Zlatibor

Destination: Dobroselica

On Wednesday morning, we left the hotel around 7:30 AM to get in as much as possible before my bus departed early afternoon. Once again, the skies alternated between menacing gray, some rain, and then blue skies. Our destination was Dobroselica, a small village with an old wooden church. At times the narrow road was covered in gravel. We stopped a few times to take photos of the beautiful natural scenery, pastures, and creeks, especially around the area of Vodice.

Villagers

Heading into the village, we met an elderly shepherd with his flock walking on the road. He carried a wooden rod much like those the shepherds in Tunisia carried. His face was reddened and wrinkled from a harsh mountain life. Out here, access to decent education and medical care was rare. He, like other men of the villages, wore the traditional Sajkaca hat. This woolen hat, traditionally worn by Orthodox Serbs of the region, became an adopted sybol of the Chetnicks. During WWII, the chetniks were strongly anti-communist and bitterly resisted the invading Nazis.

Crkva Brvnara Wooden Church

One of the local residents offered to unlock the church for us. Taking the very large skeleton key, he went up to the short wooden, carved door. Inside the tiny wooden church (the man said it was 300 years old while an internet source said the church dated back to the early 19th century) were small iconoclastic paintings on wood of saints and many embroidered altar cloths and banners. Next to the church stood a wooden tower housing the church’s bell.

Mackat

On our way to the next destination, we stopped at a restaurant/hotel outside of Zlatibor owned by a friend of Mikica’s. When going for a walk through the countryside the previous day in a quest to go down to some abandoned farm buildings, I had neared this building. We were then off to Mackat, a village touted to have the best cooked lamb dishes. While there, we also visited the local church (which had Biblical scenes painted on the ceiling) and the elementary school. Like other educational institutions in Serbia, it had suffered years of neglect. The director showed me the school library, consisting of a few shelves of worn books (most not very “kid-friendly”), many dating back to and about the reign of Tito.

Nearing lunchtime, we stopped at a national restaurant that served the famed Mackat lamb. The tender meat and potatoes were especially tasty and filled me up for the bus ride back to Belgrade.

Crkva Brvnara

Tiny wooden church and church bell tower