The Šargan Eight - a short history of the winding railway

As I mentioned in the previous post, Mokra Gora is not only famous for Drvengrad, but first of all for the magnificent narrow-gauge railway - The Šargan Eight (Šarganska Osmica). The track of 8 is an absolute masterpiece of the railway engineering. 500 people worked under the construction and it was one of the most difficult to build railroads in Europe.

The history of the railway dates back to 1921, when joint Belgrade with Sarajevo, what was a part of the way to Dubrovnik. The 2nd half of 20th century brought the rapid development of the network of roads throughout the Europe changing forever the transport industry. The destiny of railroads, especially those slow and inefficient with a limited transport capacity was sealed. That's why the Šargan Eight was shut down in 1974. In 1998 thanks to local people and Serbian soldiers, the railway was revived on the line Mokra Gora - Šargan Vitasi. The connection to Višegrad was brung back in 2010.

Now some statistics: the crooked route creates "the eight" and cuts the Šargan mountains with 22 tunnels. The longest is 1660 m (I definitely dissuade from walking through, except when you have a torch or know the exact time when the train crosses the tunnel).

The length of the track is about 15 km whilst the train climbs up the level of 300 m and passes through 5 bridges from which the longest measures 50 m. 

One way ride takes 41 minutes and stop at 4 stations. The station of Golubići is the most interesting. The protagonists from E. Kusturica's Život je čudo lived right here. Unfortunately the building is locked but even through the window some of the stuff from the movie is still visible.

Highly recommended is to know the schedule of departures of the train to avoid running over in the longest tunnel or the laughter of passengers if by chance we hang washing on the station trees.
The Šargan 8 leaves from Mokra Gora at 8.00, 10.30, 13.30 i 16.20 and the ticket price is 600 dinars (5,5 Euro).

In the footsteps of Kusturica and Šarganska Osmica, part 1

Coming back from Guča, I decided to go to the West, through Sarajevo. Luckily, on my way was the town of Mokra Gora, which I couldn't skip.

The town is famous for two things: open air museum Mečavnik and Šarganska Osmica, that is a narrow-gauge railway in the mountains Šargan. Both things are related to the E. Kusturica's movie Život je čudo. The director realised here one of his crazy visions, he built a wooden settlement, replacing whole Bosnian and Serbian traditional houses, locating them on a hill. That's how Drvengrad was created, called also Küstendorf (Kusta is a Kusturica's nickname, and dorf is a village from German). In Drvengrad is everything what a small town needs: shops, restaurants, a small church, kindergarten, a cinema, even a city prison. Everything should be rather taken with a pinch of salt, the whole complex is a hotel base, which is an attraction for tourists. Every house, doesn't matter if by Djoković, Che Guevara, Don Diego or Bruce Lee Street can be inhabited. Kusturica lives in the town himself! You can meet him here in one of the restaurants, unless he's just directing a new movie or playing in his No Smoking Orchestra. 
In January Küstendorf is the host of a film festival where the Golden Egg is a prize.
As it turns out, Kusturica doesn't finish with Drvengrad. Several kilometres from Küstendorf, Kamengrad is being built (Andrićgrad) which is a memorial for Ivo Andrić - a great Yugoslavian writer, noblist and a national hero. Emir is directing the movie The bridge on the Drina, based on a Adrić novel.
The history about Šarganska Osmica soon. Stay tuned.

Zastava 750 - the legend of Yugoslavian roads

Zastava 750, 322-centimeter miracle on wheels, the legend of yugoslavian roads, or just "Fića". The license version of the vehicle Fiat 600D (seicento), called “ladybird”, was in production from 1955 to 1985 in Yugoslavian factory Zavodi Crvena Zastava (Red Banner Factories) in Kragujevac (today Serbia). Real rarity amongst vintage-cars collectors, the hero of many yugo movies and the object of interests of moto fans and not only. 

Zastava 750, commonly known as "Fića" (Фићa) or "Fićo" (Фићo) in Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian, "Fičo" and "Fičko" in Slovenia, and "Fikjo" (Фиќо) in Macedonian.

Starting from 60’s last century, "Fića" became very popular not only in the Balkans but also in Spain, released as SEAT 600 and in Argentina, where was called – Fitito.

The maximum speed of the vehicle, depending on the version, oscillate between 95 – 105 km/h (at least you can try to do this without damaging the engine). “Fikjo” gained popularity especially in the last years of production, because of low level of fuel consumption and very cheap price on the second hand market. Zastava 750 became the symbol of yugo-nostalgia and the legend of Yugoslavian motorization. 

When in the beginning of 90’s the war on the Balkans broke, the factory of Zastava switched over to weapon production, and the license of the 750 model was sold to Turkey, where has been produced for few years more.