Stara Planina Mountains

 

Stara Planina

The Stara Planina (that means old mountains) is a part of the Balkan mountain range and lays in Eastern Serbia on the border with Bulgaria. The Balkan range runs 560 km from Vrška Čuka Peak on the border between Bulgaria and eastern Serbia eastward through central Bulgaria to Cape Emine on the Black Sea.

The Stara Planina is remarkable for its flora and fauna, and also with steep cliffs, the highest waterfalls in the Balkan peninsula and lush vegetation. 

Geologically, the Balkan Mountains is a 'young' part of the Alp-Himalayan chain which stretches across most of Europe and Asia. 

It can be divided into two parts: the main Balkan Chain and the Pre-Balkans to the north, which intrude slightly into the Danubian Plain. 

On top of the Serbian part is this rock called "Babin Zub" (Grandmother's Teeth).

The surrounding are part of a ski recreational area in winter and full of nice hiking trails in summer.

I just took a few pictures while cruising around. I arrived by night at Babin Zub's Hotel after a drive through dark roads and the navigation telling that theres nothing further along. I really had no idea were I landed. 

The next day I was surprised with a nice scenery while driving to see the newly errected just opened Hotel Stara Planina.

Also the new Hotel was a pleasant surprise, instead of an overstated giant facility with no relation to the surrounding, the building looks solidly adapted to the rough mountain setting from the outside and the interior is appropriately stylish.

After visiting the area in summer, I now would like to visit the area in winter. 

Eastern Serbian mountains are as beautiful as the Western Serbian mountain (I wrote about those mountains here in my posts about the unique National Park Tara "Best travel tips for Serbia - TARA/KOPAONIK" and "Tara National Park in Western Serbia", the Ethno Village Sirogonjo "Etno Selo - Sirogonjo", the posts about the Zlatibor region: "More Ethno in Zlatibor", "Mokra Gora" and Ethno Village Mecavnik "Kusturica made it!".

Temska a beautiful village of eastern Serbia

Temska

While traveling through Eastern Serbia I particularly loved some of the characteristic and soulful villages driving along smaller roads. Those villages are far enough from urban centers so they're totally quiet, but still near enough to benefit from trade oportunities and public infrastructure the cities can offer. Temska is one of those really picturesque villages without being too glamed up.  

Typical example of moravian style rural houses in Temska

 beautiful barns, traditional wood construction

Temstica river

 With around 900 inhabitants, a ground school, postal office, a few stores and a coffee shop it looks like a lively neat place along the Temstica River (a affluent of the Nisava River). 

Beautiful wood constructed barns with tile roof (and a couple of goats on Temska's streets)

Near the settlement there is a small hydroelectric plant and the small Monastery dedicated to the Holy Martyr Saint George called Temska Monastery.

 
Erected on ruins of a fortification of the 11th century, the monastery was built in the second half of the 16th century by the Dejanovic Family (nephews of Tsar Dusan).

 The Konak (Guesthouse) is beautifully restored

 The monasterie's dormitory and living quarters built in the 18th century represent an excellent example of the local folk architecture 

On the porch of the building various natural balm and balsams with curative effects and produced in traditional way from medicinal herbs of the Stara Planina are sold. People stop by to buy such balms for curing eczema, psoriasis, dermatitis, neurodermatitis, atopic dermatitis, skin allergies, acne, burnt skin, insect bits, hemorrhoids, varicose veins, alopecia, sinusitis, inflammation of the ears and open wounds. 

The Temska Monastery church has a three-nave basis with a semicircular altar apsis and a low eight-sided dome. The monastery church itself was constructed of white stone and covered by stone layers. In 1654 a vault was added above the narthex instead of the old wooden construction and the porch was painted with beautiful frescoes.

Iconostasis of Temska Monastery Church

 Temska Monastery cimetery

 
To give you some more information on village architecture in Serbia I post the links of my 6 Lessons on Serbian Rural Architecture. 

Lesson 1 in Traditional Serbian Rural Architecture
Lesson 2 in Traditional Serbian Rural Architecture:Style by Regions
Lesson 3 in Traditional Serbian Rural Architecture: The South Serbian Village
Lesson 4 in Traditional Serbian Rural Architecture:The Family Homestead
Lesson 5 in Traditional Serbian Rural Architecture: The Moravian House and its Interior
Lesson 6 in Traditional Serbian Rural Architecture: How does "new" rural architecture looks like?

Bukovo Monastery

A couple of kilometers from Negotin, on a forested hill lays the beautiful Bukovo Monastery overlooking villages toward the Dunav River and behind pieces of Romania and Bulgaria. 

The layout of the monastery (source)

 The monastery was founded by Serbian King Stefan Milutin (1282-1321) of the Nemanjic dynasty in the late 13th- or early 14th century.

The church is dedicated to St. Father Nikolaj the Wonderworker and by style is a special variant of the "Moravian School". The church has an elongated shape of a trefoil and was built as a single nave with arched barrel vault and without dome. The narthex was build later in the 19th century.

The wall around the monastery, the belltower and the colonnade were added in the 1930s.

In 2006 two new buildings were erected on the place of the old dorms, which were in ruinous state.

The church interior is richly decorated and in the narthex some frescoes in romantic style made in 1902 by Steva Todorovic shows some members of the Nemanjic Dynasty.

Fresco of Stephen Uroš II Milutin of Serbia (Стефан Урош II Милутин) and founder of the Bukovo monastery

Fresco of Stefan Nemanja (Стефан Немања) 1113 – 1199, Grand Prince of Raska from 1166 to 1196 and founder of the Nemanjić dynasty.

Fresco of Tsar Uros

In this fresco:
Sveti Sava (Rastko Nemanjic) came back from Hilandar Monastery (Mount Atos) to try to make peace between his two older brothers Stefan and Vukan (Stefan as second born was put on the thron instead of the oldest brother Vukan).

Fresco of  Stephen Uroš III (Стефан Урош III) , 1285 – 1331

The monastery has a good website with lots of pictures and information:
http://manastirbukovo.org

Architecture in Zajecar, Eastern Serbia

Zajecar is best known for culture, music and sports and its best value is probably the nearby Gamzigrad archeological site. So I wasn't expecting much from the city's architecture. However I was pleased to find some interesting modern buildings from the 60's and 70's in the very town center. Only a few roads away the city looks picturesque with older houses with two to three stories in warm earthy colors and a simple neoclassical style.

I took pictures of the modern buildings in the center, like this highrise building in beige, olive and brown ....

.... with its decorative fire escape stairs

 70's buildings on the way to the center

 60's architecture for the E.D. Jugoistok(electro public supply of south-east Serbia)

80's/90's buildings with asymmetrical terraces and bulging decorations

The typical "Beograd" Chain-Store in the center (I wrote about this retail-chain here)

The new facade .....and below how it looked in the past

previously this facade was in a bronzed color

This building is not an architectural highlight: ugly proportions, random postmodern details and an off-key roof make it an unattractive landmark near the main square. This building is home to Hotel "Srbija Tiš" and although it's not a pleasure from the outside, to do justice I should mention, that the interiors are spacious and renovated and they look quiet sophisticated. Thanks to the position there is also a great view from the hotel rooms.

Some impressions of the main square: the police station ...

... the national museum on the right ....

...the monument to its famous citizen: Nikola Pasic 

More posts about Eastern Serbia:
www.sajkaca.blogspot.ch/2012/09/modern-pirot-buildings.html
http://sajkaca.blogspot.ch/2012/09/traditional-pirot-ponisavlje-museum.html 

Interesting Architecture in Majdanpek

The first time I wrote about Majdanpek I had never been there. But when I found out about this town made from scratch I was so fascinated that I made it a stop during my last travel through Eastern Serbia. Here my entire collection of pictures of Majdanpek:

Majdanpek boomed because of the the copper mine. This is the administration building.

 

Majdanpek is really a big surprise when arriving from the Djerdap National Park: after a 20 minutes ride through a lush forrest in a hilly surrounding you enter the town from the top where a bunch of highrise buildings are revealed. Townplanning on a big scale!

interesting facade compositions

the youth club

very urban architecture in the middle of the mountains

The main square with the hotel and and youth club

Former Hotel Kasina (now Golden Inn)

Swanky Interiors

A consistently color scheme

Wide empty roads in the city center

The first reserves of copper ore in in the South district of  the Majdanpek mine, were found at the end of the 1953 and at that time amounted to 85 million tonnes of ore with an average copper content of 0.83 percent. Based on that, and assuming further research, the Federal Executive Council of the then Yugoslavia made on 16 April, 1954 a decision on the establishment of the "Copper Mine Majdanpek“.

The 70's style concrete constructions are present in the entire city

Mix of modern architecture with mountain pines

After founding the coppermines the numer of inhabitants increased constantly and went from 2'000 in 1948 up to 12'000 in 1991. When United Nations imposed sanctions against FR Yugoslavia in 1992 the economic situation became difficult. Since then the population is in constant diminuition.

Colored house row in the city center

Majdanpek Tourist Map

The Hospital

The Post office