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| St. Mark's Church and Tasmajdan Park |
I don't know how this happened, but even in Belgrade I am finding
myself lacking time. I have a million deadlines for work and internship
applications; my current internship requires a research paper, whose deadline is dangerously looming; a sudden surge of additional
internship work from a surprisingly large number of people; an ebook I am
desperately trying to finish before it disappears from my nook; and of course all
of the events that I now find myself not being able to go to in the city. What
the hell? I thought this was summer, but why does it feel so much like the rest
of the year?
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| Playing in a fountain at Tasmajdan park |
On my third weekend in Belgrade, I MANAGED (exaggeration) to
find the time for a day trip to Gradac Gorge -- about a 2 hour car ride from
Belgrade. So glad I found time to go. But before we get to the trip, let me take a
moment to talk about my experience taking Belgrade's public transportation.
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| Graffiti on Njegoseva Street |
To get to the trip's pick-up spot by the Belgrade Fair Bus Station,
I took a bus (my first time in Belgrade). It was pretty uneventful, except for
the fact that I did not pay because I did not know how (despite having a bus
pass with money on it), and I did not see anyone else paying either.
Essentially, you get on the bus via any of the three doors available to you
(front, middle, and end). Apparently there is a machine that you swipe your
card through, but since it was crowded as hell, I didn’t see it, didn’t do it,
and never saw anyone else using it.
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| St. Sava Church |
The fun part came when I was waiting for the van to Gradac
Gorge to pick me up at the Belgrade Fair Bus Station. This is a bus station that
serves a large number of city busses, Serbian intercity busses, as well as
busses to other European countries. Essentially, it’s chaotic. Now picture
this: people are casually standing around, spread across a wide parking lot, waiting
for their bus to come. When the bus comes, there is a mad rush to get in
through all doors. Notice that I didn’t say “when the bus stops at the station,”
because this doesn’t happen. It’s more like the bus slows down and opens its
doors as it continues to move down the road.
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| Inside St. Sava |
And, and, and, since there is a large number of busses
utilizing this station, there is often several busses arriving at the stop at
once. When this happens, the place gets even more frantic. Because a bus that
arrived last, slows down at the end of the station, and people begin to
frantically rush to the end of the station. But! As soon as the bus at the
beginning of the station departs, all of the busses behind it begin moving forward.
Now all the people rushing to the end of the station, have to run along the
moving bus and try to get in as it moves up the line. Strangely this whole
scenario reminded me of 1980s Russia. Quite homey. Needless to say, I was amused
the entire time I waited for the ride.
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| Gradac River |
But now, for the Gradac Gorge. As soon as our group was
dropped off at the top of a mountain, you could smell the change in air. It was
fresh! When was the last time you smelled fresh air? It has a certain smell to
it that us city folk tend to forgot (or never know). Rather refreshing, I
should say. After what seemed like an almost vertical hike down a mountain
(more like a hill, since it only took 15-20 minutes), we came upon the pristine
Celije Monastery for nuns. MESSAGE (screamed in the voice of Damon Waynes from "Don't Be A Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood" -- yep, that was just referenced): The monastery “holds the bones of the numerous anonymous people found in the monastery
grounds by nuns when they single-handedly rebuilt the monastery after WWII.” Because
the monastery was completely destroyed in WWII and subsequently rebuilt, the
structures are rather new. But tucked away between two old mountains among a
forest, it offers a striking sight.
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| Celije Monastery |
Until lunch, we hiked
along the Gradac River to the river’s source. Along the way, we saw several
groups of people camping right along the river, washing their clothes, building fires, letting their donkeys loose (not a joke and meant literally)... We
also saw several simple wooden cottages which people use for their summer
homes. One was right on top of a mountain and offered stunning views of the
surrounding landscape.
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| House on a mountain at Gradac Gorge |
The river’s source was
not what I pictured. I imagined it to be a tiny stream from a rock. Instead, it
was a gush of water pouring out of the bottom of the mountain. It was incredible. Have you ever
drank water from a river’s source? It is the most refreshing and delicious
tasting water I have ever had in my life. Take that Fiji!
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| Source of Gradac River |
After seeing “the source”,
we stopped for lunch at a shack that cooked food for hikers. Before I get into
the food, let me just mentioned that they had an outhouse here with a hole in
the floor. Now please venture to guess what the shape of the hole was. Circle? Square?
Diamond? No, no, no, these shapes are for novices. We had a
triangle. The most unconventional hole to use at an outhouse. I will leave the
rest to imagination.
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| Cooking lunch |
And to wipe that
nightmare from memory, let’s talk about the most delicious fish soup and grilled
fish I have ever, EVER, had in my life. Not a big fan of fish soup or whole
fish, but this was beyond belief. The fish come from the river, naturally, and were literally caught that morning. The fish soup was spicy, full of tomatoes
and veggies, and absolute goodness. The grilled fish tasted nothing like the soup, but like grilled heaven
accompanied by a cool salad of potatoes and sweet onions. This was literally
the best food I had my entire time in Serbia, and I am still salivating every
time I think about it.
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| Fish Soup |
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| Lunch, strangely called California Trout |
The rest of the trip was
a bit more strenuous, as we spent it crossing the river over and over again. A
river that is not one to meander slowly along its course, but choose instead to rush past us as we precariously walked through it. Oh, also, apparently, women’s feet get cold faster than men’s. At
least that’s what our guide told me when he was trying to convince me to take a pair of neoprene socks. When
I asked if this was a proven fact for all women in the world or just those in the Balkans, a fellow British hiker laughed and
said, “Welcome to Serbia.” I didn’t take the socks, and I didn’t regret it.
Although the river was pretty cold.
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| Gradac River |
Hiking the river we had
lots of chances to stop and eat numerous berries and fruits, including
mulberries, wild strawberries, and wild plums (yep, wild plums!). At one point,
me and another member of the group took the deeper way through the river just
so we can gorge on the sweet, juicy berries. Regardless, everyone made it
through safely and no one fell in. Oh, and at the end, there was a cave, which apparently
has never been completely explored.
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| Final stop |
