Monastery Ostrog

On our way to the north for hiking, we had another day of unsettled weather to bridge.

Planned was a short photo stop at a monastery that was built directly into high cliffs. We were quite surprised and left Monastery Ostrog deeply impressed!

Even the unsecured, steep approach up the narrow serpentine roads was impressively beautiful. Also because the few road users waited for each other and greeted and thanked each other friendly.

Shortly after we arrived, the parking lot filled up rapidly (exclusively with Montenegrin license plates) while we were still waiting for Heidi to wake up from her deep sleep 😁.

The last kilometer had to be "hiked", many pilgrims did this barefoot.

Arriving at the top, there were people everywhere! Pilgrims arrived by buses (no idea where from 😅), blankets and pillows were hanging everywhere from those who had spent the night under the open sky.

It really wasn't a tourist highlight, but a real pilgrimage site. We quickly felt a bit out of place.

Even more so when we were led past the 200m long queue of waiting people because of Heidi. Every time we tried to rejoin the normal line, we were waved away, told to go forward, past all the people, some of whom were old and frail, some moved to tears because of this place, most of them had obviously been waiting for this moment for a long time.. and we were allowed to go ahead of them 🙈, even though we didn't really know what we were queuing up for... Luckily, another dad with a baby in front of us was also allowed to go ahead, so we weren't completely alone. When we arrived at the front, we finally knew what we were queuing up for: In a small rock chapel, the body of Saint Basil, the builder of the monastery, is laid out.

So there we were, at one of the holiest places of the Serbian Orthodox Church, feeling like we had cut in line, so we tried to do what everyone else was doing as best as we could. We kissed the small wooden cross of the priest, which had already been kissed quite wet, and bowed before the coffin. And Heidi received a detailed blessing from the priest himself. The chapel was super small and because of all the deeply moved pilgrims alone, it was very impressive and a really beautiful experience!

Afterwards, the entire stream of people was led to a room where wishes could be written down and submitted, and souvenirs could be bought. Of course, we also participated in everything here. And finally, the path led to a platform hewn out of stone with an amazing view of the valley and the mountain landscape, to another chapel and to a vine, which should not actually be able to grow here because the stone offers so little nutrients and water, and for that reason alone it is a symbol for the holiness of the place.

I have to say, even though I (Hansi) don't have much interest in the church in general, I was deeply impressed and moved by the effect this place had on the people who came here.

This was truly an impressive trip and so different from what we expected. 😊