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.
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.
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.
I have really enjoyed learning Serbian during my time here. I wish I had more time to study and use the language. My work at an English language international school and a family with young children limit my time practicing Serbian. I am making a commitment to study and use more. Some expats come and learn very little Serbian because many Serbs speak good enough English. They also feel that with being posted here for such a short time, and little chance of using the language later in future postings, some people do not devote time to learning it. I feel that it has enhanced by experience here and I’ve learned a bit more about the culture. It has also been great to learn a Slavic language and getting back to my family’s ancestral tongue.
It is cool that I now understand the Cyrillic script. My favorite Cyrillic letter is ж or ž in the latin version. It is the most “exotic” of the letters. The grammatical cases in Serbian are frustrating, but with my usual flair, I add endings to the words based on how I feel. The Serbs get a kick out of my take on the langauge and they really appreciate a foreigner’s efforts in trying. Below is a sampling of my latest learning.
Moze da ti jede tortu sa glave. (She can eat cake off the top of his head.) – Serbian saying when the woman is much taller than her partner. This happens often in Serbia due to the height of women here. Although my wife is not Serbian, when she wears heels, she could eat cake off my head.
sikter kafa or sikterša This term is used when the host wants a guest to leave. They offer them a sikter (I think this is a Turkish word) kafa which is an “indirecta” to announce it is time to go.
puza mene – When Serbian children play tag, žmurke in Serbian, they spit to indicate they made it safely to goal. The phrase is also used to say that an employee showed up for a mandatory function they really didn’t want to go to but had to. The verb, to spit is pljunuti, or ja pljujem (I spit).
Above is the video of the kids singing Happy Birthday to Ocean. Yesterday we hosted 30 kids at the birthday playground, Okean. Okean, which means “ocean” in English is a pretty appropriate place to have the party. The theme was Hello Kitty, and Nadia made Kitty cupcakes and the cake was also a Hello Kitty. The Serbian birthday party places are brilliant for parents because they also cater to the adults. Besides an enclosed playground monitored by employees, there is a video game room for the boys, a “princess” room for the girls to gather, and the disco tech (shown in the video). The parents can sit in the cafe and talk and I had a really nice espresso. All of Ocean’s friends from ISB and her former school of INSB were in attendance.
We can’t believe it was 5 years ago Ocean was born! It seems like just yesterday. Happy Birthday Ocean, we love you!
The weather in September has been fantastic here in Belgrade! With sunny skies, crisp mornings, and afternoon temperatures in the high 70’s / low 80’s, you couldn’t ask for a nicer fall. In Serbian, the term Miholjmsko Leto (Extended Summer) means these great “Indian Summer” days. We are able to play outside with the kids in shorts and t-shirts.
We are getting ready for a big today – Ocean’s Fifth Birthday Party. I’ll blog more later on her big day.
Alexander The Great on Horse – Macedonia Square – Skopje
I am finishing my 3-day visit to the capital of Macedonia today. I was here on business but got the opportunity to explore Skopje a bit. I really enjoyed our stay mostly for two reasons. First, I stayed at the Alexander Palace Hotel, which had 6 tennis courts and a café/bar sponsored by the Skovin Winery. We played a lot of tennis and enjoyed the Macedonian wines. The second reason was the hospitality of our hosts, the Novakoski Family. Viktor Novakoski is the principal of the Nova International School in Skopje. They are fellow members of the Central and Eastern European Schools Association. Nova has become a valuable partner in developing our sports programs. Viktor and his team were fabulous hosts and I was very impressed with their school and his mission of bringing international education to the young nation of Macedonia.
The city itself is smaller than I expected, with a population of around 700,000. The topography and climate is very Mediterranean, and it looked and felt like Spain, Greece, or the Croatian coast. Skopje is surrounded by green mountains and with the perfect sunshine and blue skies, it was a very enjoyable 3 days. I was happy my Serbian was useful in getting around the city and the Macedonians easily understood me. I didn’t notice any difference in the Cyrillic script as well.
View From My Hotel
I came with question of where the Macedonians fit in the Slavic spectrum. They are not as tall as the Serbs, and being the southern most Slavic people, the city had a lot of Turkish or Albanian ambiance. There are many mosques, however, the city seemed divided between the Macedonian part and the Albanian part. Walking through the old Turkish market today, I felt like I was in Sarajevo. We even heard the call to prayer one night at dinner. With a growing population of ethnic Albanian Macedonians, it will be interesting to see how the two groups interact in future years. Can the country hold together?
I also was interested in seeing the infamous Skopje 2014 project. City leaders have this plan to build these huge statues, huge Greek Revival buildings, and fountains, plazas, etc. It was a bit amusement park like to see a 50-foot bronze Alexander the Great on horseback on a towering pillar in the center of a fountain. The fountain shooting streams of water in synch with classical music, including lights. They are spending a lot of money developing buildings and statues along the river. I have not seen anything like it and it would be interesting to hear the opinions of Macedonians if this has improved the city. There was also a really nice running track along the Vardar river, going from our hotel to downtown. It was a great place to exercise and I hope they add to the network.
Another Statue – They love horses in Macedonia!
In reading about the history of the Macedonians, I asked the question, are they more like the Bulgarians or the Serbians. I would say that the city felt more like Sofia than Belgrade and they are definitely more Bulgarian, but slightly less central Asian. They truly are a people in between the Serbs and the Turks. Everyone was friendly and treated us well. I would recommend a visit to the country!
Nadia and I celebrated our 13th Wedding Anniversary last night in grand style at the Hyatt Crystal Ballroom! Nothing less for my baby! Oh by the way, the Malaysian Ambassador was also hosting a celebration in honor of Malaysia day in the ballroom. We enjoyed some good Malaysian food, dance, and national anthems. It is a fun way to celebrate our marriage.
It was also interesting to see Serbian President, Tomislav Nikolić up close as he made a toast and cut the cake with Malaysian Ambassador. He certainly doesn’t command a presence in the room like his predecessor, Boris Tadić.
Serbia and Malaysia Friendship
I am very lucky to be married to such a beautiful woman, inside and out! I am looking forward to many more years together!
Picnicking is quite popular in Serbia. I think the fact that most Serbians live in apartments and don’t have much green space outside their homes, makes the locals want to get out a bit in nature. I love to go out with the family and spend an afternoon outdoors with a picnic lunch or a BBQ in the backyard.
Last Sunday we drove up to Vršac, a city of around 40,000 people located in the Banat region of the Vojvodina province. The Banat is a flat plain located in Hungary, Romania, and Serbia. Vršac is near the border of Serbia and Romania. We planned to picnic near a monastery but found it quite run down, so we found a spot in the vineyards outside the city. There are several good wineries in the region. It turned out to be really nice. We played a lot of baseball and Nadia made some delicious chicken sandwiches. Nadia and Ocean also caught some late summer sun, laying on the blanket.
After we were done eating, we went up to the famous tower of the city. As you can see in the photo below, the Banat is quite flat except for the vrh (summit in Serbian) in the city. Because of its strategic position, there was always a fortress on the top. We walked up to the fort to enjoy the beautiful views. The kids liked to climb on the crumbling walls of the ruins. The tower is being renovated and there was also a paragliding runway at the top.
It was a really nice day trip out of Belgrade. We didn’t visit any of the wineries, but might do it the next time we are in town. The city center is quite nice too, good for walking around.
ISB Students in the Courtyard of the Tronošo Monastery
I really enjoy hiking to the many Serbian Orthodox monasteries in the country. Most of them were built in wild, difficult access areas for protection from the Turks (Ottomans) and Austrians. Serbian rulers, instead of building castles and palaces, built monasteries and churches. The monasteries were bastions of Serbian religion, culture, and language. I am not religious, but the quiet, natural surroundings, and architecture have a calming effect on my soul. There are between 50 and 100 monasteries and I recommend a visit to any of them. They are great for hiking, holding a picnic, or admiring the architecture, mosaics, and history that these places hold.
The Tronošo Monastery is located in western Serbia near the Bosnian border. I was on a school trip this week and we took the students first to the home village of the Serbian language reformer, Vuk Karađić. I’ll blog more on him later. We then hiked from the ethno village through a steep ravine up to the monastery. The walk took about an hour.The church was completed in 1559 (over 400+ years ago) and it always amazes me, an American who is used to less ancient history. At the time, Serbian was dominated by the Turks, so the Serbs built the church with permission of the Ottoman authorities. Surrounding the church are the buildings and grounds of a cenobitic monastery. In the Eastern Orthodox Churches, this is similar to the Catholic Orders. Cenobitic means a focus on community. The “nuns” (what are they called in Orthodox????) were quite friendly to us and the community of 10 up keeps the grounds and they have a small gift shop. They served us Turkish coffee.
In reading a bit about the history of the place, during the Austro-Turkish War (1788-1791), the Tronošo Monastery, served as a center for organizing soldiers to fight with the Austrian army against the Turks. At that time as well, Vuk Karađić studied in the monastery school. During the Serbian uprisings in the 1800’s, once again it was a staging point for the Serbian army. The Turks set fire to the place in 1814 and it was rebuilt 3 years later. As you can see, the area has seen a lot of history.
Finally, I learned the story of Jug Bogdan. Jug was a heroic, medieval warrior featured in Serbian epic poetry. Just north of the Tronošo Monastery, a spring has a monument with the mosaic above. Legend has is that Jug (real name Vratko Nemanjić) and his nine sons were all killed at the Battle of Kosovo in 1389. Jug is pictured in the middle of the mosaic.
095, originally uploaded by bill kralovec.
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