DAY 74 – What it's Like to Live in a Village

June 1 - Donji Brceli Village in Montenegro

Our time in this little village (and I mean little)...we met about 2/3 of the population of 10,  will be one of the highlights of our adventures. Blazenka, or Bagi, as she likes to be called, was a single-aged woman about our age. What a sweetheart she was, offering everything she had to us. And we grew to love her very much.

We bought some bread in a bakery for our dinner together

The trip here again was a fairly long ride, but a beautiful and scenic one grazing the coastline of the Adriatic.  

On to our next adventure!

Bagi met us in the little town of Virpazar on the outskirts of Lake Skadar, a beautiful destination for tourists and locals to hang out in the hot summers.

The small boat dock in Virpazar.

                                                   

We were connected from the beginning.

 At the southern entrance into Virpazar, stands an impressive 15-20 meters high rock that is topped by the remains of a defense tower. On the tower has been built a statue to honor the memory of the partisans. Two carved slabs are fixed in the rock. The left one was sealed on July 13th 1964 "to honor the memories of our sons and daughters that freed the country during WWII.  The other one was sealed in 1997 to honor those that died in 1702, fighting the Turks. It bears a sentence by Njegosh, a most famous Montenegrin and head of the Montenegrin Church.  He was a great writer and a philosopher as well

This is a monument dedicated to all those who lost their lives in the wars.

Bagi had a cute little car

We shopped for groceries and then took off to where she lived in Brceli village, about 20 minutes away.

We were greeted by the towns spokesperson...a mule!  And boy, did he ever speak and greet us!  His "neigh" could be heard for a long ways.

An old church was the next thing we saw.  It was the "happening place" in the village.

A school that had long been abandoned was across the street

The Monastery was built in the 15th century, and in its complex there is a church dedicated to St. Nikola. Below the floor of the church temple there is a room to which one entered through the opening formed in the floor of the altar. Today it is believed that that room most probably served as a dungeon, during the reign of Montenegrin emperor Scepan Mali, who later was buried in that church.

She borrowed a wheelbarrow from Sasa, a man who lived by the church and helped out around there.  We hauled the groceries to her house as we toured her village.

 No cars in this village....some cars park down at the monastery, but after that, you go by foot.  We parked Bagi's car at the top of the hill before we got to the monastery.

Overlooking the beautiful mountains of Montenegro

 When I asked Bagi about her experiences on couch surfing, she said she hadn't had many.  Most people prefer to go to a big city to see the tourist sites.  "I learn a lot from school and by reading, but couch surfing is extra...it's like adding salt.  It's like food.  If you don't add salt, it's not tasty."

.

an interesting plant - very fuzzy

One of the ladies in the village being helped by her daughter who was visiting.

We never did find out the name of this fruit, but we think it may have been a pomegranate in its early stages.

Another local bull to greet us.  We were told not to go very near him.

Many old houses along the way that had deteriorated.

The storm clouds are beginning to look threatening.

Up the stairs to her one room home.

She totally re-did the inside to her house after purchasing it a few years back.

From our own private flat to this...what exciting adventures are in store for us here!

Back to the monastery to return the wheelbarrow.

We met with the Padre who invited us for tea and to church the next day.

                               
Bagi's place was a very modest one room house where we enjoyed some of our meals on her “balcony”. Bagi started up the fire for our first meal on her small outdoor wood stove. Rich and I cooked pork chops and vegetables, and we had some good corn bread. She shared the yummiest cookie ever! It was like a coconut meringue with a pudding-type filling dipped in chocolate! Scrumptious!

Fried pork chops, zucchini, cheese, and cornbread.

 After dinner we went on a walk to a family winery.  Their orchard and winery had been in the family for three generations.  They were so kind to let us come in, taking us to their cellar, and even offering us some wine.  We didn't take them up on the offer as it was getting dark and threatening to storm.

Stay tuned tomorrow for our 2nd day in the village.