Rumija’s Romans

April 20th is another brilliant day and Lake Skader ice flat, blue gin under blue sky. The villages and hamlets are alive with sprouting vines and emerging vegetables; an old woman bends over hoeing carefully along the rows. The surrounding wooded slopes are bright green swathes of hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) spattered with vanilla ice creams of flowering manna ash (Fraxinus ornus)….

Virpazar

The walk up the hill from Virpazar runs past the entrance to Fort Besac, built originally by the Ottomans in the late 15th Century and on up to to crest of the hill before the winding descent to the village of Godinje.  I have walked this route to the top of the hill every so…