Bridge on the Drina

Not far from Mokra Gora is the border to Republika Srpska (one of the two political entities that together compose the modern country of Bosnia and Herzegovina). And just 20km after the border there is the little city of Visegrad and its famous bridge built by Mehmed Paša Sokolović in 1571 (now UNESCO World Heritage Site). The town is most widely known due to the book Bridge on the Drina written by Ivo Andrić (who was awarded for that book with a Nobel Prize in 1961).

Visegrad - Republika Srpska

the border to republika srpska










VISEGRAD - steam locomotive in front of the house of culture and floating coffee house on the drina river

Food Patriotism

Another thing I really love so much here, are the ethno-style restaurants of the area. The interior is nicely decorated with Serbian rural equipment, some beautiful rugs and embroidered tablecloths.





The menu is strictly local (domaca kuhinja) and the atmosphere is relaxed and friendly.
A good idea to start with a veal soup (teleca corba) or a salad (srpska salata) and then to indulge in some grilled meat (meso na zaru) and tons of bread.
Don't forget to open the appetite with a shot of rakija!

Kusturica made it!

Something really special to visit between Tara and Visegrad, located in the area of Mokra Gora (not far from highway E 760) is the Ethno-Village "Küstendorf" build by Serbian film director Emir Kusturica. He's wish was to build a village dedicated to the Art of Film-Making and to support handcraft tradition of Serbia and it is build entirely in wood.



The village was rewarded in 2005 by the prestigious Philippe Rotthier architecture prize for the reconstruction of the city.



I read they didn't used plans to build it, and if you walk around and observe the way it's made you can see how much attention to detail was put in. If Kusturica put so much energy in that, it's not just to promote a tourist area and film-making. I think it's more the love to his country he's celebrating here. He's in the position to actually do it, because people listen to him or react at least to him.



By the way: In 2005 he got baptized Serbian orthodox, under the name Emir Nemanja Kusturica and the little wooden church in the center of the village was dedicated to St. Sava.



The village got a lot of publicity through media when it opened in 2005. There is a interesting website here and a lot of information about that village and about Kusturica in general on this site here called Kustupedija.

It's surely well known but not really easy to reach. It's about 4 hours from Belgrade (near the Zlatibor Ski Area) and the best it's to go there by car. But if someone decide to travel until here (the area of all these attractions: Mokra Gora, Sargan Eight, Küstendorf, Visegrad, Zlatibor, Tara National Park)... will be rewarded Zillion times....

The Jogurt Question

For many people from Balkan who live in Switzerland it's a big question how to enjoy the wonderful Serbian Jogurt they love to drink with everything and all the time. What is good, is that in Switzerland the choice of milk products is big and the quality is outstanding. What's also good is: I tried and tried and tried to mix and match.....and I found out how to get a near perfect Jogurt. Try it and let me know what you think! (The Serbian jury here who tested the Jogurt is 100% satisfied!)
Here is the secret (who of course now is no secret anymore):
Mix a 500gr Pro Bifidus Jogurt (blue box) and a 500gr Bio Jogurt Nature (light blue box with cows) from Migros, then add a little cold water to get the texture you want. Enjoy!