Sargan 8
Tuesday, 25 March 2008 11:04

highlights


Sarganska osmica

Sarganska osmica (the Sargan Eight) is an old-fashioned railway with narrow tracks. Its construction was finished in 1925. After a long period of inactivity, the railway has finally been restored and re-opened in 1995. Today it represents a tourist attraction, because of its ancient look, carriages with wooden seats and wood stoves, as well as for the beautiful, wild landscape of Tara mountain that the train goes through while it makes its long way to one of the mountain peaks.


history




In April 1809 the town of Novi Pazar was temporarily conquered by Karadjordje, but he didn’t manage to penetrate the fortress in the city centre. The city was liberated from the Turks in 1912, and from the Austro-Hungarians in 1918. During the Second World War, the city was occupied by the Germans and severely devastated. It was finally liberated in 1944.

The leading idea was that, since a train can’t climb steep hills, a railway should be built in a way that would enable trains to reach the top of the mountain. The railway is shaped as a number eight, making bends and going around the entire mountain, slowly ascending towards the peak.

The border tunnel with Vardiste, just beneath Balvan hill, used to be the border between Serbia and Austro-Hungarian empire. The entrance of the tunnel, on the Serbian side, used to be decorated with a sculpture of a Serbian soldier threading on the crown of the Monarchy, and the exit had the inscription with the name of king Alexander the 1st, with the symbols of the workers and the peasants: a sickle and a hammer.


getting there




Mokra Gora village, which is at the same time the starting station of Sargan Eight, is linked by motorways with Uzice and Bajina Basta, and can easily be reached by car from both directions.

For more detailed information: Uzice bus station, phone no. 031 / 521 – 765


things to see



Sargan Eight (Sarganska osmica), a railway going slowly uphill bending around its slopes forming the shape of a number eight, offers, no doubt, some of the most stunning sights in Serbia. The train stops in a couple of places, and one of the stations is made as a wooden terrace that offers a stunning view over the villages beneath. Station buildings have been reconstructed so that they look exactly the way they looked in 1925, and one of them contains a small tourist complex, altogether with a restaurant, a waterfall, and a very long, steep stairway that leads you, through the forest, to the next station. There are two daily trains, both departing from Mokra Gora village – one leaving at 10.30 am, and the other one at 11.10 am. The ride takes about an hour, and the ticket price is 400 dinars for adults, 200 for children. For information and reservations, phone 031 / 513 - 564 and 064 / 810 - 64 - 29.

Train starts its voyage from the station in Mokra Gora village, very picturesque and interesting for sight-seeing. Houses are old, made of wood, with steep roofs, painted in different colors which makes them look like something that came out of a fairy tale. In the lower part of the village you can see a small wooden church of St. Ilias the Prophet, and the parish center with its spacious yard.

On Mecavnik hill, just above the hotel and the train station, there’s an ethno-village under the patronage of Emir Kusturica, made entirely out of wood, in ancient style. Today it hosts a movie directing school, as well as a number of galleries and exhibitions. The main village square is paved with wood, and in the farther part of the “village” there is a weird looking wooden church dedicated to St. Sava. One of the houses also functions as a souvenir shop selling traditional stuff.




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