Inspired by the beauty of southeastern Serbia, the group “Duster” started going again in a similar direction. Tired and (but) happy after the tour of the Dukat and Besna kobila mountains, the proposal to visit Serbia’s highest peak Midzor (2,169m) on Stara planina by our friend was unanimously accepted. So far I had thought about going to this mountain several times, but I had the wrong opinion that it was inaccessible by car. I was not informed well and as it turned out I was wrong. After 4 hours of smooth driving we arrived at our hotel called Babin Zub. I liked the hotel immediately. In our rooms we had everything from hairdryer, slippers, sewing equipment, tools for polishing shoes… It is a cozy hotel that gives you warm home feeling. I highly recommend it! Before going to bed, we sat a bit in front of the hotel to have a glass of rakija for good welcome and easy sleep!
I was so happy that we came to the mountain that had not become commercial and crowded with hotels and cafes. On the contrary, in front of our hotel there was only a mountain refuge. Because of that, it was a quite night and we slept great. The hotel serves breakfast from 8-10 am. We were the first ones. After a few minutes, all other guest came also hungry like us. It was a buffet with all kinds of stuff, from eggs, ham, muesli, croissants, jams, yogurt, coffee… It was great and after that we were ready to go to the Midzor top. With our full stomachs, were we?!
Around 600m from our hotel we found a cafe with a great view called “Plaza” (Beach). Should we stay or should we go? I was a bit slow and sleepy and lazy in the morning and I liked that cafe. From that place to the top of the mountain we had to walk 8 km. The group “Duster” agreed to return to “Plaza” cafe after hiking. We started and after half an hour of the climb, I woke up. You can’t sleep and climb. Although it was hard at the beginning, I enjoyed it. I was happy to spend another weekend in the nature. Most of all, I think, I love the silence of the mountain. No people, no traffic, the only connection with the world was via internet and we had a signal all day long. However, I didn’t use my phone for internet, just to make pictures.
Since we were above the tree line, one of the beauties of walking there was that after just a short walk up, you can turn around and look what you left behind. That was a spectacular view. The first part was a bit steep and after that it was mostly an easy climb. We were warmed up from last week’s walk on Besna Kobila and Dukat so we climbed it easily. 
We were relaxed and we were making pauses whenever we wanted. On the top, we met some Bulgarian people, who started climbing from the Bulgarian side. Why is it interesting that I wrote about people from Bulgaria, you wonder.The Stara planina mountain belongs to a mountain range, and in the lower part of the main range (about 150 km) it represents the border between Serbia and Bulgaria. The other name for Stara planina is Balkan, so actually the whole Balkan Peninsula got its’ name after this mountain.
We ate our sandwiches and banana’s. We were slightly tired from climbing but witty. Our friend made a funny joke after eating bananas. We were wondering whether is it o.k. to through bananas in the nature and he said: “it is o.k, just through them into Bulgaria!” All day we spent hiking, and on the top we didn’t stay long. We kept it short because we wanted to go down to “Plaza”. I realized how tired I was when we started going down the mountain. Someone propose a short break on the grass. That was a great idea. I sat, took my shoes of and felt like sleeping there. What an enjoyment it was. The sun was a bit strong and we couldn’t enjoy fully. After a while we happily came to cafe to celebrate friend’s birthday and enjoy the view. I saw first time we stopped that morning in cafe some nice lemonades on the tables of others. It would be refreshing after all day walking, I thought.
The ones that wanted to order a beer, took lemonade also. I was pleasantly surprised to hear the Cure band in background of the cafe. The view, the company I was with was great. Because of a friend’s birthday the day was more special.