Friday, November 2, 2007

Peaks of all sizes and colors

If you climb up the Stara Planina, Prokletije, Rudnik, Jastrebac, Golija and Cer mountains you might say you have reached the top of world since all these peaks taken together are higher than Mount Everest. And all you need to climb them is a pair of comfortable shoes.

Nature took great pains to bestow many hills and valleys to this country, to sculpture the mountain chains, to chisel the canyons and the gorges. If art takes after nature, then it is possible, on every slope in Serbia, for art to be jealous of its master.

Every walk you take can end with an armload of flowers or herbs and a basket of mushrooms or forest fruits.

Kopaonik and Tara never get time off for resting. In spring and summer, you can enjoy tennis, horseback-riding, swimming, mountain climbing... If you do your climbing up in summer, do your climbing down in winter, using the skis. The 100 square kilometers of verdant Kopaonik turns into a modern ski center in winter.

Brezovica, a locality on the northen side of the Sara mountain, offers skiing above the clouds, at more than 2,000 meters above sea level. Once the skiers leave Brezovica, the hunting and angling enthusiasts occupy it.

Prokletije, the Alps of the Southern Europe, has the highest, the steepest peaks in Serbia.

Divcibare, a plateau on the Maljen mountain, is white throughout the year, half a year because of the narcissuses, the other half because of the snow...

On the slopes Zlatibor, a large recreation center, sports teams practice for strenuous competitions, while the skiers show their skills on the tracks of Tornik. The Zlatibor village of Sirogojno, a unique ethnic park in Serbia, famous for its knitters who, for generations, pass down the ancient art of wool spinning and knitting.

Have you ever tried the Stara Planina hard cheese, or walked down the flowering valley of Goc?

Climb the peaks of abunndance and contrast. Climb the mountains of Serbia...