“Serbia 🇷🇸 ~Drive Day From Belgrade to Mokra Gora”
We had to make a decision, once I learned from the American Embassy in Belgrade, that our COVID19 tests would cost about $300. The results would come back quickly, but what wasn’t clear was how fast we could get our test, and we had to pre-pay, then wait. What if it took a week for our turn? Nobody could say how long. It was a wait and see situation.
Since we have already been to Bosnia, (but just want to see more of the country), we decided to pass, and spend that money down the road, when we try to get in to Bulgaria. To get into their country, since it will require a negative COVID19 test as well. We have not been to Bulgaria as yet, so it will be better time and money spent to do that, after we are done in Macedonia.
This morning, we left Belgrade and made another day of it, driving to Morka Gora, as we want to ride the antique railway line, called Sargan Eight.
While in Belgrade, I had tried calling to make reservations, but lacked the right phone number and the lack of English, made that tough, so we decided to take our chances, and get booked, after we arrived.
The Gate of Podrinje is the entrance to the magical Drina River Valley and to the beauties of the region of Podrinje, Serbia.
The drive, by half way to our destination, began to turn, quite fabulous! I mean, Serbia is really pretty, but we did highway for awhile and then more farmland. We weren’t exactly seeing a whole lot of new or different, scenes for the first part, as we left Belgrade. But then, there was a point on the pass, which was worth a stop for photos, plus to buy fresh blackberries! We were truly entering a beautiful valley.
In addition, we followed a river which was half Serbian and half Bosnia Herzegovina 🇧🇦; the dividing border.
The always exciting Drina is created by joining the cool and swift mountain rivers Tara and Piva near Šćepan Polje, in Montenegro. From there with all its strength it curved its path towards Bosnia and Herzegovina, and gave the towns sprouting on its banks the particular historical importance.
Once it was an important battle site that divided the Eastern and the Western Roman Empire, later the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Serbia, and today the Drina is the border between Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Almost along its entire course the Drina cuts through mountain ranges creating gorges, only to enter a valley quite unexpectedly and changes. Its a moody River.
The Drina enters Serbia strengthened by the force of the Lim river that flows into it just before the border creating the Medjedjanska gorge, one of two largest gorges on this river.
From here the river continues to flow along the winding border, through the parts of Serbia in which the beauty of nature is exceptional, flora and fauna are very rich and versatile and the Drina itself is the most beautiful.
Here lies, surrounded with dark steep cliffs, the largest gorge on the Drina, the 23.5 mile-long Klotijevačka Gorge.
Since the moment its photograph found itself in the Daily Mail and the National Geographic, the Drina House hasn’t ceased to intrigue the world and attract curious travelers from across the globe. Some may wonder who lives in it, others how it’s been built, while the rest simply enjoy the sight of it (which is all but ordinary).
For the creation of this memorable house, all credit goes to the Drina River, a blazing summer sun and a group of young boys. It all began on a hot summer’s day in 1968, when a group of friends sought refuge from the relentless waves of the swollen Drina on a nearby rock. Exhausted from swimming and “fighting” the mighty river, they lay down on the lonely rock and enjoyed the sun.
After a while they realized that the rough surface and jagged edges of the rock weren’t exactly the comfiest place, so they decided to swim back to the shore and bring a few wooden boards back, which they would continue to rest on. When there had been enough boards for lying on, they started to arrange some of them vertically to shelter themselves from the sun. And thus, an idea was born.
The boards were brought in by Milija Mandić; the young boy who came up with the idea for the Drina House, but his first group of friends lost interest.
However, not wanting to give up on the idea for this “out of the ordinary house,” the following summer, the seventeen-year-old Milija assembled another small group of friends with the intent to finish what was started and build a place they would be able to spend their summer break at.
At the time, of course, he didn’t even imagine his house would become world famous. But, that’s how it all came to be. Plank by plank.
To transport the materials they used boats and kayaks, and the larger pieces they simply lowered into the water, then caught and pulled out at the rock.
A proper house was built, and Drina got a new friend and ultimately, its biggest tourist attractions.
Fifty years, six houses and a bunch of memories later, nobody has managed to tame the moody and restless Drina River. This is why there is a saying in Serbia that goes like this. “Krivu Drinu niko ne može ispraviti“ or “Ko će ispraviti krivu Drinu.” You would use this saying, which roughly translated means “Nobody can set the crooked Drina straight;” and used when you want to tell somebody that they simply can’t fix everything.
But moments in time, along with lovely memories were created, by which even the wild Drina didn’t succeed in taking away. Friendships were made in a place of shade and relaxation, where unforgettable sunrises were been watched. There has been bathing and sunbathing, love and laughter. This is how the small and solitary Drina House, every one of them have come to bee, and will always be a symbol which brought people and nature together in a most magical way.
Finally, we were also next to the Tara Canyon, which we already visited, recently while in the country of Montenegro 🇲🇪. Tara Canyon National Park also spreads into Bosnia Herzegovina 🇧🇦, (it’s a huge and beautiful canyon).
When we arrived at our destination of Mokra Gora, in about four and a half hours, with only one wrong turn, we were surprised to see a very different look, then we had seen, yet, in Serbia. What a darling Village! There are a lot of wooden homes, churches and cabins. The architecture is unique and old-world. We feel a German ambiance, here.
It would appear to me, this remote location is beginning to develop even more, as we see additional cabins being built for future guests. I would expect this to become an even more popular destination in the near future. It’s very quaint, quiet and charming. The train is the big draw here for sure.
Today, however, Mokra Gora (meaning wet mountain) is better known for its tourist attractions and breathtaking nature surrounded with valleys and gorges of the White and the Black Rzav and the Kamiška River.
Old mountain cabins are scattered across meadows between streams and numerous mineral springs. Contrastt to them, new cabins were built in the old traditional style on the hill Mećavnik that dominates in Mokra Gora
As soon as we made it here, we went directly to the train station to hopefully get tickets for tomorrow. As it would turn out, the person at the ticket window wasn’t much help. He told me the next available reservation for riding the train was four days away. I asked if there was a “stand-by” option, just in case there were any cancellations, or no-shows (the train runs three times a day) He told us no, and pretty much dismissed us. It was a bit rude, but from the beginning, he honestly was not interested in helping us, anyway.
Not easily deterred, I did see a telephone number taped to the ticket window, so I took a photo of it. We went back to our car and I called this new number I did not have from before, when I tried to call. I finally got through to a very nice person who knew some English. I told him we had come a long way, in hopes of riding the vintage train, tomorrow, and was there any way we could get standby tickets, since we were told there were no reservations for many days. He confirmed with us that, yes, we were already in Mokra Gora, and sounded surprised when we told him we had already been to the ticket booth, and what we were told. He took my phone number, and said he would look into the matter and call me back. While we waited, we went in search of a hotel. The first one we tried had one room left at 20 Euros a night. We arranged two nights, not knowing how long it might take to get on that train. Then, I got a call back from the ticket man, and he informed me he made us a reservation to ride the train at 4PM the next day. We are to go back to the ticket booth around 3:30PM to pay for our tickets and get ready for the train. I jumped for joy! It all worked out and we love that!
We had such a great day, and felt very fortunate to have scored some train tickets. Not sure the price, but its either about $20 pp or total. If there are unique train rides in any country we visit, we always seek them out. We love trains, and have never had a disappointing ride, ever!
We are committed to two nights, here in Mokra Gora, as we had a back up plan of being at the ticket booth before each train, hoping for a stand-by situation, till we got two seats. Our hotel is right across the road from the train station parking lot, so it would have been super easy. Now that we got reservations, we get to relax and just enjoy our surroundings.
Mokra Gora, will not be our last planned stop and activity in Serbia, since we will continue driving south, and get going, back to Macedonia. We will take just a bit more time and overnights somewhere in Serbia on our way out, as the drive from here to the boarder is over six hours. We have no need or desire to rush.
After we had picked up our rental car in Macedonia, some weeks ago; maybe a month, anyway, we only had visited two places. So we will now have a chance to finish exploring that country, before finding COVID19 testing in Skopje, in preparation to traveling to Bulgaria; before returning our rental car by the end of the month. Whew, it still takes some planning, though we are wining it this summer in Europe, with no hotel reservations and its working out just fine so far
Stay tuned for our train ride!
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Hello and Welcome to our Travel Blog Website, We enjoy writing about our experiences and taking photos of our adventuring along the way. Our names are: Daryl and Pen, but Daryl calls me “Bunny.” We met, quite randomly, whilst both… Read More