My husband, Dragan, who is a native Serb, our 11 year old son, Aleks and I have embarked on an adventure, by moving to Belgrade from England for 8 months. These are excerpts from my weekly diary.
Aleks and Ali just before ski school outside the Rtanj Hotel, Kopaonik, Serbia
Our Journey to the Mountain from Belgrade
Kopaonik Mountain [1] along with Stara Planina [2], Zlatibor Mountain & Divčibare Mountain [4] are the main ski resorts in Serbia. With it's continental climate, Serbian winter's are cold enough to have an excellent ski season.
We travelled by coach from Belgrade, a very comfortable 5 hour journey, with one pit stop for coffee. Most of the journey was on the 'autoput' (motorway) and then the coach wound it's way through the foothills, before ascending Kopaonik mountain for the last 45 minutes or so of the trip. Farmers were tending their fruit bushes and fruit trees in the villages and we enjoyed spying more and more snow as the coach slowly climbed the last 500 metres.
Kopaonik was designated a National Park in 1981
Kopaonik mountain range is a National Park and is spectacularly beautiful. There was a lot of snow, to our surprise, as Belgrade was fairly mild when we left. Wildlife is plentiful here, but sadly many species, for example bears, have now disappeared from this area. Fallow deer, eagle-owls, wildcats and many other birds and mammals can still be found here and it 'is one of Serbia's most important bio-diversity hotspots for endemic flora' [5]. In fact, we spotted some Kopaonik violets peeping through the snow.
You can ski to the door of the Rtanj Hotel! (Photo taken from the chairlift).
Hotel Rtanj, Kopaonik, Serbia
We stayed at the Rtanj Hotel, which is comfortable and clean, with a very friendly atmosphere. One hour ski school a day is included; ski passes can be purchased at the hotel and ski/boot hire is also available on site! We chose half-board. A hot and cold buffet with delicious Serbian favourites was offered for breakfast and dinner. Rtanj (difficult to pronounce!) is famous for it's wonderful 'Krofne' (doughnuts). Since you can ski to the door of this hotel, many skiers from around the resort stop for a drink, pljeskavica (burger) and doughnut for lunch.
The Restaurant at the Rtanj Hotel
Keeping up with your kids!
This was Aleks' second time skiing and he seems to like zooming down the mountain - poor Mum, with her slow, neat turns, found it quite difficult to keep up, especially when it was foggy! One day when I finally caught up with Aleks at the bottom of the ski slope, he said, 'Mum, did you stop for a cup of tea on the way? You took ages!'
We experienced all the weather you can think of, rain, snow, fog, wind, blizzard, sun & even lightning, so catching this photo of the peak was quite a challenge. Dragan decided not to ski, but walked to the summit whilst we were skiing and took some lovely photos.
Kopaonik, a skier's paradise
Skiing with Serbian Friends
Our friends from Belgrade were on holiday at the same time and we skied with them. They are good skiers and know Kopaonik really well, so we were able to ski all over the resort with them. The resort is extremely well run with an excellent rescue service, apparently. The lift attendants are very polite and helpful and the resort is great for kids and adults alike. The car thing isn't so great. The car-parks are chaos and walking along the road isn't much fun, there are no pavements and the cars drive a bit too fast for my liking!
Skiing on Gorgeous Divčibare mountain in 2007
I last skied in Serbia 10 years ago, when Aleks was 11 months old! A group of us from the Savić family planned a trip to Divčibare in winter. I knew there would be snow, but I didn't realise you could ski until we got there. No-one seemed to mention that to me, or maybe they did but it was in Serbian and I didn't understand. Anyway, we arrived on the pretty mountain of Divčibare and I spied a little ski slope & skiers. I was dumbfounded and wailed, 'Dragan you never said we could ski here!' So here I was with no ski gear, no ski pass or sallapettes and loads of snow. I thought it would be impossible, but he said we can sort it out if you like. This is so different from my experience of skiing. If you want to ski in the European Alps from Britain, you need to book flights and hotels at least 6 months in advance, including ski pass, ski hire etc etc....
We just popped to a little caravan at the bottom of the slope and I was immediately sorted with boots and skis for about 10 euros and a ski pass for the button lift for about 5 euros! So off I went skiing in my civvies and had a wonderful time.
When I was skiing, I noticed, to my surprise, another British woman speaking in English. You have to realise meeting Brits in Serbia, especially in Divčibare, was extremely rare in 2007. I just had to talk to her. She was married to a Serb and was on holiday with her family. Like me, she was so excited to 'discover' Divčibare and she was having the most wonderful time. We both agreed to not tell anyone in England about our amazing discovery!! Oops the cat's out the bag now!
I have to say, skiing in Serbia comes highly recommended.
Dragan pulling Aleks in his car seat attached to a sled in Divčibare, Serbia, 2007
Belgrade in Winter, photo-etching by Ali Savic
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5] cited from 'National Tourism Organisation of Serbia' - see note [1]
