Hike to Đavolja Varoš

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Last weekend I went on a hiking trip to the UNESCO Heritage site called Đavolja Varoš (Devil’s Town). The main attraction advertised were the 200 odd pillars you can see in the photo above. These huge pillars are formed through many years of erosion. You can see the hikers on the far right of the photo. They are set in a beautiful canyon which we climbed into. The sun came out as I was taking this photo and the beautiful fall colors added to the scene. Legend has it that the devil made a secret potion into the spring water at the site, and when the local settlers drank it, they forgot their familial relationships. A brother and sister were about to get married when a protective fairy in the village prayed to god and he swept down and turned the entire lot into these stone pillars. I like this explanation better than the erosion one. I guess with the small pockets of population a long time ago, incest was a big issue for the community. 

I took a group of students and we stayed at the Prolom banja spa. It is a communist era hotel that many elderly people go to for the healthy waters. The place was not very modern, but it was clean and somewhat comfortable and the staff was very friendly and helpful. 

 

The Sacred Spiral Plum Tree

The second day we took a 3 km walk from the town of Prolom Banja to a small church called St. Lazar. It is one of the legends surrounding the Serb battle against the Ottomans in 1389. The church is about 10 kilometers from the Kosovo border set amidst some forested hills. The area is great for hunting deer, wolves, foxes, etc. according to the locals. The guide from the hotel told us that before doing battle against the Ottomans, the Serb soldiers walked around the church 6 times and they also planted six spiral plum trees which were regarded as sacred. The photo above shows the oldest remains from one of the trees. There are two living spiral trees next to the church. 

Lazar was the leader of the Serbs at the time of the big battle and both he and the Ottoman leader died in the battle. 

I am not sure how true this is. From my research, not much is actually known about the battle. It is a great story however and with the low clouds and mists set in the dark forest, it is easy to imagine the medieval Serbs doing battle with the Turks in this kind of setting. I really want to go back with mountain bicycles, there were roads and trails galore in the area.

Beg’s Mosque and the Baščaršija Market of Sarajevo

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Gazi Husrev-Begs Mosque of Sarajevo, originally uploaded by bill kralovec.

Ocean is shown looking up at the tower of Beg’s Mosque in the old part of Sarajevo. It is located in the center Bascarsija market and while we were shopping, we stopped to take a look at a fine example of Ottoman architecture. The towers of mosques can be seen throughout the city and in villages in Bosnia.

Beg’s mosque was financed by Gasi-Husrev Beg in 1531. He was the Bosnian governor for Sarajevo when the Ottomans ruled most of the Balkan peninsula. The Ottomans were here for over 500 years and it is in Sarajevo their influence can be felt the most in the ex-Yugoslavia. They also converted many of the Serbs and Croats to Islam, hence the Bosniaks of today. The mosques add a touch of the exotic to Sarajevo. The mosque was destroyed several times throughout its history, most recently during the siege on Sarajevo from 1992-1995. The Saudis financed rebuilding of the mosque. We even heard the call to prayer, the first time I ever heard it live. Very cool.

 

The family in the market
The family in the market

 

 

 

The market was great! Nadia enjoyed looking at all the shops. We bought a tea set, scarf, etc. and I even bought a fez. The people in the market loved the kids and they got free candy where ever we went. It was low tourist season and horrible weather, so there were no crowds and we got to meet many of the vendors. I also got a nice shave. The kids also enjoyed using umbrellas for the first time. We had to buy three of them of course and they walked around with them every day. Ocean dragged hers through puddles.

Snow! Kralovec Family Holidays to Bosnia i Hercegovina

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Ollie and Ocean are pictured above preparing snowballs to throw at our car. We were excited to see lots of snow on our trip to Sarajevo. We are on fall break and are exploring Serbia’s neighboring country.

We got off to a slow start yesterday with many errands to do around the house. I cleaned the car, fixed the rearview mirror, and helped Nadia pack. We made a delicious pancake breakfast as well as downloaded stories to listen to while driving. After exchanging some boots for Nadia, we were on our way.

 

Serbia has many single family farms still
Serbia has many single family farms still

 

 

We had a slight change in plans even before we got started. We had originally planned to stay near Visegrad, a town just across the Serbian border. The town was made famous by Nobel Prize laurate, Ivo Andric, a famous Yugolsavian author. He wrote “Bridge On the Drina”, a historical fictional account of the town. I blogged about the book here. We did not stay there because the best place in the area according to the guidebooks, was used in the 1990’s as a rape camp by paramilitary forces in the Yugoslavian civil war. The Bradt Guide to Bosnia didn’t mention this. Young and beautiful Bosniak women from the Visegrad area were kept there. Nadia felt queasy about staying the night in a such a place, 16 years after. I didn’t realize how much of the war happened in Visegrad. Many Bosniaks fled the area and what used to be a mixed area, is not predominately Serbian. That is consistent with the history of the place. Much violence happened there over the centuries, from the Ottoman Turks taking Serbian boys away from their families to be raised as Ottomans, to the Austro Hungarians subduing the Ottomans.

 

The Drina Bridge At Night
The Drina Bridge At Night

 

 

Perhaps it was a rainy, cold night, but the town felt a bit depressed. We stopped and I took some pictures of the bridge and walked out to the capia. There is no car traffic on the bridge. It is quite an impressive architectural feat, considering how wide the river is and how long ago the sultan ordered the bridge to be built. I used Serbian RSD to buy gas in the city.

The highlight of the day was the beautiful snow in the mountains. On the Serbian side in Zlatibor, there was lots of snow. We stopped at the Hotel Mecanik for a late dinner, just outside the village of Mokra Gora. We wanted to spend the night, as Ocean vomitted and the kids and I were tired. There was no rooms available, so we decided to go on to Sarajevo. It snowed the whole way and I was a bit disappointed not to be able to see the beautiful canyons and mountain views as we were approaching Sarajevo. Being from northern Michigan, USA, the snow brought back memories of my youth.

We finally arrived in Sarajevo around 10:00 PM. Distances are deceptive in Serbia and Bosnia as the narrow, twisting mountain roads make progress slow. It took about 200 hours to travel the roughly 100 kilometers. The hotel we booked was full so we found another nearby. Initial impressions are a lively, beautiful city. I can’t wait to explore it.

 

The Pleasures of Family Travel - Cleaning Vomit off a Car Seat
The Pleasures of Family Travel - Cleaning Vomit off a Car Seat

 

 

We are having a bit of car trouble. The temperature gauge is cold even though we drove through the mountains all day. I think it is a thermostat problem, we’ll have to get it checked out today or tomorrow before we leave on Tuesday.

Goodbye Sebey and Tia Marita

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Alejandra at lunch with Nadia and our friend Vesna
Alejandra at lunch with Nadia and our friend Vesna

 

 

It was a sad week as Nadia’s sister Alejandra and our nephew Sebey left us. Their school in Bahrain closed because of H1N1 flu fears. All schools on the island closed and so they took advantage of the unexpected October holiday and stayed with us for almost 2 weeks. It is only a few hours flight away and only one time zone difference. 

It was great to see them again. Sebey is growing up very fast. He spent a lot of time “roughhousing” (an USA upper midwest term) with his cousins. Nadia and her sister are quite close. 

 

Sebey with his cousins - October 10, 2009
Sebey with his cousins - October 10, 2009

Winter Weather Has Arrived

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Pumpkin Carving
Pumpkin Carving

It felt like someone turned on the winter switch as the cold, wet weather came in a hurry this week. Up until Monday, the weather has been absolutely beautiful with warm temps and sunny skies. This week temps were near freezing, although yesterday it finally warmed up a bit and the skies cleared. It has got us all in the autumn mood and as you can see by the photos in this post, we’re doing all of the fall activities. 

 

Nadia receives help from kids in sorting through the winter clothes
Nadia receives help from kids in sorting through the winter clothes

 

 

It is a nice change of pace after so many years in the tropics. This week we took the winter clothes out of storage. We also carved the Romanian pumpkins that we stole from a peasant farm a couple of weeks ago. I also finally figured out my blackberry and uploaded all of the photos to my flickr.com site. The phone takes excellent photos.

Owen’s Presentation and New Haircut

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Owen’s Presentation, originally uploaded by bill kralovec.

I listened to Owen’s presentation on Bolivia. The first grade class in celebration of International Week in the Lower School, had all of the students give presentations on a country of their choice. Most students chose either nations of their families or where they spent most of their lives. At an international school, there is always a lot of mixed families. Owen chose to do Bolivia because there are not many South Americans in Serbia. He was also born there and is a Bolivian citizen. We spent several holidays there and he also had an extended stay when Ocean was born.

Owen had many photos and stories to share with the parents and people at the presentations. He also finally got a haircut last night. This is the shortest he has had his hair in a long time. He looks very different! I didn’t recognize him when I first walked in today.

He did an excellent job and we are proud of him. Way to go Owen!!!!

Wine Tasting at the Kovačević Cellar

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Responsible Mom and Aunt, originally uploaded by bill kralovec.

Yesterday we visited Kovačević Wine Cellar located in the village of Irig, which is about 70 kilometers north of Belgrade. The village lies in the Fruška Gora National Park. Fruška Gora means “Frankish Mountain” in English. It is a region of hills that are in the middle of the flat plains of Vojvodina. The hills were a natural frontier of the Frankish Empire back in the 400s. I prefer the Roman name for the area, Fertile Mountain because it is a great region for growing grapes. The Franks have not been around in a long time. Besides wine, Fruska Gora has some hiking and 12 Serbian Orthodox monasteries, and we will come back again for those.

We found the address of Kovačević in a guide to the wines of Serbia and it was recommended to us by friends. It is not the vineyards and elegant tasting experience of the wineries we went to in Australia, but a nice experience nonetheless. There is no sign in front and so we went around the side of the building. The workers were busy with crushing the grapes and the kids got to see the process of fermentation and storage.

 

The Kids Save the Grapes from Being Crushed
The Kids Save the Grapes from Being Crushed

I was most excited to try the Bermet, which is a type of wine only produced by the Fruska Gora wineries. It is a strong dessert wine, that is infused with herbs and spices. It used to be very popular with the Austro-Hungarian royalty and it was on the wine list of the Titanic. Today, it is not known outside of Serbia. We liked both the white and red versions of the Bermet. We bought two bottles of the red. We also liked the Aurelius, a mix of Cab Sav and Merlot, aged in the barrels below. Nadia also bought a Rajninski Reisling and Chardonnay. I also liked the Reisling, which had tones of green apples. We will be visiting the region again! After the winery, we had dinner in Novi Sad and walked around the beautiful old part of town. 

The highlight of the day however was not the sightseeing, but just spending time with the kids. Below they are eating another of my delicious breakfast entrees. It is good also to have my nephew Sebey visiting us. 

 

 

Sunday Breakfast
Sunday Breakfast

Serbia Qualifies For The World Cup!!

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Owen & Sebey At Red Star Stadium
Owen & Sebey At Red Star Stadium

 

Last night my friend Claudiu and I took the kids to the Serbia versus Romania World Cup Qualifying match. Serbia was leading Group 7 in the European Group and needed a win to secure a spot in next summer’s World Cup soccer tourney in South Africa. They earned their spot with an emphatic 5 – 0 win over neighboring Romania. 

We got pumped up for the game with a lunchtime soccer match
We got pumped up for the game with a lunchtime soccer match

My last experience at the stadium for the Austria qualifying match was horrible and I was apprehensive in taking three young boys (Owen, Sebey & Tudor) to the game. We were crushed in the entrance at that game, but last night’s game was very well organized. Stadium officials looked at the tickets at several checkpoints on the way to our seats. The seats were numbered and there was one seat for every person. There were also many police and ushers in the aisles to prevent overcrowding in the exits like last time. 

Serbia obviously outplayed Romania and were back to their up tempo attacking football that has been lacking the past few matches. At the end of the match, there was a big celebration with fireworks and President Tadic in his luxury box opening up the champagne. Serbia qualified for the first time as an independent nation – in 2006 in Germany, they were still Serbia-Montenegro. It is interesting the there are several ex-Yugoslavia republics with chances of qualifying. Bosnia-Hercagovina will finish in second place in their group and will play off to get in. Slovenia also is in second place and could qualify automatically as group winner if Slovakia loses to Poland. Croatia is one point out of second but will probably not get into the playoff.

How will they do in South Africa? They have as good of chances as anyone else. They have one superstar, Manchester United defender Nemanja Vidic. They are solid in the midfield with InterMilan player and team captain, Dejan Stankovic. My favorite player on the team and possibly their best, is Milos Krasic. He plays for CSKA Moscow and really makes things happen for Serbia. He is fast and always moving forward and is always involved in Serbia’s goals. He is a player to watch out for as he is only 24. I can’t believe one of the bigger European clubs hasn’t picked him up yet. They also have the tallest soccer player at this level, 6’8” Nikola Zigic. He usually gets several good header opportunities in front of the goal every game. Their goalie is solid and if the role players can step it up, they have a shot at taking on the big boys. They need another big scorer as I don’t think Marko Pantelic, one of the strikers is up to World Cup level of play. He is always complaining on the field and doesn’t really do a whole lot in my opinion. They will always be in games with Vidic as center back. 

 

Lunch With the Romanian Supporters
Lunch With the Romanian Supporters

The qualification means the World Cup will be much more interesting for me with Serbia and the USA in the tourney. I have photos on my Blackberry but haven’t yet figured out how to upload them to my computer. I will post some photos from the game when I get a chance.

Boško lends a hand

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Bill & Boško, originally uploaded by bill kralovec.

Last Friday evening we were driving downtown near Ulica Njegosova to pick up Oliver’s vaccines from a pharmacy. He got his 4 year old booster shot and the local clinic the expats used, asked us to order and buy the vaccine ourselves. Anyway, we were cruising down the street near a construction zone and we heard a thud on the back tire. Immediately we then heard a loud escape of air and the bumping of a flat tire. Apparently I hit a something that tore an inch long rip in a tire. We were on a narrow street and couldn’t find a spot to pull over. We eventually found a gate open on a driveway. The security guard of the area, a perfect stranger, Bosko, pictured above came over and helped me change the tire, doing most of the work . Since it was such a narrow driveway and street to get out of, he even drove the car out so we could be on our way. Then when we asked where we could get a tire repaired, another perfect stranger walking down the street overhead us and offered to take us to a tire shop a few blocks away. Very kind indeed.

 

The Chavez Girls Cheerlead the Tire Change Crew
The Chavez Girls Cheerlead the Tire Change Crew

My Thoughts On Romania

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It is quite appropriate to post about the country of Romania as tomorrow, Serbia plays against its neighbor in an important World Cup qualifying soccer match. My first impression of the country was the same as when I visited neighboring Bulgaria – “These guys are in the EU and Serbia is not?” It was most evident in the border crossing. Coming back into Serbia, the Romanian border post was run down and the guards very inefficient. Crossing into Serbia, the installations for immigration were better maintained. The roads were in better condition, less garbage along side the roads, and the villages and towns on the Serbian side were also nicer and better maintained. I know Serbia is not part of the EU because of politics and not economics or standard of living, but when compared to Bulgaria and Romania, they are EU-quality. 
The Romanians were very friendly and we enjoyed the visit. The Romans had a larger effect on them than the Serbs. I wonder why? The Romans were also here in Belgrade. I also learned of the Dacians, one of the early groups in Romania. I would like to learn more about them as well as the Vlachs. I did notice a significant gypsy population, even in villages, which one does not find in Serbia where they are mostly located in the larger cities. 
Gypsy Wedding Dance in a village we drove through
Gypsy Wedding Dance in a village we drove through
The Carpathian mountains were beautiful as well as the rolling hills of southern Romania. Very similar to the Serbian countryside, although we saw more pumpkins in Romania. We had to stop at a pumpkin patch and get some photos. It reminded me of the old Peanuts cartoon when Linus waits for the Great Pumpkin to come. 
The boys climbed some of the Carpathians! We didn’t see any vampires, which is always strongly associated with Romania. We did see a girl at breakfast in the hotel rubbing garlic on her toast however. We will probably be back again.