Mountain Adventure

One of the greatest things about living in Sarajevo is the proximity of beautiful, untouched nature. By proximity I mean coming home from work, changing your clothes, and getting into the car for a less that an hour long drive straight into the wilderness.

And it's the most friendly, most inviting wilderness.

Today we decided to hike around Bjelasnica mountain. My first trip there this year (and since I returned from Sweden).

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Mnogo toga sto karakterise zivot u Sarajevu ja istinski volim. Moguce jedna od najljepsih stvari je blizina predivne, nedirnute prirode. Kad kazem blizina znate sta zapravo mislim: dodjemo kuci s posla, presvucemo se, sjednemo u automobil i za manje od sat vremena smo u divljini.

Najblazoj, najtoplijoj divljini.

Danas smo se odlucili za planinarenje Bjelasnicom. To je moja prva posjeta Bjelasnici ove godine (i otkako sam se vratila iz Svedske).

I must say it started out kind of slow.

The weather forecast said rain beginning at 5 PM. We looked out of our apartment window: the clouds spelled rain, unambiguously. At least let's get some fresh air, we agreed. We can always turn around.

Climbing up the mountain, the clouds seemed to clear up, and we saw more and more of the blue sky. Soon, the sun was there too. We rolled our windows down. About half an hour in, we passed the Babin Do ski restort and headed for Umoljani. It is one of our favorite locations (I wrote about it earlier here).

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Moram priznati da nije bas najbolje pocelo.

Vremenska prognoza predvidjala je kisu od 17h. Pogled kroz prozor na sve gusce tamne oblake nas nije ohrabrio: bilo je jasno da ce pasti kisa. Hajde da bar udahnemo malo svjezeg zraka, slozili smo se. Uvijek se mozemo vratiti.

Na putu uz planinu cinilo se da se oblaci razilaze, i uskoro su se pojavili prvi komadici plavog neba. Ubrzo poslije, i sunce im se pridruzilo. Spustili smo prozore. Nakon nekih pola sata prosli smo Babin do i nastavili ka Umoljanima. To malo selo je jedna od nasih omiljenih destinacija (o selu sam ranije pisala ovdje).

The weather was chilly when we arrived. And the village all but empty. We feared that the villagers too expected rain and have therefore locked themselves in their homes. The few mountain huts were closed. Nothing but the golden fields of dandelions.

M. suggested we hike to the Seven Mills; they are fairly close, the walk there is scenic, and a drink of fresh water at the source above the mills a fair award. And if it rains?, I thought.

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Iako je sunce bilo obecavajuce, kad smo stigli u Umoljane shvatili smo da je vani prilicno hladno. Selo je bilo gotovo sasvim prazno. Plasili smo se da su iskusni seljani takodjer ocekivali kisu pa su se sklonili u svoje domove. I onih nekoliko planinskih domova za turiste je bilo zatvoreno. Nista osim vjetra i beskrajnih polja maslacka.

M. je predlozio da prosetamo do Sedam vodenica. Nalaze se relativno blizu sela, setnja do njih je jako lijepa, a gutljaj svjeze izvorske vode je zasluzena nagrada. A sta ako padne kisa?, pitala sam se.

Whenever we set out on the hike to the Seven Mills, the first part of the hike seems to be reserved for trying to find the marked path. It is really difficult to miss the Mills if you are moving in their direction, but walking on the path is just easier on the feet. We almost always miss the path.

As many times before, we climbed a bit above it and were now walking on a slightly steep hillside, glancing at the path below. The nature around us was gorgeous. A true spring. It felt like we travelled back in time, since the spring was already slowly giving way to the summer in the city below.

I stopped here and there to photograph the flowers, bees harvesting pollen, and tiny butterflies flying around. M. was walking ahead of me. From time to time he would call for me, usually when noticing a funny looking insect or a small animal that he wanted me to photograph and later send the photo off to Layla. I was quite behind him at one point when I noticed him waving me over. He was signaling for me to be quiet, and pointing at something ahead of him. I moved as slowly as I could, breathless. 

And then I saw it.

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Svaki put kad idemo do Vodenica, prvi dio setnje rezervisan je za pronalazenje obiljezene staze. Vodenice je jako tesko promasiti ukoliko se krecete u njihovom pravcu, medjutim uvijek je lakse setati utabanom stazom. Mi skoro uvijek promasimo stazu.

Kao puno puta ranije, prosli smo malo iznad staze, i kretali smo se u pravcu vodenica na blagoj nizbrdici, prateci stazu ispod. Priroda je oduzimala dah. Istinsko proljece svuda oko nas - cak i behar! Osjecali smo se kao da smo otputovali unazad kroz vrijeme, obzirom da je u Sarajevu sve vise mirisalo na ljeto.

Tu i tamo sam se zaustavljala da fotografisem cvijece, pcele koje su prikupljale polen i leptirice kojih je bilo svuda. M. je hodao ispred mene. S vremena na vrijeme bi me zovnuo, obicno ako bi primijetio interesantne insekte ili zivotinjice, koje sam ja onda fotografisala za Laylu. Bila sam znacajno iza njega kada sam primijetila sam da mase da pridjem. Pokazivao mi je da budem tiha, i da je nesto ispred nas. Ja sam mu prilazila sto sam tise mogla, zadrzavajuci dah.

A onda sam je ugledala.

The most elegant little fox was prancing right in front of us, moving in our direction. It was looking down at the ground and it appeared that it did not notice us yet. I wanted to photograph it but realized I had the wrong lens. Quickly, change it. Oh, it's in your backpack. Hand it over, quietly. No, don't take the picture with your phone. Oh, why is this not fitting on. I am trying to hurry up. Just look at how beautiful it is. Seriously, put the phone back in your pocket. Ah, finally. 

I snapped a couple of photos, and a second later, it looked at us. Head high, pointy ears, rich, auburn fur. It didn't take long and the fox was running for the woods above, away from us. We remained in our place looking after it, mesmerized.

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Lisica, uzdignutog repa, je elegantno marsirala odmah ispred nas, krecuci se u nasem pravcu. Gledala je u zemlju ispod sebe i djelovalo je da nas jos uvijek nije primijetila. Htjela sam da je fotografisem, ali sam istog trenutka shvatila da je na aparatu pogresan objektiv. Hajde brzo ga zamijeni, tiho. Aha, kod tebe je u ruksaku. Polako mi ga dodaj. Cekaj, nemoj fotografisati mobitelom. Sto ovo nece da se uglavi. Pokusavam pozuriti! Vidi molim te kako je divna. Ozbiljno, ostavi taj mobitel. Uh, napokon.

Napravila sam nekoliko brzih fotografija, i samo trenutak nakon lisica je pogledala u nasem pravcu. Glave dignute visoko, spicastih usiju i ridjeg krzna. Nije prosla ni sekunda, a vec je bjezala prema sumi, daleko od nas. Mi smo jos uvijek stajali na istom mjestu, ocarani.

Sighting wild animals can often be very difficult and rare, but we think we have truly been blessed this month. First it was a huge rabbit at Cavljak (it was the quickest one to run away), then, two lovely baby deer in Crepoljsko that stumbled on our road (they were the really confused ones); later, a tiny, food-hunting blackbird at our house. And today, this lovely fox. 

Back in the village, friendly chickens were clucking around. Driving back, a herd of sheep occupied a shadowy hillside. Their shepherd was sleeping to the right of them. Slightly below him, a large shepherd dog (sharplaninec), was also sleeping on his side.

We snapped photos and laughed.

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Nije tako jednostavno pribliziti se i vidjeti divlju zivotinju, iako mi se cini da smo ovaj mjesec imali puno srece. Sve je pocelo sa ogromnim zecom na Cavljaku (on je najbrze pobjegao), zatim dva divna laneta na Crepoljskom koja su istrcala direktno na cestu ispred nas (bili su tako neodoljivo zbunjeni); kasnije, sitni i ozbiljno u potrazi za hranom crni kos na nasoj vikendici. I danas, ova ocaravajuca lisica.

Natrag u selu, raspolozene kokoske kokodakale su uokolo. Vozeci se nazad u grad, prosli smo pored stada ovaca koje je paslo na malom brdu. Njihov pastir je spavao na nekoliko metara sa njihove desne strane, a isto toliko ispod njega drijemao je ogromni sarplaninac. Dok sam fotografisala, podigao je svoju njusku, i valjda ocijenivsi da smo bezopasni, nastavio da drijema.

Mi smo jos malo fotografisali, uz smijeh.

On the way back to the village, M. made a tiny bouquet of wild flowers for me. As I write this post, the flowers are nesting in the small vase to the left of me. Every now and then I glance at them with a smile over a lovely little adventure that made this almost rainy day quite... magical.

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Na putu od Vodenica ka selu, M. je napravio mali buket divljeg cvijeca za mene. Dok kucam, cvijece se odmara u maloj vazi s moje lijeve strane. Svako malo ga pogledam i nasmijesim se avanturi koja je ovaj kisni dan ucinila prilicno... magicnim.