Road Trip

Yesterday our landlords took us on a road trip through central Serbia. We were in search of the Resava Monastery. Fortunately, the man we stopped for directions thought we were looking for a different monastery and told us entirely the wrong way to go.

The monastery the guy sent us to was smaller, but sometimes when you don't end up where you planned, you do end up exactly where you're supposed to be. We looked inside the church, then the nuns made us coffee and we sat and chatted with the head nun and she told us stories about her life. She had everyone in stitches when she told about the chicken that used to sit on her head and sing songs. I laugh every time I think of this 80-something nun, in her habit, with the big glasses, singing chicken songs. Sadly, it was eaten by a chicken hawk. We also saw the peacock that lives there, and he showed off for us, displaying his magnificent tail. What a useless bird! We bought some of the honey the nuns make (I didn't get too close to the bee hives) and then walked down a hill to the riverside where they have a watermill for making cornmeal. Nuns are so industrious.

We got back on the road, and, with new directions, were able to find the big monastery. It was surrounded by medieval castle walls, which was totally unexpected. The inside of the church was beautifully decorated with frescoes; unfortunately they sustained heavy water damage when the Turks stole the lead roof and all the rain came in. The very sweet nun Anastasia showed us around. I don't think many Americans come through.

Before going to lunch (everyone, from the nuns to our landlord's best-friend, who happened to call, recommended the restaurant next to the waterfall) we stopped at the Resavska Cave. We didn't know that it isn't open for the season until April 1st. Luckily, some tour group had made arrangements for it to be open yesterday and we were able to get in. Cica is a forge-ahead kind of lady, and when we got the cave entrance and found it locked, she located the key tucked under the fence, unlocked the door, and in we went. It was a beautiful cave, with some impressive features. It was nothing like the "wild tour" experience I had in Colorado, but it was lovely. We ran into the guide on our way out, and he was quite disturbed that we had gone through alone. I'm just glad he realized we were in there so he didn't turn out the lights.

We left the cave in a state of extreme hunger; Boban navigated the terrible roads as fast as he could to get us to the waterfall. As promised, the restaurant was situated next to a river, just downstream from a waterfall (any closer and we would have been hit by the spray). We sat for a while, waiting for our lunch to arrive, eyeing the bread on the tables around us. First course: fantastic bread, cucumbers, tomatoes, cabbage, kajmak, and cheese. Second course, roasted fish. Whole fish, with heads, tales, and scales. First time I have eaten fish that looked like fish. If you're skillful, when you finish eating, the remains really do look like the fish in the Tom & Jerry cartoons - head and tail, connected by spine. We loosened our belts and had palacinke with honey and nuts for dessert.

Back on the road - Dan, Cica, and I all slept part of the way home. It was a glorious day, and I'm sure we all slept well last night from the exercise and the (delightfully) fresh air. Three cheers for Cica and Boban for taking such good care of us.