And I can comfortably say we earned it. Not only have we been Kosovo bound almost since Pranvera's surgery in Serbia but we had to fight through a snow storm getting both to the resort and back. Matter of fact, the only nice 'window' of weather we had was for the 3 hours we went hiking on Sunday. Otherwise it didn't matter because this place was so incredible we never wanted to leave. http://www.biancaresort.com/
Our journey began early Sat. morning waking up to a white, frozen and slippery Pristina. Fortunately I had decided to take one of the project 4x4 vehicles instead of renting the standard Passat which would have never made it. Our two hour drive across Kosovo to the border became more encouraging as the snow was much less out West and the sun seemed to be poking its head out every now and then. All was good until we started to ascend the very high mountain pass taking us into Montenegro and into a complete white-out. Gail force winds started to descend down the pass with snow falling every which direction and increasing deeper patches of snow both on and off the road. I think that we were just mentally unprepared to be hit so hard by the approaching winter that our 'shock' allowed me to keep on driving up the mountain. At one point we fortunately got stuck behind the snow plow which cleared our way to the first border station. One would have thought with the Jeep Cherokee in 4 wheel drive it would be a piece of cake. NOT. I would never suggest for anyone to trust these pieces of .... if you want any rough weather assistance. Very poor traction, stability and confidence in even almost perfect weather conditions, let alone a blizzard.
Well at least we amused the Kosovo border police in wondering why in the hell we were driving to Montenegro in this weather. As Pranvera chatted with the guard through the open window about a cm of snow filled the seats and the wind attempted to pick up our little truck. Finally convinced we were crazy he let us journey on another 5km's to the next border station. When you could see through the wind the landscape, mountain and trees looked absolutely beautiful. We were in no rush and singing to all my old high school CD's, we eventually made it over the entire mountain pass in record (slow) speed and then had another 2 hours drive through beautiful, mostly snow- cleared winding mountain roads before arriving at our resort as it towered above the pine trees nestled in this picture perfect valley. We were told this place was a little slice of heaven right inside the Balkans and we couldn't wait to jump on the down bed, play with the flat screen TV, nestle up reading books next to the lobby fire, swim in the massive indoor pool, enjoy a relaxing sauna/Turkish steam bath, workout on the full circuit Italian exercise equipment or just eat and eat the very fine food offered at several of their restaurants...
And we did all this repetitively for the next 3 days. Best of all this place offered a substantial discount to government workers so it wasn't too painful on the wallet. This resort had not missed any details. From the wood lined interior to the stone laid floors, antique farm equipment scattered throughout, the old black and white photos of Tito and the beautiful Montenegrin countryside. Several restaurants, cafes, dance club, store, bar (and kids play center). The spa offered every type of service with the pool, hot tub, baths and sauna free to all guests (even including a terrycloth robe and those little slippers. Weird thing about the sauna and steam bath was they only worked from 5-7 each night so we made sure to do our workout and swim around that time so I could sweat-out the last stage of my cold and massage my shoulder after giving it one of the first balanced workouts I can remember. I was nice that both Pranvera and I are nursing ourselves back to health together and we're determined to join a gym once back in Pristina to encourage each other along this long road to recovery.
I can't even describe how nice it was to swim in a clean, beautiful pool where you could see one side from the other. Slightly warmed but cold enough to feel exhilarating. Huge vaulted wooden beamed ceiling with piped in soft western music, palm trees fanning the comfortable lounge chairs and an entire wall of floor to ceiling glass inviting in the snow covered pine forest standing guard outside. The hot tub was a bit full with families (you know what that means) so we spend our time playing in the deep end of doing lapses, her nursing the knee and me my shoulder. Just perfect.
We decided to venture into the town to find our first meal. Fortunately it was a tiny place and we were able to walk from the resort door all the way to the end of the town in 15 minutes. Very cold and icy we creeped our way along the pedestrian zone until we spotted the most perfect wooden cottage with lumber stacked piles stoking the fire inside. Felt like Hansel & Gretel's house. Too bad the service wasn't like grandma's. The food was nice and traditional but we guessed our waiter/owner had already finished his own bottle of wine and we had to ask for everything almost 3 times before it arrived and even then was wrong. But having finally received a half glass of wine (he brought the other half later) we just enjoyed the company and appreciated being on vacation. I was tempted to stop at any number of the bars lining the street but as we saw the string of teenagers pouring into them in exchange for the escaping of cigarette smoke and blasts of terrible Serbian turbo folk music, we opted for a nightcap in the hotel bar complete with a pine crackling stove, overpriced Bailey's & Cream and nice slice of chocolate cake. What more does one need to be sent off to bed?
I was almost so excited about the all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet I couldn't get to sleep that night. And before I realized it we were filling our bellies again stocking up on the energy we would need for our mountain hike. Because of the snow I was afraid we would not be able to make it to the lake in the National Park I had been told about. Fortunately the road was mostly clear and for the last bit of snow the 4wheel drive kicked in quite well. And there it was. The perfect lake surrounded by the perfect hiking trail and just the right amount of snow to blanket the hills, cover any dirt or trash and provide ample amount of ammunition for our snowball fights. With her brace on and high spirits beaming, Pranvera limped out onto the trail for our day in the most fresh air we had had in quite some time. Big clumps of snow falling from trees or small droplets of water trying to challenge our way as the sun broke through the clouds melting the winter blast. A slightly warm wind provided the perfect backdrop for listening to only our own breathing or the occasional chirping birds. A good part of the hike was above the marsh area up on nice wooden platforms crossing over countless streams. I couldn't help but dream of doing this trail on a mountain bike but was quickly brought back to the present as a snowball crashed into my back...
It was as if the break in the weather was for the exclusive purpose of allowing us to reconnect with nature once again. As we drove back to the resort the snow/rain started falling again only allowing us to do a quick stop in at a very cute mountaintop church. No sooner had the automatic doors of the Bianca vacuumed the cold air from behind us when the water came down.
So much rain this time that it melted most of the beautiful snow. And then as the night progressed it began to freeze over and then welcome the snow blizzard that arrived on Monday to escort us all the way back home to Pristina. No matter since we still had a complete night remaining of gym, sauna, hot-tub, pool, hot-tub and then a 5 star meal in the main hotel restaurant which was virtually reserved just for us and one other table (Sunday night). My sea bass was exceptional and the huge windows overlooking the pines filled with candlelight couldn't have created a more perfect date. Our nice long, post dinner stroll lead us to the kids room where we just got silly. Plain silly. We faded off to sleep quite early only to wake at a descent hour to hit the pool before our brunch buffet. Had it all to ourselves. Could do this every day (if only).
As the weather continued to turn our slow leisurely departure was expedited. And good thing because we heard that once we succeeded in climbing over the mountain pass for a second time, it was closed. This would have caused all kind of problems but once again we had some higher power making sure it was a complete, 5 star weekend.
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