Novi Pazar to Nis, Serbia

Thursday, May 15

The Good, the Bad, and the Lovely!

The early morning's light mist turned into a steady rain as we headed to visit the Sopocani Monastery near Novi Pazar.  We  were the only visitors at the 13th century complex and had to ask a monk to unlock the church for us.  The frescoes were deeply hued and very beautiful, as was everything about this quiet, domed Orthodox church.  Outside, frescoes on the walls of the portico, portal, and bell tower were deteriorated, but very moving.

We found that one of the most sacred sites in Serbia was near today's route, so we took a short detour to see it.  The Studenica monastery complex also dates from the 13th century and was built by the founder of the Serbian state, who became a saint, and developed by his three sons.  It contains the remains of one of those sons, St. Sava, and his mother.  A helpful volunteer explained the history of the church, the damage incurred at the hands of the Turks, and the state of the frescoes. Some have been beautifully preserved or restored, others were damaged as the result of inept restoration attempts.  Nevertheless, they are just beautiful, and the colors are vibrant.  The largest church also contains some examples of intricately carved marble decoration and statuary very rarely found in Orthodox Christian churches.  Even the rain added to an other-worldly atmosphere in this peaceful place overlooking positively glorious countryside.

As we continued toward what we'd hoped would be an early arrival in Nis, the rain just kept on coming.  We passed rivers that were flowing furiously, brown with churning mud, and swelling far beyond their banks.  We encountered a long line of cars that were stopped in both directions and discovered that the road ahead was full of VERY deep standing water.  We decided to turn around and, remembering that our GPS had offered alternative routes to Nis, thought we'd take a chance.  We had to backtrack quite a bit, but successfully made it to Nis, albeit later than we'd hoped.  We later learned that states of emergency have been declared throughout Serbia due to extremely hazardous conditions caused by the flooding, so we should probably consider ourselves lucky to have been just slightly inconvenienced.

And now for the lovely...

Last month, Tom and I met a gentleman from Kosovo who lives in Scottsdale, and discovered that we were going to be in Nis at the same time he'd be here visiting his family!  Tonight, our friend Spaso picked us up and brought us to his brother's home where we experienced an evening that we'll never forget.  Our hosts, Jeko and Danica Grkovic, offered us the privilege of gathering around their table with three generations of their family, and what a night we had! 

The food was an incredible array of local specialties that just never ended -- one dish after another, each just delicious.  As befitting Jeko's profession as a vintner, there were almost as many wines and brandies as there were dishes.  Some of the family spoke great English, others none at all, and it made absolutely no difference.  We were welcomed as family, and treated as honored guests by Jeko, Danica, Spaso, Miki, Ana, Vesna, Veyko, Nadezda, Zlatko, Jasmina, Teodora, and Anya.  The evening ended with a tour of Jeko's small winery, where he makes, bottles, stores, and archives his award-winning wines and brandy.  We reluctantly had to decline his generous offer of a tasting of all his offerings; had we accepted, we might never have made it back to our hotel!  Words cannot adequately describe this amazing evening, a highlight not just of this trip, but of our many travels!

(This post is a little late for the reasons shown above as you may suspect. All my fault.-Tom)