Peace Like a River? More Like a Mountain...

Perspective.  It's what everyone needs, but only few can attain this mindset... and even those who have gained "perspective" can only hold onto it for a few fleeting moments before it's lost to them again.  Inevitably life and reality catch up to us, and we're left waiting for it to find us once more.  Now I came to Hungary in search of a few things: new experiences, friendships, a better understanding of the world I live in, and most importantly, a better understanding of myself.  So basically I came here searching for more perspective on my life... who would have thought that I gained some understanding not in Hungary, but on a mountain in Montenegro. 

But I'm getting ahead of myself.  For those of you who don't know, this past week I went on a trip with four other friends to Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, and Bosnia.  If I had to sum up this trip in one word, it would be Amazing.  It was arduous at times, especially when I failed at map reading and picture taking, but overall?  It was probably the best sightseeing trip I've ever been on.

We arrived in Belgrade in the early evening on Tuesday.  We didn't have a lot of time to see the city, but what I saw I really liked.  That night we ended up at a restaurant which thoroughly entertained me, but seemed to have annoyed my friends.  You know when you're watching the travel channel and the host visits a European restaurant complete with traditional food and a live folk band playing?  Well I finally got to experience that firsthand.  Feeling somewhat like Samantha Brown, I inhaled the atmosphere of the restaurant and just enjoyed myself.  They told me that American tourists eat this type of stuff up, and I totally did. 

Me enjoying some good ol' Serbian folk music...

The next day we had to get up early for our 10+ hour drive to Petrovacs, Montenegro.  Instead of traveling the fastest route, Karolis took us on a longer road.  I can't begin to thank him enough for this.  As we drove through the mountains, I quickly fell in love with all of my surroundings.  Even though spring had yet to hit this part of the country, everything was still breathtaking.

 After this long, but beautiful, car ride, we eventually reached Petrovacs, the small town on the coast of the Adriatic where our hotel was located.  We were in awe.  Luckily (thanks to Karl again) we were able to get a presidential suite for only 20 euros, per person per night.  So a presidential suite, with a hot breakfast included, and only two minutes from the beach?  SO much better than a hostel and SO worth it.  We were pretending to be spoiled rich kids while in Montenegro complete with champagne and strawberry toasts while watching the sunset from our terrace.

The next day we visited the capital city, Podgorica, and found it a little less than charming... As beautiful as Montenegro was, its capital city seemed the exact opposite.  Locals stared at the five of us as we passed like we were a different species...  The minute we stepped out of the car I was ready to get back in and leave.  Thankfully we were fine and in order to uphold our "rich kid image" we decided to rent a boat for an hour and drive around Skadar Lake (one of the largest lakes in Europe).  It was beautiful (of course) and we could even see the Albanian mountains from the lake.

Elodie, Julie, Loes, Me, and Karolis on "our" boat...

The next day was both my favorite and my least favorite part of our trip.  Our destination was Lovcen, a famous national park in Montenegro.  The road to get there? It's so lovingly nicknamed "Death Valley" road because it runs along the side of the mountain with short, small, sporadic stone walls, or nothing at all, to keep you from falling off the side of the mountain... and it was a long way down.  Did I mention that it was only one lane wide? When discussing it before we left I hadn't given much thought to it, and I naturally concluded that I would be calm and collected while on the road.  Well needless to say, I was dead wrong.  Within the first mile I knew that I wasn't going to be calm and collected at all.  I was torn between keeping my eyes on my feet or on the road.  My rational was that if we did end up falling to our deaths then I would want to know that it was coming rather than being surprised by it.  So I kept my eyes on the road and tried to stay quiet, which didn't always work out...

Thankfully we didn't die (obviously) but we weren't able to drive to the end of it because we eventually came across snow blanketing the remainder of the road.  Loes, Elodie, and Julie didn't feel like climbing the rest of the way so they decided to stay behind with the car.  But me? After just surviving the death road there was no way in hell that I wasn't going to see the top of that mountain.  So Karl and I started hiking.  Maybe it was the high altitude, the rattled nerves, my own lack of athleticism, or all of the above, but I took my time climbing to the top and just kept thinking "please don't faint... please don't faint...."

I don't think I'll ever forget my first look from the top of Lovcen.  When Karl and I finally stepped out of the dark tunnel of stairs into daylight, I think my heart skipped a beat.  Is it possible to actually fall in love with a place?  If so, I am irrevocably in love with this mountain.

After getting over my initial shock, we walked towards a building at the top and sat on a wall facing the mountains.  I don't think I've ever been so enraptured by nature before.  The mountains stretched on for forever and every now and then the clouds would shift and reveal even more mountains in the distance.

I was blissful.  Karl explained it best when he said that from up here everything just seems far away and simple... like it doesn't really matter.  I couldn't have agreed more.  All of my problems, anxieties, doubts, just seemed to feel unimportant.  The only thing that mattered in that moment was the fact that I was sitting on top of this mountain, looking at one of the most beautiful things that I have ever seen in my life, and that I was with someone who understood exactly how I felt in that moment.  In life there are those few instances when everything just feels right.  As I sat there, with the wind smelling fresh and whipping through my hair, with the mountains in front of me and my problems behind me, with a friend next to me sharing the same feeling of awe, I just felt right.  Nothing could break me from that moment because nothing else mattered.

And there was my answer: this is what makes me happy.  Discovering the world outside of my life in New York, outside of my comfort zone.  I've always known that I've wanted to see the world, but now that I'm actually doing it, I just feel right.  I feel fulfilled for the first time in my life and it's addicting.  This is what I want to do and at the moment it's the only thing that I can really see myself doing.  You can call me crazy and impractical, but where there's a will there's a way, and I'm determined to find the way.

SO, now that I'm done with my introspective diatribe, I can fulfill the purpose of this blog for once and tell y'all what else happened on this trip.  After a while Karl and I actually stood up and went into the building (which I found out was the highest mausoleum in the world).  Petar II Petrovic Njegos, a ruler/philosopher/poet is buried there.  He wrote several poems about this mountain and the Montenegrins thought it would be appropriate for the two to be together forever, so they built the mausoleum and long story short, that's where he is.

Me with a statue of Njegos

Apparently the electricity was out while we were there, so we had to go into the tomb area with just a flashlight, and yes, it was creepy.  After we left the tomb we went back outside and sat down again.  I read out loud the story behind the mausoleum and Njegos to Karl.  Afterward we went back to the entrance of the building and just looked at the mountains again.

On top of Lovcen, outside the mausoleum

We weren't always so serious while there, I promise we had fun too lol

Inevitably the time came for us to leave... and it was hard to say goodbye.  I understand why Njegos was so attached to this mountain, it's absolutely breathtaking. 

After surviving the descent of the death road, we quickly visited another nearby town and then went back to Petrovacs to watch the sunset.  That night we enjoyed the final night in our suite, which was also really difficult to say goodbye to the next morning.  Before leaving Montenegro we went to a small town with two small islands off the coast.  We took a boat to one of the islands called "Our Lady of the Rocks," a man-made island created in honor of a painting they found in the town of Mary and Baby Jesus.

Petrovacs

Our Lady of the Rocks Island

After leaving Montenegro, we drove directly to Dubrovnik, Croatia, one of the oldest cities in the world.  This city was also really beautiful, it even reminded me of Venice in some ways because of its small alleyways.  We mostly just walked around an older part of the city by the coast and enjoyed the sun.  Lunch was probably my favorite part of the day; we sat in an outdoor restaurant by the water.  Karl and I ate fresh fried calamari and it was absolutely delicious (sorry Symeon's, but your calamari tastes like crap next to this).

After lunch, when we were all really full and really tired, we walked to a gondola lift to see a better view of the city (sans exercise).  Only Karl and I ended up going to the top again.  The feeling and the view didn't match Lovcen, but there's just something about being on top of a mountain (or more like very large hill in this case) that takes you away from everything, pauses life, and just allows you to think. 

Coast of Dubrovnik

Up the hill with the "rubber duck" shaped island on the right

It felt good to sit in the sun and watch the city below us for a few minutes.  As you can see the water looked beautiful and inviting, and you could see several Croatian islands not far off the coast.  Again it was hard to leave and travel back down to everything, but I have solace in the fact that I even had the opportunity to see even something so beautiful.

That night passed uneventfully (unless you count surfing through 900 channels of middle eastern call girls, middle eastern news, and christian advertisements).  The next morning we left early for Sarajevo, Bosnia.  I was a bit nervous for this last leg of the trip.  Back home in Utica, NY we have a lot of Bosnian immigrants and my experiences with them haven't been the most positive ones.  But apprehension aside, I tried to go into Bosnia with an open mind.  I was really pleasantly surprised by everything I saw.  The countryside was really beautiful and the capital city, Sarajevo, was perfect.  At first when driving into the city you just see the more modern buildings, but then the center is the complete opposite with old roads and small shops.  We walked through all of the center and some of the modern areas, ate lunch, and then left because all of us were tired and ready to get back. 

View of the old city in Sarajevo

So overall?  This trip was incredible for so many different reasons.  The places we went were beautiful, I wouldn't trade the people I went with for anyone else, the introspect I had while sitting on top of Lovcen was really insightful, and I just had fun, which was really all I had originally wanted.  It was exhausting though, in order to keep up with our tight schedule we always had to go to bed early and I passed out almost instantly every night (well, at least after the "anties" would let me fall asleep haha).  But even with the fatigue it was perfect and I loved every second of it.  

When we finally got back into Pecs I had this weird feeling like I was coming home.  I've only felt this way about a few places before: Holland Patent, the 1000 Islands, Aldersgate, and Nazareth.  So I was surprised that after only a couple of months I had this feeling about Pecs.  But when I finally got to my room, greeted Jihye, and laid down to go to bed, I had that feeling again.... the one where things just feel right.  For some inexplicable reason in that moment I knew that this is right.  It's right that I'm here with these people, it's right that I'm here now, it's right that I'm in Pecs and therefore it's only natural that Pecs feels like another home to me.