Today was my last full day of walking through Serbia on the E4 Long Distance European trail.
Waking up to a sunny day I headed downhill to the Monastery of Sv. Kirik i Julita. There should have been a path according to the map but not seeing one I headed down the ridge along the route it should take tramping on various herbs and flowers among the rocks which were trying to trip me up. The map indicated that the path should make a sharp right turn at the end of the ridge at a height of 1159 metres. On my way to this point I noticed a faint path crossing mine, but it was too far north to correspond to the one on the map. Having reached the end of the ridge and still seeing no path I followed the route such a path should take using my GPS, not so easy on the steep side of the ridge. Eventually I joined up with a path coming from the top of the ridge, I assume the one I saw earlier. This proved to be a good path taking me through trees to the Monastery so well hidden in the valley that you only saw it at the last moment. Just shows that maps, in this case the Geokarta Stara Planina mountain touristic map, are not to be relied upon. This was one of the few maps suitable for hiking that I could get, and while very useful it is not perfect.
I tried the door of the church and finding it open went in. A nun was just finishing some liturgy, so I waited with head respectfully bowed until she had finished. The smell of incense, the icons with their gold outlines, the candles and the bowing and gestures of those visiting give these places a quiet religious atmosphere directly linked with ancient times (although a stone outside suggested the church was built in the 19th century). On leaving the church the nun was convinced that I was trying to find the path up the mountain (it is not very obvious where it starts at the Monastery) while I tried to explain to no avail that I had just come that way. Again lack of language skills caused me a minor embarrassment but we said "Dovidenja" and I headed down the obvious tarmac road.
This took me to the village of Smilovci where there was a shop open so I sat on the bench outside and had a coke and Mars bar for breakfast while the shopkeeper and a man drinking beer next to me tried to ascertain what I was doing and then had a discussion that involved the words for English, Russian and Germans... The road took me by a lake, through another village and up two ridges before I turned off on a little detour indicated in "Rambling through Serbia". This avoid some tarmac but took me very close to the Bulgarian border. I was worried about being stopped by border police. You are meant to register with the police if you are camping, but for someone on foot camping in remote places this is not practical. It was not a subject I wanted to be questioned about, at least not unless I had stayed in a hotel the previous night and so had some recent documentation. Fortunately there were no border police on the track, just a few people digging holes who pointedly ignored me.
I reached the tiny village of Gradina and then headed for the Happy Hotel at Dmitrovgrad. Happy because it is a nice place serving food and drink on a pleasant terrace overlooking the town, not for any nefarious reason.
So here I am enjoying a small bottle of white wine to celebrate crossing Serbia, another country on my walk across Europe.
24.2 kilometres walked today, mainly downhill. A gpx file of my route can be found on wikiloc.com or the route can be downloaded from Outdooractive.
My journey continues in Bulgaria see johnpone4bulgaria.blogspot.com.
Waking up to a sunny day I headed downhill to the Monastery of Sv. Kirik i Julita. There should have been a path according to the map but not seeing one I headed down the ridge along the route it should take tramping on various herbs and flowers among the rocks which were trying to trip me up. The map indicated that the path should make a sharp right turn at the end of the ridge at a height of 1159 metres. On my way to this point I noticed a faint path crossing mine, but it was too far north to correspond to the one on the map. Having reached the end of the ridge and still seeing no path I followed the route such a path should take using my GPS, not so easy on the steep side of the ridge. Eventually I joined up with a path coming from the top of the ridge, I assume the one I saw earlier. This proved to be a good path taking me through trees to the Monastery so well hidden in the valley that you only saw it at the last moment. Just shows that maps, in this case the Geokarta Stara Planina mountain touristic map, are not to be relied upon. This was one of the few maps suitable for hiking that I could get, and while very useful it is not perfect.
I tried the door of the church and finding it open went in. A nun was just finishing some liturgy, so I waited with head respectfully bowed until she had finished. The smell of incense, the icons with their gold outlines, the candles and the bowing and gestures of those visiting give these places a quiet religious atmosphere directly linked with ancient times (although a stone outside suggested the church was built in the 19th century). On leaving the church the nun was convinced that I was trying to find the path up the mountain (it is not very obvious where it starts at the Monastery) while I tried to explain to no avail that I had just come that way. Again lack of language skills caused me a minor embarrassment but we said "Dovidenja" and I headed down the obvious tarmac road.
This took me to the village of Smilovci where there was a shop open so I sat on the bench outside and had a coke and Mars bar for breakfast while the shopkeeper and a man drinking beer next to me tried to ascertain what I was doing and then had a discussion that involved the words for English, Russian and Germans... The road took me by a lake, through another village and up two ridges before I turned off on a little detour indicated in "Rambling through Serbia". This avoid some tarmac but took me very close to the Bulgarian border. I was worried about being stopped by border police. You are meant to register with the police if you are camping, but for someone on foot camping in remote places this is not practical. It was not a subject I wanted to be questioned about, at least not unless I had stayed in a hotel the previous night and so had some recent documentation. Fortunately there were no border police on the track, just a few people digging holes who pointedly ignored me.
I reached the tiny village of Gradina and then headed for the Happy Hotel at Dmitrovgrad. Happy because it is a nice place serving food and drink on a pleasant terrace overlooking the town, not for any nefarious reason.
So here I am enjoying a small bottle of white wine to celebrate crossing Serbia, another country on my walk across Europe.
24.2 kilometres walked today, mainly downhill. A gpx file of my route can be found on wikiloc.com or the route can be downloaded from Outdooractive.
My journey continues in Bulgaria see johnpone4bulgaria.blogspot.com.
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| Morning view from my campsite |
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| Dmitrovgrad, last town on my walk through Serbia |
I'm planning to do E4/E7 full Serbia part this year as it is one of the countries you can visit as a tourist.
ReplyDeleteCan i contact you via email/FB?
Hi Gennady,
ReplyDeleteI found Serbia well worth walking through, with friendly people and very different scenery in the north and south of the country. Sadly here in Britain we are not allowed to go far from our homes at the moment due to the Coronavirus, but looking forward to when vaccinations allow me to resume my travels.
I do not put my e-mail address out too publicly due to the risk of being Spammed, but if you go to one of my trails on wikiloc.com (eg https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/serbia-e4-long-distance-european-trail-from-jalovik-izvor-to-dmitrovgrad-25520300 ), then click on my profile (by clicking on "John P") you will find an option to send a private message and we can go from there.
Happy Travels
John