Weekend Away in Brezervice

It is always nice to get away for the weekend, especially when it is a close local drive but you still get the fresh mountain air and good exercise. Luckily another couple who used to work with Pranvera invited us to join them at their mountain house in Brezervice which they have rebuilt after the war. It is A nice A-frame house that they are still cleaning up on the outside and dealing with neighbors who are developing the land literally under their noses since property ownership claims are all suspect in that area. It is really a shame how their is no organized or protected development and all the house are almost touching one another even though their is land everywhere. Not to mention all the trash and poor construction practices being applied to really cause one to cringe.

But we came down to actually hike the mountain so we quickly got away from any civilization what so ever. And boy, did we get a hike. Now you must first know that Tim is a bit of an extreme hiker so I should have know we were getting ourselves into more than a simple day hike. It turned out to be an extreme summit off a trail into the clouds with patches of rain that started to chill the bone. Not to mention it was up for at least the first 3 hours, with our destination mountain lake almost being masked by the thick clouds and surrounding snow that prevented us from actually making it to the water (which you can brave swimming in the summer if you want to freeze). Pranvera was only wearing tennis shoes for our 'walk' which required her to follow in our boot steps across a number of snow patches. Not to mention the bushes we had to step through as we parted from the main trail to do a 'loop' Tim had done a long time ago...slightly forgetting the exact way leaving me quite anxious and we continued going up as the dark clouds descended down.

This aside, the views, rich greenery and awesome raw beauty were jaw dropping. No one anywhere to be found (since we weren't actually on a trail for the ascent this wasn't hard). Fresh mountain streams, budding post frost wild flowers, fresh air and our pesky little black flies that forced us to not scream out in join (cursing them for most the way till we got to high).

Had the weather not been turning our arrival at the summit could have been better enjoyed but we took 5 minutes to eat, snap some photos and then strategize on how to find our way off the mountain. Tim said the trail picked up on the top of the ridge which we could barely see through the fog and I was very concerned it would still be full of snow. Since retracing our steps was the only other way (no way) we headed further up into the rain and clouds until reaching the top where we found a marker. Unfortunately we knew we needed to traverse the ridge for a bit and then drop down the other side which we could not see due to the fog. But Tim's senses kicked in and he was able to guide us to the correct point for our final 1.5 hour descent.

No sooner had we descended to a safer altitude when some blood stopping thunder started to crash through the valley and quicken our pace. Fortunately Pranvera and I feel confident in our luck that we would make the car at the base of ski lifts from where we started before the skies really opened up. And we did, keeping out hiking luck still in tack. Returning to the house we were greeted by his lovely wife and 1.5 year old son, and Pranvera's new boyfriend, Luke. But all we could think about was a shower before a fantastic veggie meal prepared by Tim. However the mountain water pressure would only afford a bath that took quite some time to fill as we just rested our feet and legs wondering if we could walk again.

Once cleaned up, our energy returned and we had a lovely evening of fine food, wine, laughs and reading. I believe we lasted till 9:30 before exhaustion took over us for a wonderful solid night sleep in the fresh mountain air. And for Sunday we went for a nice early morning walk, had our tea and coffee before having some eggs and somehow finding energy again to do a 2 hours soft hike on the road enjoying the sun and fresh air. Upon our return the 5 of headed down the mountain a bit to eat at a wonderful trout restaurant literally built right in the stream. Our several hour meal was a perfect way to enjoy fine food, friends and a lazy Sunday.

Although it was time to head back to the city Luke appeared to have other plans and tried to hold onto Pranvera to stay. As we later found out he actually succeeded. He had held onto to a passport photo of her that we left behind and it somehow made its way back to Pristina with them. I can't blame him. Kosovar women are irresistible.