Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Medjumurje, Croatia

Hikers on Vincek march in Medjimurje, Croatia, 24 Jan 2010.

Over 2000 hikers joined this march. There was music and dance on the way.

Image of Medjimurje in January.

We ended the 15 km long march in the sports hall in Mursko Sredisce, Croatia.

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Saturday, January 23, 2010

Polhograjski Dolomiti

Approaching St. Jakob church on top of a hill.

On the summit,806 m.

At the church, built in the 16th century, reconstructed in 1898.

Back in Katarina. Chapel in the village.

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Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Mt. Jeterbenk

To the summit of Mt. Jeterbenk, 774 m.

On the summit. Jeterbenk got its name after the castle Hartenberg. The castle which stood once on top of the mountain was destroyed in 1511 by an eartquake.

A legend says that Hartenbergs were robber barons.

On the summit.

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Monday, January 18, 2010

Mt. Jeterbenk

On the way to Mt. Jeterbenk in Polhograjski Dolomiti.

Polhograjski Dolomiti are prealpine mountains near Ljubljana.

Ascending Mt. Jeterbenk.

Hiking in winter.

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Saturday, January 16, 2010

Sarajevo

Bascarsija.

The Gazi Husrev-Beg Mosque in Bascarsija. It is one of the finest examples of the Ottoman architecture, built in 1530.

Catholic Cathedral, built from 1884 to 1889, at the time when Bosnia was part of Austo-Hungary (1878-1918).

A street from the time of Austro-Hungary.

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Bascarsija, Sarajevo

Bascarsija. The word means "main market" from Turkish words
"bas" (head, main) and "carsi" (bazaar, market).

Bascarsija is located in the old part of Sarajevo.

It was built in the 16th century in the Ottoman Turkish style.

Bascarsija has been the centre of trade for Sarajevo.

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Bascarsija, Sarajevo

It is said that coming to Sarajevo you must

drink water at "cesma" - it was too cold

feed the pigeons - there were none

and eat "cevapcici" - this we did. The best cevapcici in Yugoslavia!

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Friday, January 15, 2010

Visegrad

The famous bridge in Visegrad across the Drina River. It was built at the end of the 16th century by the court architect Sinan on the orders of Grand Vezier Mehmed Pasa Sokolovic.


The writer Ivo Andric (1892-1975) spent his childhood in Visegrad. The picture shows the classroom of the school he attended.



The bridge is a masterpiece of the classical Ottoman period. It is the main "character" in the Andric's novel The Bridge on the Drina.

The common people remember and tell of what they are able to grasp and what they are able to transform into legend. Enything else passes them by without deeper trace, with the dumb indifference of nameless natural phenomena, which do not touch the imagination or remain in the memory. This hard and long building process was for them a foreign task undertaken at another's expense. Only when as the fruit of this effort, the great bridge arose, men began to remember details and to embroider the creation of a real, skillfully built and lasting bridge with fabulous tales which they well knew how to weave and to remember. (Ivo Andric, The Bridge on the Drina)


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The Tara National Park

In the Tara National Park.

Hay stacks in the Tara National Park.

Rainbow.

Picea omorika. It is a rare, local spruce,endemic to the Tara National Park. Picea omorika or Serbian spruce is of major importance in horticulture as an ornamental tree. "Omorika" is a Serbian word for "spruce".

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Celebrating New Year 2010

Entertainment the Serbian way.

At midnight a group of Serbian "trubaci" surprised us.

Happy New Year!

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Thursday, January 14, 2010

The Mecavnik Hill

Above Mokra Gora on the hill Mecavnik the film director Emir Kusturica built a wooden village.

The village is called Kustendorf (from the name Kusturica and the German word dorf meaning village).

The wooden church in Kustendorf is dedicated to St. Sava.

It is a turist resort with a restaurant, art gallery, cinema ...

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