Only half an hour's drive and some 20 km from the part of the city where I live, there is the lowest mountain in central Serbia.
Avala.
It is the lowest because it is only 511m above sea level and it changed its status from a hill to a mountain by a hair's breadth (for those 11m) (geographers take those 500m as the border between a hill and a mountain).
On Avala there is a monument to the Unknown Hero, built after the First World War, which was built on the site of the destroyed medieval town of Žrnov (which I may write about someday, because that story is shrouded in mystery).
This marble monument is dedicated to all soldiers who died in the Balkan wars and the First World War who were buried without their names being known.
At the entrance to the mausoleum, there are caryatids, tall female figures made of black marble, representing mothers and women from all over the kingdom, from which were the soldiers who died in those wars.
Although near the monument to the Unknown Hero there is also the symbol of Avala, the TV tower (destroyed in the NATO bombing of my country in 1999 and then rebuilt), still the top of the mountain itself - this monument represents the end point of each of my hikes along Avala.
In another topic, the question was, are we ashamed and are we ashamed of the country we are from?
I love my country, but I am ashamed of how we allowed it to be disintegrated like this, which is clearly visible on the asphalt road from the monument to the Unknown Hero to the TV tower.
How can we, as a nation that was on the side of the allies in both world wars and fought for its survival with great sacrifices, today so lethargic, that it calmly watches as bad government pushes it down the slope to ruin...
Well, I'm ashamed... I'm ashamed of ourselves!
The best period of the year for hiking is late spring or early autumn, but sometimes I climb the mountain in the middle of winter, with one difference - the colder the weather, the shorter the walk.
From the foot of Avala to the top there are several hiking and mountain trails. Some are easier, some are more demanding, but no matter which one I take, I enjoy being in nature and the success after reaching the top.
