SERBIA IS MUCH BETTER THAN ALL THE POLITICAL and even literary exaggerations with which it is described. I’m astound- ed by how little I know it and how many wonderful landscapes, hid- den places, interesting stories and great people I’ve found. This is just a tiny part of that treasure... I’ve been travelling for years, and in the last few months - with my show Happy Serbia - I’ve been familiarising myself with our small and wonderful country as a tou- rist. I’m delighted with the wonder- ful places and people that I didn’t even know existed. And so it was that, above Ba- nja Vrujci, in the village of Rakari, I visited wondrous tapestry artist Zagorka Stojanović, who has con- verted her estate into a Weaving
Court, a place where you can lay on rugs spread around the yard, le- arn to weave and listen to a recital by some poet. And all of this hap- pens on a stage in the yard under a giant, ancient linden tree, while you can also buy a modern šajka- ča cap that she’s used to create a brand. Then a little further away, towards Mionica, in the village of Paštrić, I visited a unique open-air stone museum and saw unusual monoliths with a special geologi- cal history, with each of them de- dicated to a great of Serbian litera- ture. In the end, I couldn’t imagine this trip to Vrujci without visiting the birth house of Duke Živojin Mi- šič in Struganik, where one doesn’t know where to look first – at the beautiful nature, ethnographic ar- tefacts or glorious Serbian history. In the village of Vrmdža, near Sokobanja, on Mount Rtanj, a pla- ce where time has stood still and that was abandoned until recently, I drank the best water from a spring flowing out of rock, listened to ta- les about the monster from Lake Vrmdža, tried to find the miracu- lous root of the raskovnik, a mythi- cal plant that opens every lock and enables whoever finds it to under- stand the languages of animals and plants. There, in pristine nature, I encountered Belgians, Venezuelans, Englishmen and Belgraders who’ve found everything they’ll ever need in that beautiful wilderness. And on the mountain of Goč, above Vrnjačka Banja, which has the best air in Europe, (it is no co- incidence that the most renowned health resort for lung diseases used to be here), I saw forests and clea- rings and drove quads, which one can drive for several hours throu- gh untouched nature all the way to Stolovi mountain, where the only wild horses left in Europe graze. I was in an ethno village made en- tirely of cedarwood, like somet- hing out of a Russian fairy tale ... And I always think of just one thing wherever I go – as long as we have a tree to hug and a bush to hide behind, no one can do us any harm.
U selu Vrmdža, kod Sokoba- nje, na Rtnju, gde je vreme stalo i koje je donedavno bilo napušte- no, pila sam najbolju vodu sa izvo- ra u steni, slušala o čudovištu iz vrmdžanskog jezera, pokušavala da nađem čudesni koren raskovni- ka, mitske billjke koja otvara sva- ku bravu i onom ko je nađe omo- gućava da razume jezik životinja i biljaka. Tamo, u netaknutoj priro- di, srela sam Belgijance, Venecu- elanku, Engleza i Beograđane ko- ji su u toj prelepoj divljini zauvek našli sve što im treba. A na planini Goč, iznad Vrnjač- ke Banje, gde je najbolji vazduh u Evropi (nije slučajno da je baš ta- mo nekada bilo najpoznatije leči- lište za plućne bolesti) videla sam šume i proplanke i vozila se kva- dovima, kojima može da se neko- liko sati po netaknutoj prirodi ide i do planine Stolovi, gde pasu je- dini divlji konji u Evropi. Bila sam u etno-selu koje je celo napravlje- no od kedrovine, kao u nekoj ru- skoj bajci... Gde god da odem, uvek pomi- slim samo jedno – sve dok imamo neko drvo da ga zagrlimo i grm da se iza njega sakrijemo, ne može nam niko ništa.
Sve dok imamo neko drvo da ga zagrlimo i grm da se iza njega sakrijemo, ne može nam niko ništa / As long as we have a tree to hug and a bush to hide behind, no one can do us any harm
From my perspective » Iz mog ugla | 89
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