Blogs from Uzice, West, Serbia, Europe

Mon 24 june 2013 Uzhitie, Western Serbia Altitude: 809m Finally left the 'Camp Danube' outside Belgrade this morning. First thing I did was to set the SatNav for Montenegro. Montenegro is a slight diversion from my planned route. I remember my friend Tomo said many years ago that Montenegro and Dubrovnic are very beautiful places to visit. So today, my friend is in America and I am heading towards Montenegro. I stopped the vehicle because the car was not performing well. I chose to stop outside a cafe. I quickly swapped the pre-fuel filter, then dropped in for a coffee. The man who served the coffee was a friendly man. We would have a conversation in different languages, He would mutter a few sentences in Serbian and I would say a few words back to him ... 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