Becoming Servian Natives

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Hello All,

Well, how to describe the night we have had tonight! Our niece Dragana took us to a beautiful seafood restaurant on the shore of the river Danube for dinner, the food was wonderful but the music! - the music was breathtaking! For all my music friends, you missed a fantastic experience - a 5 piece acoustic Serbian folk band; mandolin, bass fiddle, accordion, lead and rhythm guitars and voices like angels!! Our niece has a lovely contralto voice and she sang some folk songs with them . They made my heart SING!!!! You know, I think that Ainslie is right, God really lives in music. I’ve felt a bit down, one thing and another and I really needed tonight. Steve says that we have had a highlight in each day and for me the highlight of today was the music! I feel like I have just sung the Messiah, the Verdi Requiem, and the Creation one after another! Those of you who sing will know exactly how I am feeling. I have to say that the Slavic music gets into your blood but I think it is the primal nature of the sound that gets to you. Dragana is determined to convert me to Serbian music and has downloaded quite a few songs onto my spare USB drive to remind me of my trip to Serbia.

We had a beautiful meal - I ordered a seared steak salad for starters and I nearly died when it came to the table - you could have fed Africa with it!!! Dragana and I shared it in the end because I couldn’t possibly eat it and a main course - it was delicious but much too big. When the waiter saw the look on my face he said “This is Serbia, everything is big”, cheeky devil. Steve had squid with tartare sauce for an entrée and beautiful thin seared beef steaks with paprika butter and battered chips for a main. Dragana had a delicious fish stew in a scrummy very cheesy sauce, all bubbly and brown on top. I had a beautiful piece of salmon and grilled polenta with dill sauce, I put up a brave fight but it beat me.

We are staying with Dragana tonight . Steve’s cousin Emina took us to the Serbian Orthodox Church Museum this afternoon . Terry, you should see some of the vestments and icons on display in this place, they defy description! When we got there the museum was closed but they opened it just for us when they heard we were from Australia . Some of the icons I had never seen before, one of the Trinity was especially interesting - it showed a seated figure of Christ with a triple face symbolising all three aspects of God - it was particularly beautiful. Some of the artefacts date back to the 13th century but they are not very well conserved - the museum conservators back home would have a heart attack if they saw how they are stored. Steve bought me a little book about the museum as a memento.

The bloody volcano has erupted again and we don’t know what is happening flight-wise yet. I am starting to think that we will have to abandon our trip to England and concentrate on getting ourselves home to Australia.

Ok, going to bed now - will post again tomorrow - hopefully will have better news. Love and blessings……….

Dee & Steve xxxx

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Photos

Steve & Dee at their best
Being silly at the Mokra Gora village

View over valley - Mokra Gora
This is a view over the valley in Mokra Gora [wet mountain]. Steve and I have decided that if we move to Serbia we will build our house just here!

family in kremna
L to R: Dragana, John, Jela, Steve