Day 13: Hitting the Road- Southbound!
Updated: Sep 12, 2022
5/19/22
We got up bright and early at 8am and jumped in the van to start the drive to Niš, and made several stops along the way.
The first was Resava Monastery, a fortified monastery nestled in the mountains of central Serbia. It dates back to the early 15th century.
During the five centuries of Ottoman presence, the monastery was abandoned and wrecked several times. The lead roof was removed from the church, and so for over a century the frescoes inside were subject to damage by rainfall. As a result, about two-thirds of them were irremediably lost. The mosaic floor of that part of the church was preserved, and I took a picture of it here. Today, it is still an active monastery, and it looks like a beautiful place to live and work.
This one isn't mine... but I'm adding it to give you an idea how beautiful and remote this!
We ate lunch at the most beautiful restaurant in the countryside.
Another meat plate... LOL! But the chicken was very good, and I was very hungry. The bread was the BEST yet on this trip, you could see the steam coming off it when we tore it open. We spread some kajmak on it, which melted in... and it was HEAVENLy.
We ate in a pavilion over the stream, and the whole while were surrounded by the cool air, sunny day and soothing sound of babbling water as we ate our meal.
Check out this ambiance...
Not only that, but a few minutes up a trail was a beautiful waterfall.
Next, we reached Resava Cave.
This cave is estimated to be 80 million years old, but I know that number is so large it is abstract. 80 million years ago puts this cave around the Cretaceous/Paleogene extinction, when the last non-avian dinosaurs were alive. That's a long ass time ago.
What's that, I just cursed? Oh, no, I'm referring to the animal in the horse family.
The interior was beautiful. Take a look. This cave has some of the best/most formations in Europe! There was a chamber called the Opera Hall, and when the group asked if someone would like to sing, I volunteered, and gave a little concert there. It was a super mystical experience singing there, 80 meters underground. I sang Jenny of Oldstones, and maybe if I feel good enough about my performance I will share the video. My colleagues really loved it, which made me proud.
Finally, we stopped at another active, fortified monastery, Ravanica Monastery. This one predates the first by about 30 years- from the 14th century.
This place is especially important to Serbian heritage, since it is the resting place of Prince Lazar, who died in the famous Kosovo battle, was canonized and is now a key figure of Serbian Orthodoxy. We got to see a nun maintaining the church, putting new incense in a warmer and lifting it back up with a small pulley system on the altar.
After the rest of the drive, we finally arrived in the southern city of Niš (pronounced "niche"). Tomorrow we will spend the day there, and you'll hear all about it!
Ćao for now!
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