Nela J

Serengeti je bio prva stanica na nasem tronedeljnom stranstvovanju po Tanzaniji. Putovali smo „light“, sa torbom od po 9 kila svako, da ih ne bi izgubili pri silnim presedanjima. Posle 28 sati puta, Beograd-Rim-Adis Abeba-Dar Es Salam-Arusha, obreli smo se, preumorni, u udobnom smestaju u Outpost Lodge odakle je program pocinjao narednog jutra u 5h ujutru. Preko agencije Lasi Tours & Safaris organizovali smo karte za lokalne letove (Dar-Arusha i Arusha-Stone Town), prenociste u Arushi u dolasku i odlasku i 7-dnevni kamping safari (Serengeti-Ngorongoro-Lake Manyara-Mto wa Mbu-Tarangire). Ne volimo agencije ali je to u ovom slucaju bila nuznost. Usluga je bila korektna prema standardima u ovom delu sveta (za koje smo saznali tek kasnije, ali koje nikada nismo shvatili ni prihvatili), ako zanemarimo preplacene pilule protiv malarije i cinjenice da su dzip i kamp oprema bili ... read more

El Gouna is a resort 22km north of Hurgada. It is actually a hotel - town owned by an orthodox Copt Samih Sawiris, one of the richest people in Egypt. It is striking and very artificial, real Truman’s Show. The beauty is in a system of canals that cut into the sand and make up private beaches to colourful, low, traditionally designed houses. Desert is transformed into oasis by using irrigation device made of dented tubes encircling each tree (supposedly invented by a Serbian engineer, as we were told by a Kontiki tourist guide). We picked up Tamara in El Dahar and took a public bus transporting El Gouna hotel staff. The buss was full of cheerful children who were excited about getting photographed. They humoured us singing in English. Besides guests, only locals working on ... read more

Oplenac is located 80km south-east from Belgrade. It is the historic place of the mausoleum of the Serbian Karađorđević Royal Family. It is known for the St. George Church. Karađorđe had settled here in 19st century, built vineyards and orchards, and established the defence of the nearby Topola town. The church interior is decorated with mosaics, which depict reproductions of the prettiest frescoes of the Serbian medieval arts. The entire mosaic has 725 painted compositions (in the temple and in the crypt), on which there are 1500 figures. The entire area of the mosaic is 3,500 square metres; with 40 million various coloured pieces of glass, making the most vivid artistic impression. ... read more

In April 2005 Joca and I went to Mokra Gora over weekend. Close to the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, this mountain if famous for the Šargan Eight (Serbian: Шарганска осмица), a narrow heritage scenic railway, running from the village of Mokra Gora to Šargan Vitasi station. It was build after the World War I as part of the line Belgrade-Sarajevo. The climb over the mountain was an engineering masterpiece: from Uzice to the summit the height difference was 240 metres; it was 3.5 km direct line but by rail it was 15.4 km; the average gradient was 18% and there were 20 tunnels. Steam trains are the main attraction but we preferred to walk. We visited locations where Kusturica’s 2004 film “Life is a miracle” was made. There is a small hotel “Mokra Gora”, where ... read more

The most impressive feature in Cairo is crowd - its noise, movements and purposefulness, dirty rags, dusty roads, innovative vehicles, bright smiles, suspicious glances. We would just get out of agency buss after some tour and get lost in the masses. A fellow passenger once asked us “seriously, what you do when you leave the group?” Enjoying the freedom to roam on our own was not something any of them understood. Especially after the warning we got that even crossing the street was easier done by taking taxi then trying ourselves, unless we rely only on eye contact and sound of horns. We were told that between 20 and 25 million people reside in Cairo and that daily oscillations including commuters result in 30 million people. Luckily we had very competent guides because we came completely ... read more