Jim cooked breakfast, as usual. We walked outside to the end of our building to the market and bought a bottle of wine to take to lunch in the village where our teacher, Dragana, had invited us for lunch at her grandma’s. We never know what wine is good.
We drove SE from Belgrade for about 40 minutes and passed the village of Ripanj, considered by some to be a part of Belgrade because it is so close, but is very rural and not at all like a suburb. The rolling countryside with big hills is beautiful as soon as you exit the freeway. Narrow roads wind through rolling hills, forest and farmland and an occasional village, with the typical orange roofs and old houses in varying states of health as well as new homes with new cars in the driveways sprinkled among the old.
Dragana’s grandma’s place (Bebe) is atop a ridge with lovely views of the countryside. Her great grandma originally lived here. Her mom moved there with her parents when she was 15. Dragana visits nearly every weekend. She can just show up anytime without calling or scheduling.
Dragana and her parents, grandma, uncle and a friend who works with her dad doing plumbing pipe installation all emerged from the covered porch to greet us. They invited us to sit at a long table on the covered terrace in front of the small house, quite new. The afternoon was warm but not hot.
Only Dragana speaks English well (she was our first of 3 teachers and we have been working with her again this past year), although a couple of people in the group understood a little.
They brought out slatki, in this case preserved white cherries in sweet syrup along with a glass of water and spoon for each of us. As is the custom we took a cherry from the bowl and ate it, then put the spoon in water and took a sip. A welcoming ritual.
Then they offered domaća kafa and homemade rakija (from plums), and our beverage of choice which was water (bottled). They don’t drink the tap water there and in summer they sometimes don’t have any water as has been the case in many places this summer.
Next came the traditional chicken broth soup, bread and homemade gibenuca, a thinly layered bread with cheese, and then a platter of lamb (from their animals) and pickled peppers, a big bowl of their fresh cukes and tomatoes, and horseradish. After much eating and chatting Dragana’s pleasant quiet mom (an elementary school teacher) brought a 2 tiered serving dish to the table with 4 kinds of small cookies/bars. I tried all 4 and liked all of them!
After lunch we took a walk down the road with Dragana and her grandma. The views over hill and small farms were charming. Dragana said more people are moving back there from Belgrade because it is quiet and peaceful yet close. Some even commute. Her Bebe wants to die there. Her grandma and I bonded quickly. She reminded me of someone but I am not sure who. She is sort of a quintessential Balkan woman of that age (mid 70s)- tough but warm, opinionated and direct but not mean or unkind, sturdy despite aches and pains. She walks every day.
Dragana’s Dad mostly spent the afternoon with Dragana’s daughter, Sara, who will be 3 this winter. He was quiet but kind and generous. Their cousins and friend were chattier.
Later a relative came to give them a wedding invitation for his daughter in the traditional way. He handed Dragana’s uncle (who lives next door) a brightly colored patterned wool bag and the uncle-criss crossed the straps to twine them together according to custome. He then hung the bag on the door and took out a traditional rakija bottle and drank what seemed liked a proscribed amount, then filled it with their rakija, presumably for the next person the man would visit later. The uncle and grandma put envelopes with money in them into the bag to help with the wedding costs. The guest (a relative of some sort) sat at the table and all the platters of food that had earlier been taken inside were brought out for him. He cried a couple times when talking about his 2 daughters both getting married and leaving home within a short period of time. The daughter with the impending wedding is one of Dragana’s best friends.
We gave gifts to Dragana, her daughter and her mother, and the bottle of wine to the dad. We wished we had had something for everyone but that was not expected. As we prepared to leave Dragana’s dad gave us a large portion of the meat, grapes, pears and 2 types of cherry slatki and a bottle of rakija in a heavy glass bottle. We parted with kisses and hugs and invitation to come again next year.
The return drive was lovely and easy until,we made a wrong turn when re-entering Belgrade. To correct our error we tried to turn left on a busy street which apparently is not allowed. Cars honked angrily at us and passed us within inches. We gave up and finally found a way home. While waiting to turn a warning light showed up on the dash saying our tire pressure was low. When we finally got back to our spot in the parking garage the light came on again. Jim looked at the tires but they all looked ok. We hoped it was just due to changing temperatures.
In the evening we walked to a restaurant in the new building next door and had a decent meal- Asian chicken and grilled veggies. We didn’t need a big meal. The restaurant welcomes dogs. We don’t know if it was a stray or one of the customer’s but a small dog peed on the rug by the table across the aisle. We told our waiter and two other waiters came and looked but none of them cleaned it up.
Monday morning Jim checked the car tires and indeed saw something in the back passenger side tire. We had to check out by 10 and relinquish our keys. Jim was going to try to put on the spare but couldn’t figure out how to get off the wheels. There was no cell service in the garage so we could not call to ask for help nor look at a map for a tire repair place. We decided to leave and hope we could find a ‘vulkanizer’ on our way out of town. There are lots. Most gas stations don’t deal with tire repair. It was stressful driving in Belgrade. Luckily Jim spotted a place not too far away and pulled in. The guy there spoke some English and was able to repair the tire right away (there was a long nail in the tire, horizontally embedded, not vertically, thank goodness. He said we were lucky. The cost was $2.
We were then on our way, grateful and relieved. Especially because as our drive continued we discovered the route went over a long slow pass in the middle of nowhere, far from any help or services had we needed help.
As is the case in so many places over here, the views were beautiful- hills, small mountains, forests, fields… we were stuck behind two big dump trucks for miles. I didn’t mind. I like going slowly, as long as we have no urgent appointments. Once past the trucks the road turned to gravel for a long way. Eventually we came to an active construction zone but we still made it to our destination only a half hour later than expected. It was so nice to arrive in a familiar comfortable place and be welcomed by people we know and enjoy.
We have stayed at Apartman Jovanović 3 times before and our hosts, Zoran and Milesa have been warm and generous each time. He is a retired Border Control agent and she just retired last year as some sort of accounting person at a company. Neither speak English although Zoran understands a little. They have two grown kids, both in Belgrade. Their daughter is a journalist and reporter for an independent news service. Their son manages a store that sells athletic wear and shoes. Cedar stayed at the apartments a few years ago and they treated him great as well.
Zoran was at their village across the river in Bosnia when we arrived but Milesa had prepared a big ‘lunch’. First she served us honey as the traditional slatki. Then we toasted with homemade rakija (they only started making their own after Zoran retired 10 years ago), and Serbian coffee, and water. We gave her a few little gifts- maple sugar, a colorful zippered pouch with a flower and cat design (she loves cats and feeds strays), a bookmark and photos from our time with them last year. Zoran came soon after and we ate lunch- Chicken noodle soup. Fresh gibenica (a layered bread infused with homemade cheese. Pickles. Plate of dried meats. Then a stew of meat and veggies. All yummy.
We moved back to the living area (the kitchen, dining area and living area are all in one medium sized room) where we chatted more (in Serbian and with Google Translate’s help).
We offered big thanks and unloaded the car and got settled in our 2 bedroom spacious clean apartment. We decided not to go to town for dinner since lunch was big and late. We enjoyed a mellow evening. I savored the sounds of crickets.
Dragana and her mom. Dragana’s Beba and me and Jim. Dragana’s family including some cousins. D and her Beba. Lunch! Treats! D and her daughter Sara. Their road. The relative coming with the wedding invitation. The new house. View on the way to Bajina Bašta.
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