel, “Stara Planina” located at 4,800 feet near the village of Konjarnik. When I say new, I mean really new. The hotel opened up last winter and they are still making ski runs and building roads to get here. It is located about 110 km from the southern Serbian city of Niš. It is actually closer to Sofia than Belgrade. The 110 kilometers from Nis to the hotel is rough road, but it was an interesting adventure driving through the dark fog rural countryside. We listened to the Eastern European legend of Baba Jaga, a witch that eats children, to really get in the mood for the day.

We are really enjoying the stay so far. Today we went for a walk up the mountain. We got cut short of our goal to reach “Babin Zub” (Grandmother’s Tooth) due to rain, but the kids loved climbing on the rocks on the way up there. We hope to reach it tomorrow. For those Serbian learners, Baba is grandmother, and the “in” means possession in Serbian. The word zub is tooth. It kind of looks like a granny’s tooth.

I love hiking and really get re-charged by being out in wilderness. The views, despite the rain and clouds, was still beautiful. I’ll be blogging this weekend from here as we explore the region.

Babin Zub mocking us in the background!

There is not much information on-line about the Serbian side of Stara Planina. So far my impressions, besides the natural beauty, is that this part of Serbia is very poor and they speak with a much different accent than Belgrade. I am curious if the area develops into a tourist destination. Right now, it is really tough to get to so they will need to build some more roads and I wonder about the amount of snow they get around here. It is only 120 kilometers from Sofia, and if Serbia puts in a good highway from Nis, it would be easier to get to.

Time to head to the pool with the kids.