Serbia

Travelling out the southwestern corner of Bulgaria we slipped into the second new country for us this trip, Serbia. We liked it right from the start, people were welcoming, the border patrol spoke pretty good English and I had a few things on my to see list.

The first thing we wanted to see was Lake Vasinsko. A shallow lake where there were supposably floating reed islands. It turned out the islands are only there in the spring when the water is at it's highest, but who knew that the Serbs liked to camp and being that the weather was hot and the camping was free around the lake everyone in the area was there camping for the weekend (of course we had to show up on a Friday). Busy, busy, busy! Lucky for us we met Stan and his wife Slobo at the water fountain, and they invited us back to their camp for coffee and we ended up staying the weekend. A very nice couple who were very interested in Canada as they have a daughter that lives in Halifax. For Ken this was a really interesting stop as he had some major conversations with Stan about life in old and new Serbia. We are learning so much about the old Yugoslavia and life after the breakup unfortunately caused by religion and politics. When we talked to most people that we met they said said that life was better before the breakup.

After a friendly good bye with Stan and Slobo, we headed west and got settled into a little family run hotel (with a pool, because it was still REALLY hot) in Bajina Bašta. Wouldn't you know it, we get a hotel with a pool and the next day we woke to rain, and lots of it. We tried to leave at one point, when the clouds broke, but turned back before we left the city limits (it took us a while to leave because we took a wrong turn somewhere along the line-yes, even with our new gps). BB had a nice walking street, and we found a Rakije  plant to tour, all in all, not a bad place to dodge raindrops for a day or two. 

Rain gone, and back to a now steamy heat, we were in search of Uvac Canyon and the waters snaking through it. We started our search driving the small roads, again, winding through the many villages and farms in the countryside and somehow found our way to the right viewpoint on the right ridge in the middle of who knows where. We were not disappointed with with our destination, a beautiful view just like TripAdvisor said it would be. After a day and a half looking for the viewpoint we stayed just over 30 minutes or so and it was off to the next adventure. After six days in Serbia it was time for another new country...we where off to Bosnia.

Lovely thistles, just a little different than like the ones we get at home in Canada, like a lot of the native wild plant life.

Stan and Slobo, cheers with her homemade krauter Rakije. Made from local herbs that are good for you, so it is kind of like drinking health food.

This look like vineyards but they are actually raspberry fields, Serbia is one of the top raspberry producers in the EU.

And just to prove it, here are a couple of pickers bringing in a bit wagon load.

Barrels of Rakije. Like wine some Rakije is aged in oak barrels and some in vats of copper and steel, we tried some of both.

One of the partners came in specially to give us our own private tour, after I wandered into the plant to see what was going on. Some of these bottles where 50 plus years old.

The food staples in Serbia, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, onions and, at this time of year, watermelon. Add cheese and you have an awesome shopska salad.

Looking down on a reservoir as we wound our way up the mountainside to Napk Tapa N.P.

Perucac Drina reservoir at the head of Uvac Canyon.  

Just more lovely countryside containing MANY small roads, (some paved, some not) great for riding on a bike.

Yes, even more lovely views.

Uvac Canyon, well worth the ride, but then again most anywhere is worth the ride for us!

A different angle. The colour of the water was amazing, I can't imagine what it would look like on a sunny day. We had to dodge rain storms, but the temperatures where still in the high 30's.

Some roads where dirt...

And some roads where not!

I just thought it was a nice way to end the posting.