22-IX-2018.

Woke up, had a shower, and went down to that breakfast. And guess what, from all the hotel breakfasts we ate, this was surely among the best five. Surprising. It was foggy outside, but by the time we checked out, the fog lifted.

So where do we go now? Not going back to Užice for sure, so, well, Vrnjačka again.

Had coffee in Tučkovo again - after Požega we were pretty much on the same road as two years ago. It's a nice place, the valley was foggy again, I made almost the same shots as then, except the eagle didn't show up this time. Damn good coffee. There were two busses, one with a school ekskurzija, while we were there, which made for an interesting atmosphere. Went to pee and on return can't make out which girlie is mine.

But then decided to stop at Ovčar spa, which is in another canyon between Ovčar and Kablar mountains. Cute little place, well maintained, though it seems to be ruled by bikers, hikers and climbers mostly. The only roadsigns we saw were for bike trails and monasteries. So we walked around for quite a bit, enjoying that air, sunshine and the weird configuration of two little rivers in a huge canyon.

Even went up to the nearest monastery, but didn't like their dress code. Not that we didn't conform to it. Well, slippers are forbidden but I had sandals (no socks, of course) so who knows. Anyway, as a nonbeliever I don't like to step on someone else's sacred ground and surely wouldn't pay a dime to their cause. OTOH, anyone who tries to impose a dress code on me is welcome to fuck of in triple jumps.

Made a stop in Čačak, and I bought two more disco saws for the švorceniger, from the same guy. He actually had only one in the shop, but told us to have a coffee and he'll bring them before we're done. And so he did. So I now have to plan a trip to Čačak for 2022 and hope the guy stays in business.

So we arrived at Vrnjačka around 13:00, found a parking spot (2nd rate, about 100m up from the market... not too far but upslope from everything) and went for a walk. Ate at the simplest eatery we could find, some workers' menu gulaš, not bad for the price. Walked more and started looking for a room. Whole place consists of houses with multiple rooms for rent, that's their main industry, they are the most famous spa in Serbia for almost two hundred years. But no, haven't seen any "zimmer frei" or equivalent anywhere. One guy had something, but seeing us he just tried the price of 7200 rsd per night. Thanks, stiff someone else.

After about 4km of walk we tried one hotel that looked, ahem, too classy, which probably means no smoking and extra fees for the spa and whatnot. But I still gave it a try. The two cute girls at the desk said "we're all full for tonight". "Two nights?" "We're still full for tonight" "OK, then no sense to try with three... bye".

After having made a full circle, past the place where we left the car, asked some locals how to find a room. They said the guy above the next shop does - well he wasn't at home; the next guy has a nasty dog, no, thanks. Then they said where the market is, where all of the guys who rent rooms sit and wait. Went there, had a coffee, and the waitress didn't know anyone who'd be a dealer, but suggested the next cafe up the creek, which should be the place. Asked the waiter there, but he didn't know any of the guys, however this cafe has its own lodgings... So we went there and bingo, got a really nice room, not too pricey and smack downtown, overseeing the promenade.

So we didn't have to resort to the last ace in the sleeve, go to Queen like last year. It was OK, not too pricey and the room was actually much bigger than we'd need, but the staircase was so irregular, with two stairs being about a quarter taller than the rest, and we just didn't want to go over that again.

So we went to have a couple of beers. Laško bright again, very good year. Had about two, and then the time for dinner came. We said to the waitress "we're off to dinner, and if we're not satisfied with their choice of beer, we'll be back". We just went to the promenade, the other side of the building, and had a pizza and... well, they had Laško.

So that was four beers. Went for a walk. At about middle of the promenade we heard someone calling me by nickname. Note the difference, he did not call my nickname. My names are well trained and never respond to any calls, and they never leave me. Everyone knows that, and they call me, not any of my names.

Guess who - Staša and Borko. Teachers' ekskurzija. No students. So we had another beer (small this time, 0,33) with them, chatted for a while and then it was about time to go to bed, the trips to the bathroom coming closer and closer. Along the way we went through the crowd at the concert of S.A.R.S, which is an averagely good band with a few nice gimmicks, but who just didn't have enough juice in them to extend them too far, so what of their hits I recognized is not typically theirs, actually I didn't even know it was theirs. And I began to dislike them now, because they claim to be "Sveže amputirana ruka Satriania" (freshly amputated hand of Satriani), not the proper "Satrijanija", fuck their engrbian mothers.

When we came to the door of our "hotel" (which is just a door and a little desk by the staircase, everything else being upstairs), a guy came to take us back to the first cafe, citing our promise that we'll come back. I told him the condition was the beer, which was the same over there, so we weren't cheating. He said he'd just like to have another with us and chat. Well OK, we made contact with the natives.

The guy drank even more than we did (and I really don't remember that we ever arrived at the sixth beer), but wasn't a bumbling idiot. On the contrary. He seems to have noticed us the first time, as probably an unlikely, or atypical, couple. Drinking the same stuff both, not the usual "he drinks hard, she drinks soda", not quarreling nor me mansplaining things... So I guess he wanted to be in on the secret how we did it. He almost had us take a solemn oath to be there at 10:00 in the morning and finally let us go.

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Mentions: ekskurzija, engrbian, Mališa Borkovski (Borko), Stanoje Serdarević (Staša), švorceniger, in serbian