Decane Monastery and Kosovo's Peaceful Mountains

Who would have thought a day in Kosovo could include strolling the grounds of a beautiful Orthodox Monastery and then hiking high into the hills of an unpolluted mountainside with nothing but colors, sounds and nature all around. Not to mention I was in the wonderful company of my new friend Pranvera who I met at my party several weeks back. So the day after our first fantastic date she agreed to join me and a fellow co-worker to visit Kosovo's most historic and religiously significant monastery of the Serbian Orthodox order. Normally no big deal but since PranV is Albanian and the Monestary is Serbian and heavily guarded by the Italian KFOR, this simple 2 hour day trip was a little bit more challenging than visiting the city park. First and foremost I was VERY happy to hear from her that she had no issue about going and was comfortable and open about trying (MANY Kosovars would never step foot in this area). Second, with 2 American passports and our project vehicle, I believe we were able to pass through the first armed checkpoint without too much delay or questions about her background.

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Of course once we entered the serene grounds with the most perfect patch of grass in all of Kosovo, we found that the actual church was closed for the next hour. No worries. We enjoyed finding some shade outside to sit and marvel at the grounds, the building and the monks walking about tending to their daily chores. I just wanted to roll around in the grass but we figured that might draw too much attention from the armed patrols that would pass through the yard. Instead of sticking around for it to open we decided we would head far back into the woods to take a nice hike and return when it was open again.

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Would have worked out well had we not found such a perfect place to hike. Well into the mountainside via a pathetic dirt road, we finally bounced out of the jeep in a cloud of dusty smoke and the smell of exhaust. The scorching heat we have had during the past several weeks prevented any type of mid-day activity so we were blessed with a slight cooling of the weather and patchy cloud cover providing some shelter for the hike. Which was actually just straight up. Zac (co-worker) gave it his best for 20 minutes and then decided a vertical hike wasn't his thing for the day. PranV and I traversed the beautiful stream that paralleled our trail for a bit and then we headed up a number of switchbacks under the cover of trees and kept attentive by our great conversation, butterflys and the smell of fresh mountain air. After an hour we pulled of the main trail to a hidden vista that unveiled the entire valley and a precipice that made you want to take a flying leap off with a base jumping parashoot (ok, maybe that was just me). None the less, a perfect resting spot for a quick nap.

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Concerned that Zac might leave us due to boredom, we eventually strolled back down the mountain to retrace our steps and check out the church on the way out. Of course we arrived10 minutes too late and I missed actually seeing the main attraction for the second time (3rd is a charm right). No matter since the company kept and the scenery enjoyed couldn't have made for a more perfect average Saturday in Kosovo.

Like a Rolling Stone with No Sleep till Brooklyn

A weekend of truly cosmic proportion. One of my best ever!! Even I was worn out describing to friends how I planned to pull off two of the most spectacular music events in my lifetime, over the same weekend, in completely different cities in a country that requires me to make a separate trip through two other countries before I can actually enter it. So lets let the games begin.

My first destination was the EXIT festival held in Novi Sad Serbia for the past 7 years. It is a 4 day, 25 stage, campsite with sand beach and stage, non-stop electronic and hip-hop alternative music festival held within the walls of an old fortress atop the Danube River. http://www.exitfest.org/ Yes, I know most of you are saying ok, yea maybe if I was 21 and still insane. Well, welcome to my life in the Balkans. And the scary part about it that my relatively younger friends had to drag me off the dance floor to head 'home' as the sun was rising. See, I knew the training from my Burning Man days would come in handy.




So the adventure actually began last Wednesday as I jumped in my friends car to make the infamous 'stamp run'. I had mentioned this earlier but basically, for all internationals working in Kosovo, in order for us to enter Serbia (which is still technically the same country) we have to exit Kosovo from the south to Macedonia, then drive north into Serbia and then take a left back into Kosovo and head home. This allows us to get the Serbian visa stamp which is good for 3 months and allows us to travel direct from Pristina to Serbia and make it past the border guards. Now mind you the stamp is ONLY good as long as you don't go to any other country, which we all do almost every other week. So to say the least I don't travel to Belgrade or any other Serbian city very often because of this additional 5 hour driving trip that I have to do (oh yea, I could do it all in one trip but it is double the time in that case).

All things considering, it could have been much worse. I was scheduled to join the UN bus (yes the same one in my earlier photos) to do this 'stamp run' on Thursday night, which would have KILLED me since I left for Belgrade on a 5am shuttle on Friday. At least the way I did it I was able to get a nice 4 hours of sleep before taking this way too early shuttle into Serbia. Wasn't too bad though since I pretended to sleep most the way before arriving in Belgrade at 11am, just in time to join my friends for a traditional Serbian breakfast. See Sander, my buddy from Pristina is dating Bojana who lives in Belgade. Both of these great friends, along with Bojana's best friend Maja were my partners in crime for this insane weekend.





Now another twist to complicate the weekend was the fact that this whole thing was originally planned with my American friend who I had traveled to Slovenian with. But as usual he ended up changing plans at the last minute which would have forced me to wait in Belgrade all day and miss the best part of my EXIT experience, the beach party. Fortunately, Sander was ready and able to hit the local bus with me just after our brunch and we were up in Novi Sad by 3pm to orient ourselves and begin the dance. Problem was that Hayden had my ticket. So I am there without a way to get in. But knowing the real price of a ticket we were able to scalp one for almost the same rate and we were cleared to dance to our own tune.





And dance we did (in some way, shape or form) for the next 14 hours. The setting couldn't have been more idyllic (see photos) and the people were from all over the world--ton of Brits for some reason. But everyone was in very good spirits, enjoying perfect weather, some of the best DJ music I have ever heard and plenty of beer. With one large stage and a pumping trance DJ, people of all shapes and sizes (Afro's seemed to be in this year along with women drinking straight out of 2 litre beer bottles) whirled about tirelessly. Most of these folks had also just woken up and literally rolled down the hill from their tents. I believe over 20,000 were camped out along the banks of the Danube for the event.






After several hours of beach, we met up with 4 of my other friends who were up from Kosovo for the entire 4 days. This would have been overkill for me but I know now I could have risen to the occasion. I could have handled everything except for the fact it got too full for the big events. Just too many people in this relatively confined areas (ok, still 40,000 people for the main stage but within the walls of a fort so nowhere to move).



So our new gang entered EXIT before nightfall which was a great way to actually see the set-up, orient ourselves to the 25 stages we would experience over the next 12 hours and enjoy a relatively chilled out atmosphere. The most amazing part of the whole set-up was the fact that with the walls of the fort and the relatively isolated areas and directions they faced the stages, you could not hear the music from the the other areas once you were in the dance zone. Then there were the video screens and light shows that were off the hook. Best I have seen with top quality sound (not noise).





As sunset enveloped the fort and the base beats started to tremor through the stone, we began visiting some of the smaller acts and themed stages such as Reggie, Latin, hip-hop, world musical, chill, lounge, MTV and others. Nice way to get the blood pumping and the adrenaline ready for the headliner for my one night EXIT experience, the Beastie Boys. Yes, for those of you who have even heard of them, they are old school raping white boys from New York. But hugely popular out here and still cranking out good tunes, in their own childish style. All and all not my preferred band but a good show none the less with an INSANE amount of people. We were up relatively close but when the crowd started bouncing, you had to as well otherwise risk getting sucked into the vortex of air below. And when the mosh pit started to grow bigger and bigger all you could do was pray it did not reach us (just right in front). And then there was B.O. boy behind me. Everytime he raised his arms to cheer I almost passed out. They don't typically shower that much out here and add hours of dancing and the heat---you guessed it. Yuck.






So after Master Mix Mike brought down the house, the four of us broke off from the rest of the 15 person Kosovo crew to find a restroom. I believe we pushed through no less that 4,000 people to find a row of port-o-poties that were almost all collapsed under the weight of EXITers wanting a better view of the band. Now that could have been an interesting story. Realizing at this point we had not eaten, we grabbed some food and chilled out at some smaller stages. Passing on into the night we recharged our batteries to venture to the final destination for the evening, the dance pit.








Never have I seen anything like this. 1 massive stage full of fire dancers, lights of extra terrestrial proportion and literally a sea of thousands of dancers pulsing to the beat in a huge pit with solide stone walls surrounding all sides at least 6 stories tall. They had built 2 series of staircases at least 100 steps each to get down into the pit, dance your ass off and then if you're lucky return up. Once in the pit the energy and music gave us a 10th wind to keep it going. We just had a blast making up for so many months in Kosovo of not being able to get my groove on. And just when I was in my old world I got a tap on the shoulder and a high five from one of the biggest human beings I have ever seen. Anyone seen that wierd comedy with Danny Devito called Fish? and the giant? Well that was him. Big, gentle, and fun. His t-shirt just said it all.




Once we climbed back up and the crew wanted to start making the way to the car I just had to stop at one more stage...almost like a kid being dragged home off the playground. And then it hit me. As we walked a couple km's back to the car my body started to collapt ase. Legs ached. Knees, lower back. I guess dancing for over 12 hours will do that to you. I couldn't have been happier to drive back to Belgrade rather than taking the bus as we had originally planned. It was a struggle for us to stay awake but teamwork paid off and and we all sank into bed by 7am...

And all we did after waking mid afternoon was head out to the city lake, hang out on the most perfect pebble beach eating ice cream, listening to more good music and just taking in the scene.
The more time I spend in Belgrade the more I realize it is an incredible city and one that has everything without the full chaos of the rest of the Balkans. And the locals are very sports minded so there is a ton to do from swimming to tennis to nature hikes etc etc. I could live here...



So before we realized it we had to leave to get ready for our next big event, The Rolling Stones. Almost in the center of Belgrade, across the river a steady oriver of over 60,000 fans streamed to the open field where the magic was going to unfold. I had friends see them in Montenegro the week before and already warned me that I was in for a treat. I was again supposed to meet up with Hayden since he also had my tickets for this show but as it turned out we got free passes since Bojana's sister worked for the production company. Yessssss! So there we were. A 6 story stage with fireworks, lights everywhere and a jumbo screen to make Mick Jagger look like God. We were all the way in the middle of the field unable to see them directly but we had the screen. And if I jumped up and used my camera I could sometimes see the legend inbetween his dance moves and stage sprints. For a 64 year old guy, he is in great shape doing the shows like he was 10 years ago. Amazing what make-up, a personal trainer (most likely alot of young women) and extra oxygen tanks to breath from on stage will do for you.





And then it happened. Bojana's sister got us VIP passes to head up right next to the stage in an area with plenty of room to dance, a bar with no line and toilets close by. When Mick ran out stage right I could through my beer and hit him. No kidding. It was out of control and made a world of difference. And then at one point the stage actually came out carrying the band all the way to the middle of the crowd where they played Satisfaction and some other great classics. The crowd went crazy. Towards the end an inflatable set of the lips took up half the stage before Mick climbed up to the second level to dance around and trigger the flame torches atop the stage to explode along with grand finale fireworks. 2 hours of some of the best stage performance I had ever seen.








Still in shock we gathered ourselves to head past the 80 trucks lined up to dissasemble the stage in most likely 10 hours. It only took them 14 to put it up (all verified facts from the sister again). We needed food so we walked down the river onto a restaurant boat to have the most perfect plate of crapes while we watched and listened to the disco boat next to us with the dancing girls up on the poles. Finishing our meal I half expected us to keep going next door and dance just one more dance. But it was past 2 and I think we could safely call it a night...

Sunday was a slow lazy day of hanging out with Hayden in Belgrade enjoying the cafe culture and city fort that is beautiful to walk around. Perfect on a Sunday. A bit worn out from it all I happily headed to the shuttle station to meet my buddies from EXIT and b-line it for Pristina in under 6 hours. All in good time to return to work on Monday moderately rested with only a slight ringing of the ears. Thinking it was all too good to be true I happily have the pictures to memorialize one of the best weekends ever.