Weekend in the Country
I have mentioned before that most Serbs have a family member or have inherited some part of a farm in rural Belgrade. We have at least three in our family, my mothers-in-law’s property where her sisters still live and farm, my father-in-law’s which is no longer farmed by the family but some of the land is rented, and my wife’s cousin family owns, a small farm, in the hills above Loznica. So last weekend off we went with the daughter of her cousin and her child in tow to visit them.
It is a bit of a drive to Loznica especially when the two people that have been there cannot stop gossiping to pay attention where you are so that we ended up driving 60 kilometers out of the way. But after a three-hour trip, we finally arrived. Driving in between the small villages in Serbia can be a pain as rural road are fairly curvy, a single lane and there is often farm equipment sharing the road, along with very big trucks that take up more than a single lane.
It was all worth it once we arrive and had a chance to walk on the hillside overlooking the Drina River which separates what is now Serbia from Bosnia Herzegovina. In 1914 it separated the Kingdom of Serb Croats, and Slovenes from the Habsburg Empire. It has been a site of many battles from the 1810 uprising of the Serbs against the Ottomans to famous battles in World War One and World War Two. From their property near the top of the hills, you have an amazing view of the river.
They are pretty much self-sufficient there raising and growing almost everything, they consume. Nickolia makes great rakia from the wild plums that grow in the hills behind the house and bottles merlot from his garden. They grow just about everything in the garden and can and bottle for the winter. The grow pigs and sheep that roam in the forest behind the house, having almost nine hectares to forage. The sausage they produce is amazing as well as a roasted pig on a spit. They raise chickens and you find eggs all over the property as they roam free as well. Nothing like a fresh egg just found first thing in the morning.
They have bees for honey and have several natural spring feed ponds where they stock trout. It was perhaps the best freshwater fish I had ever tasted as it was caught that morning. It was a great weekend as we ate and drank in such a relaxing environment. I will post in the future more information about the town of Loznica as it has one of the best spas in all of Serbia.
Next up a review of Restaurant Orašac