First of all, I am a non believer !
Or to say it better, not a church going person.
So if you search for me, don't try those buildings,
as you won't find me there.
However believing is essential for so many people in so many religions, I prefer to follow my own rules,
and simply hate (!!!) dogma's.
And if only church fathers would use their many words to teach people to peacefully live together, it would be a different world.
All I would like to ask you is to respect your neighbours,
whatever their religion.
! PERIOD !
Recently I drove some good friends from the end in Omis to the beginning of the Cetina, that stunningly beautiful river that dominates Inland Dalmatia.
As usual I follow the right side upstream,
between Dinara Mountains and the Cetina,
as that offers a never ending variety of panorama's and discoveries.
(Drive to Trilj, and follow the right side of the Cetina).
Somewhere half way of Perusko Jezero, near a cove called Dabar,
we entered a small road to the left,
not having a clue what we would discover this time.
It lead us to Monastar (Monastery) Dragovic,
a Serbian Orthodox Monastery, inhabited by (only) two hard working friendly monks.
First we just stood at the gate,
but soon one of them friendly invited us to come in,
and what a magnificent place it is !
Specially their church is a MUST experience,
painted with fresco's all around, even on the ceiling.
As you can see on the picture the interior is divine.
Once again, being an atheist, I was truly impressed.
With my limited knowledge of Croatian language I understood only a bit of all that was told,
so I checked good old internet for details.
Which lead me to the history of this monastery,
dating back many centuries,
surviving so many bad (and hopefully good) moments.
One of those moments was when this part of the Cetina was turned into Perusko Jezero.
As you can see on the second picture, the old monastery had to be abandoned as the water in this artificial lake was rising.
The remains of it can still be seen when water in the lake in summer is extremely low, the main chapel however,
dating back to the very first settlement of the monastery was moved to be rebuilt at where it is now.
An absolutely breath taking experience, and a fine encounter with two brave monks.
I wish them well, and hope old wounds someday will heal,
as this is a most wonderful part of Inland Dalmatia.
For anybody with good intentions, and a fair portion of self supporting skills, this is the land of milk and honey.
With plenty of opportunities to feed one and ones relatives,
all year round.
(Fish, meat, game, fruits and vegetables, simply anything).
And with enough space for any honest religion.
