In July 2020, in a brief respite from the worries of the covid pandemic, I had the good fortune to be able to escape for a little adventure, spending 3 days paddling down the Tamiš river in northern Serbia, in my packraft.
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An Attempt at Trail Running [Video]
For most of my life running (particularly across country) has been quite important. But since December of 2016, when I injured my left knee, I haven’t really run. Last week, I tried again... and made a video.
There is nothing like running on a trail, and for me it was always therapeutic.
I instantly forget stuff when I am running. I am totally absorbed.
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Summer Road Trip 2017 - Stara Planina [Video]
Having had the honour of being invited to a christening in Mileševa Monastery, outside Prijepolje, on Thursday and having spent a night in an almost inaccessible village, reached via a one hour 4x4 ride up and down a dirt track, we sped across country on Friday to stay in Kopaonik; a mountain resort best known as the centre of winter sports in Serbia and, as is always the case with such places, a rather drab and untidy building site in summer.
After a short pitstop in the city of Niš we saw out our last weekend of the road trip walking in the Balkan Mountains.
You may not have heard much about the Balkan Mountains or Stara Planina (Old Mountain) as the areas is known in Serbian, but this range stretches from the south eastern corner of Serbia, spanning Bulgaria, to the Black Sea.
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Summer Road Trip 2017 - Walking In Zlatibor [Video]
Zlatibor is a mountainous region of pine forests and rolling meadows in western Serbia. Famed locally for its health benefits and spread over an area of about 300 square kilometres it provides a truly different environment for hiking.
The resort of Zlatibor is not in itself beautiful but offers plenty of accommodation as is a great base to explore this spectacular countryside. We stayed in the Mona Hotel.
We chose to double back on ourselves to spend a couple of nights here which gave me the chance to have a tramp in a kind of landscape which someone pointed out to me looks not unlike Tibet or Mongolia. Although it doesn't reach heights beyond 1496 metres (Tornik; the height peak).
Here is a video I shot early one morning, profiting from the soft glow of the morning sun which turns the grasslands a rich golden colour. As I mention in the video information is tricky to come by for any longer walking but I have put a few links below as well a information on other places of interest in the vicinity.
Hike details: This walk was around an 11km roundtrip, from Zlatibor resort to the top of a mountain called Crni Vrh, which is 1177 metres above sea level, so a total ascent of around 35 metres.
Hiking Trails in Zlatibor region
I will do some more research and attempt to put together a better resource for hiking trails in the Zlatibor region but for the time being the bets place seems to be to follow what others have tracked.
What else can you do?
Zlatibor is not far from other areas of interest that I have spoken about such as the Tara National Park, which affords much more rugged mountainous terrain, but if you want to mix up your trip with some non-physical activities here are my top four:
1. Sirogojno: An Open-air Museum
A 30 minute drive from Zlatibor resort is the old village of Sirogojno. This perfectly preserved display of traditional Zlatibor living (largely 19th century although the neighbouring church dates from the mid eighteenth century) is essentially and open-air museum.
2. Šargan Eight: Enjoy an Old Narrow Guage Railway
Šarganska Osmica is an old narrow gauge railway that traces a figure of eight in the mountains. Built in 1925 it is a spectacular ride as well as seriously feat of engineering. When we stopped in this area a few days ago we stayed in Mokra Gora, which is just over 30 minutes down the road from Zlatibor and the main stop on this train line.
3. Stopića Cave
Between Zlatibor resort and Sirogojno is Stopića Cave. The cave entrance is 18 metres high and 35 metres wide with bats flitting about near the entrance. Its is made up of a number of large halls and a spectacular waterfall. The highlight of this vast chasm is a series of pools which have formed in a staircase-like cascade, which at some time of year can be filled with water. Th deepest of these is seven metres. Our experience of this is that you will be pushed to join a tour but it is not compulsory, especially given the fact that it is in Serbian! Once you have your ticket you can just walk in.
4. Drvengrad: a Living film set
Also known as Kustendorf, this is essentially a fake village built by Emir Kusturica (for his film Life is a Miracle) in a traditional style with timber framed buildings, restaurants a theatre and of course holiday lets. Every year it hosts the Kustendorf Film and Music Festival as well s other events and you will notice that each street bears an interesting name - below is my favourite I spotted.
Summer Road Trip 2017 - 5 Unforgettable Experiences in Western Serbia / Montenegro
When we designed this summer's road trip I did have a sort of hidden agenda and that was to explore the possibilities of what sometimes gets described as adventure tourism or more precisely in my mind as the scope for enjoying the outdoors. And with this kind of agenda comes a certain pressure to "tick things off". It is not the kind of tourism I like, if truth be told, so we have tried to manage our time to ensure we allow ourselves the possibility to truly discover and not simply to pass through, as if speeding down the hallways of an art gallery.
That said... here are a few amazing adventure experiences that I have not written about, so far and that really deserved a bit more time. I have grouped them together because they are all relatively close.
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Re-designing Life: Daydreams and Diasporas.
Almost nobody here lives in Serbia. Sitting close to our table are Australian Serbs, Swedish Serbs, American Serbs, French Serbs and us, I suppose. I guess we fit into this category although I never think of Zorica and Emma (my wife an daughter) in such terms.
There are two aspects of this that intrigue me. The first is an obvious demonstration that only those who have moved abroad and done well are in a position to afford such a place.
Secondly I cannot help but allow my mind to wander and to imagine what kind of lives they have "at home" or do they perhaps still call this land home - the one they abandoned in search of prosperity and security for their family?
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Summer Road Trip 2017 - Following the Drina
In the 1970s a young, hungry and penniless Robert De Niro found himself in this part of the old Yugoslavia. Taken in by the locals, he stayed for some time to recover his strength and was treated with such hospitality and generosity that he would never forget them. Many years later he named a daughter after their mighty river, Drina.
In the last couple of days we have followed the course of this fast-flowing river, immortalised by Ivo Andric (Yugoslavia's Nobel Prize winning writer) in The Bridge on the Drina, and inspirer of Hollywood’s finest. As if the romance of the De Niro story weren’t enough to want to believe it, the landscape and the warmth of the people gives it greater strength.
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Summer Road Trip 2017 - Hiking in Vojvodina [Video]
After a morning of wine-tasting and car-failing we installed ourselves for the first weekend of our summer road trip, in Salaš Stojšić. A pleasant Salaš (a traditional type of farm in this area - my favourite being Salas 137), its stencilled walls and intentionally old-fashioned charm is typical of these rural farmhouses. Outside there is a wide spread of gingham-clad tables, fruit trees, a braying donkey and the mandatory charcoal perfume of grilling meat that seems to impregnate the hot, still air on a summer weekend in Vojvodina.
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