I did not sleep much after the wedding and so was too tired Monday to go for a long walk as we had hoped to do. We had breakfast on the balcony again (Jim cooked, as always) and neighbor Dula saw us and asked us to come over for coffee which we did after breakfast, although ‘coffee’ turned out to be rakija and a wine spritzer.
He came to our gate and walked us to his, leading us down ramshackle steps to a little table and benches below a couple mature fig laden trees. He invited us to pick as many as we wanted. Our family had already given us a bunch of figs and we didn’t need more. But we picked two to be polite. Here it is never good to turn down offers of hospitality.
He asked what we wanted to drink- rakija, wine, whiskey, no mention of coffee. Mind you it was barely noon. We said yes to rakija and when he fetched it from his house he also brought a large chilled can of Serbian-made white wine spritzer.
We sat together for about an hour, mostly talking in Serbian but with some English thrown in. Dule (doo-le) kept saying his English was poor but he could speak a little bit. We only needed to use Google Translate a few times. He kept praising our Serbian and gently corrected us from time to time.
We learned that he was a high ranking officer in the Serbian Air Force during the 90s war and was stationed in Belgrade. He said they patrolled (by air) Austria, Hungary, Italy and other neighboring countries due to fear of potential NATO attacks. He retired at a young age which he said is standard for officers. He does not like politics and believes all men are brothers and he dislikes that politicians pit men against each other.
When I told him I feel like I am an ambassador of sorts through my writing about Serbia and the Balkans he was pleased. He wanted to be sure I wrote about some of the bad things as well as the good. He said with a question in his tone, ‘Serbs are good men.?’. I said yes. He believes they are, just like most people anywhere.
He inherited his house from his sister and has lived there ‘too many years to count’. His beloved wife died 2 years ago and he is very lonely and misses her deeply. He has two kids who live in Banja Luka (Bosnia). His granddaughter is currently in Maine for a study program. His daughter is an architect. He did not say what his son does. We never asked how old he is (not a rude question here) but guess maybe mid 80s. He is fairly steady on his feet, just a bit slow, and seems to be in good health.
He said that music helps get him through his days and he played 2 of his favorite songs for us on his phone. One was a Bryan Adam’s song called something like, Have You Ever Loved a Woman. He said it always makes him think of his wife. The other was Lara’s song from the Dr Zhivago soundtrack. He got a little teary listening to both.
After about an hour we said we needed to go to the market. He asked that we take a selfie together. He told us again that we are very good friends.
After walking to the market we stopped at one of the cafes on the spa grounds and got coffee. An espresso here is about $1.50 and is served with a tiny cookie or Turkish delight in some places. When we were pulling out small bills to tip the server he stopped us from giving him too much. Here tips are not based on percentages and are lower than in the U.S. We generally give 12-15% which is high.
Since I was too tired to take a longer walk I stayed home and worked on writing. Internet was slow and I was having trouble loading photos to the blog and sending a link to my list of people. Finally seem to have sorted it out.
Jim went to the outdoor gym and also took a walk because a rude young guy barged in and hogged the equipment, never once acknowledging Jim’s presence.
Monday evening we again went to Contact for dinner. Our friendly servers wished us well when we told them we would be leaving the next day. I always feel a little sad as we prepare to leave Banja Koviljaca. As I wrote earlier, it’s a place I could happily stay for an extended period.
Dule. Dule’s house (‘ours’ behind it). Kafa at the spa. Jim walking up from stairs down to our apartment. Kitchen dining area but we always ate breakfast on the balcony. View of Dule’s from our balcony. Restored spa building where we ate one night. Every evening people sit or stroll by the fountain. I love how they use much less packaging here and that most places have freshly baked local breads. Church one block over. I love love love hearing the bells numerous times each day. In every town there are old buildings in various states of decay. I find beauty in them and also am intrigued by the fact that often even if part of the building is falling down people live in another part of the building. That is true of this one in the picture.
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