Exploring Historic Serbia | Crna Reka Monastery | VANLIFE

[@urosparezanovic7620]

I don't know if you noticed, but Serbs adore the Irish. Did you notice any similarities between Serbs and Irish? I asked you this question because there is an opinion in Serbia that we look alike. 😀

[@phillyandkeely]

We did not notice , we thought the Serbians must like everyone because they are so nice to us 🥰 do you think there are similarities? All we know is that Serbians have been very kind and welcoming to us ❤️

[@urosparezanovic7620]

@@phillyandkeely Personally, I don't think there are any similarities, but many don't think so. That opinion comes from stereotypes in movies where an Irishman gets drunk and fights with everyone, so people see similarities in that. It is true that we are kind to strangers, it is a pity that we are not like that to each other, but that is a topic for another time. There are bands that play Irish music, there is an Irish pub in every major city (but it doesn't look like an Irish pub at all, just don't tell them) and you can find a leading Irish beer brand in every major supermarket. If you are still in Serbia, consider visiting the Devil's Town (Djavolja Varos ) Cheers

[@phillyandkeely]

Quite a few people have mentioned Devils town, we will have to add that to our next trip here, so many places still to see 🥰 yes we definitely have the stereotype down as drunks lol.

[@STASHYNSKYI]

@@urosparezanovic7620 Najvise zbog toga sto nisu u natu.

[@phillyandkeely]

I didn't realise Ireland was not in NATO aswell, I knew Northern Ireland was as it is part of United Kingdom. We always learn so much from everyone in the comments 🥰🥰

[@welcomedtragic]

Well I'm little late to the game but that was awesome. Absolutely beautiful. Now on my bucket list!!!

[@phillyandkeely]

Thanks Samantha, we loved Serbia so so much 💗💗💗

[@svarozjov]

All old medieval Serbian churches and monasteries are living temples, that means they are all in active religious service. So, you can enter everywhere, and monks/priests will accept you and show you around, but it is also sacred places, especially old monasteries, you shouldn't enter buildings without monks escort and you should not touch things and do anything disrespectful :)))) Monks will never ask you for money for entrance and tour, it is always free, but there is a custom to leave donation (how much you feel you can give, or not giving anything, but this second bring a 300 hundred years of bad luck :) That monastery is known now as place for neophyts, I don't know are they are bound to silence, but they are bound to solitude and meditation, so that is why no one came out to meet you, although they probably heard you :)))) But it is really strange, usually some older monk is watching on entrance and welcoming travelers, guess you catch him of guard (sleeping), because he probably didn't expect anyone on such a rainy day :)

[@phillyandkeely]

That's all so interesting, thankyou so much for sharing that with us 🥰 I wish we would have seen somebody it would have been so nice to meet someone and walk with them. Now we will know this information for future visits to monasteries and hopefully anyone who plans to visit and finds this video will learn from your comment 🥰🥰

[@100Noddy]

@@phillyandkeely Orthodox monks get up several times at night to pray. They can be in Church from 03:30 to 09:00 straight through. The new day starts at sun down, not sun rise.

[@phillyandkeely]

Wow I didn't know that! Learning so much from you guys 🥰🥰 very interesting

[@svarozjov]

@@100Noddy Nope, that are catholic monks. Orthodox monks are "more casual," they do have daily routine of prayers, but their main duty is to take care of monastery (or to do any other service given to them). Serbian orthodox monasteries have land property around, so monks are also working on land, taking care of monastery buildings and giving service in monastery church. Larger monasteries even got their own vineries, products (mostly food oriented), restaurants and konaks (hotels). The main idea is isolation, solitude and peace (that is why Serbian monasteries is always somewhere high in the hills or mountains), and meditation in searching for God's truths. But, for one to become an orthodox monk, he first must give away all his earthly possessions and go through period of trial (or to become a neophyte and to live ascetic). That period, I think, lasts 3 years. After that, when they become real monks, church give them some assignment - duty to perform. Usually to serve and take care in some monastery, but also to serve in higher church institutions. So, they are actually sent back into the world, to work with people. (A little digression: in Serbian language adjective holy is "svet", and noun world is the same: "svet".) There is one more nice thing in Serbian Orthodox Church: every church rank from episkop (bishop) to patriarch (Serbian pope) must come from the ranks of monks. Our priest in the cities can be married, have children and personal possessions etc., but the "general management" of the church is monks only - the holly people, bound to celibate and service to the others to the end of their life. Knowing what is needed to become monk, and how long it last, we in Serbia consider all monks, even the most plain one, to be holy. That is why monasteries is all considered sacred places - because there the best of us live...

[@100Noddy]

@@svarozjov Esperionos (Vespers), Apodeipnon (Compline), Midnight Office (Mesonyktikon), 1st Hour, 3rd Hour, 6th Hour, 9th Hour, followed by Orthros (Mattins), is the full canon of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, that is the Eastern Orthodox Church as opposed to the Roman Catholicism which is not The Church in the Orthodox sense. The Divine Liturgy will also celebrated every day in some monasteries, not so in others. Agreed praxis will vary from monastery to monastery, skete to skete, cell to cell, according to the particular tradition, whether ceonobitic, idiorythmic, ascesis and so on.

[@ЉВЈ]

Crna Reka (Black River) is off the tourist routes and visitors. It could have only a few monks who were out after a job when you were visiting. In monasteries you are allowed into the churches, not in their private rooms.

[@phillyandkeely]

I'm glad to hear we were allowed on the church, thankfully as soon as I noticed it was a private room up the stairs I turned around so hopefully didn't break any rules 🙏 it was definitely far off our route, but so happy we decided to take the detour it was definitely worth it 🥰🥰

[@mirkocovekmirkovic7716]

That region of Serbia has way way WAY more important and also more beautiful churches and monasteries...Also it is the region where Serbia is created but for example now Novi Pazar is 90% Muslim...Maybe you noticed how different that city and surroundings looks compered to other cities and towns

[@phillyandkeely]

Yes we did notice, we spoke to a lovely local man who heard our accents and talked to us about how much it has changed compared to the rest of Serbia. I would love to know which churches/monasteries you recommend for the next time we come back to visit Serbia 🥰🥰

[@mirkocovekmirkovic7716]

​@@phillyandkeely Most important are in that region of south west Serbia ..from 12. and 13. century { Studenica , Mileseva, Sopocani and Djurdjevi Stupovi from 11. century In central Serbia Manasija , Ravanica , Ljubostinja , Lazarica... in Fruska Gora {where you been] there are 17 monasteries 13-17 century....Because of that we call Fruska Gora holy mountain I forgot some important ones for sure P.S. Very important to know that 4 out of 5 most important ,oldest and beautiful Serbian monasteries and churches are in Kosovo i Metohija...We considering it part of Serbia...And they are in great danger :{ Since 1999. Muslim Albanians destroyed hundreds of Christian churches. Some were medieval...Most important ones are guarded by international forces 24/7

[@phillyandkeely]

Ahhh right, I didn't realise that was why, I didn't know Bosnia had a large Muslim community. Thanks for educating us as always 🥰🥰

[@phillyandkeely]

Wow, that's so interesting, I didn't know that was happening in Kosovo! Just so much more still to experience in this country ❤️❤️

[@phillyandkeely]

Wowzers so much Gold information here, love it 🥰🥰

[@STASHYNSKYI]

Irish are wellcome in Serbia, Always !

[@phillyandkeely]

Thankyou so much!!! ❤️❤️❤️

[@frostflower5555]

Even this band in Serbia was called Orthodox Celts lol. Song's a bit old now but still nice to see it on youtube kzbin.info/www/bejne/fnbXY4uag8SHmLM

[@phillyandkeely]

Yes someone else in the comments told us about them, they are actually pretty good!! Saying hopefully when we come back to Serbia again they will be doing a show we could go see them 🥰

[@phillyandkeely]

We are back in Serbia for last few weeks of summer, so very excited to explore the North ❤️

[@STASHYNSKYI]

@@phillyandkeely Welcome back to Serbia again :)

[@supersrba6028]

The writing on first chich (st. Peter and Paul) says that on this place there were Serbian state assembly held on 1196 and on 1996. You are right the church is much... much older... Pity you couldn't se the inside.

[@phillyandkeely]

That's cool, we didn't know what they were refering too, thanks so much for sharing 🥰 yeah we would have loved to see inside it ❤️

[@ДанилоКомненић]

Doing a pull-up under and icon of st. Sava in the same time when commenting that you are trying to be respectful... Idk but I would not want to have met you.

[@phillyandkeely]

Thankyou for watching and we are sorry you feel that way. Have a wonderful day ☺️

[@TheDukeOfKnin]

Just a heads up for the next time,it's usually forbidden to take pictures and videos inside the medieval monastaries and churches.In order for you to do that you would need to get a blessing from the local priest of the church/monastarie you are trying to visit at that time.So the next time you want to visit a holy place like the one you just did,make sure to contact any local priest and he will be more then happy to welcome you and act as a guied.Dont be shy about talking to them,some of them do know English,others Greek or Russian and other languages.Other than that Irish people are always welcome in Serbia!😊🇷🇸🇮🇪

[@phillyandkeely]

Thankyou so much 🥰🥰 we are definitely keen to speak to one in future to get guided next time we are visiting monasteries. There are plenty more to see in Serbia! We will be back again in warmer months so hopefully see some more then 🤞🤞

[@Drpepperhernandez]

Omg I can't believe you guys, that was amazing footage.

[@phillyandkeely]

Thankyou 🥰 it was definitely an experience ☺️☺️

[@veronicasmith1147]

Really nail biting poor monk hiding under his bed with an Irish girl peeping at him yer hilarious 🤑🤑🤑💚💚💚

[@phillyandkeely]

🤣🤣🤣

[@sekiro6976]

Welcome to Serbia! We appreciate your presence as always.

[@phillyandkeely]

Thankyou so much, we absolutely love Serbia, one of our favourite places so far 🥰🥰

[@sekiro6976]

@@phillyandkeely You are welcome. Than you must come again. I recommend central Serbia for next trip. There is so much to see. If you want some recommendations for places to visit when you come here please let me know, I will be honored to help you guys. All best, happy new year!

[@phillyandkeely]

Thankyou so much, when we are back we will gladly receive recommendations. 🥰🥰 It is a very wonderful country

[@phillyandkeely]

We are excited to be back in Serbia very soon to enjoy the last few weeks of summer 🥰

[@mangoesinthevan]

Thanx guys for another discovery vid of serbia...though that looked like a bit of a spooky visit to the monastery!

[@phillyandkeely]

Whispering makes anything feel spookier haha. Thanks so much for watching glad you enjoyed it 🥰🥰🥰

[@roytofilovski9530]

If they had wanted no one to enter, the monks would have locked the door.

[@phillyandkeely]

That makes me feel better 🥰 thanks so much for watching Roy ☺️☺️

[@MegaSale27]

The only thing Is you should leave 1-2€ as Respekt to houst...and yes you two Are Welcome...

[@phillyandkeely]

We will definitely need to bring our wallet out with us in future! I think it would be good for us to carry cash more incase we ever want to buy or gift things, we are very used to using card for everything, but in Serbia we have found cash is better for most small venues, I like that it is less digital than back home, feels more real ❤️❤️and interesting that some places we have been have also accepted euros as payment (not that we had any so always had to find an ATM)

[@MegaSale27]

@@phillyandkeely please use Google translate becouse my English Is not that good...religiozne institucije nije profitabilne a u celom Hrišćanskom svetu osnovno učenje je da je skromnost veoma važna.Simboličan poklon je više stvar poštovanja i lepog vaspitanja koje smo poneli iz svojih porodica.U pravoslavnoj religiji gornji deo gde su sveće upaljene je molitva za naše drage osobe a donji deo je molitva za one koje smo izgubili.To je ono najvažnije znanje koje nam je potrebno za ulazak u pravoslavnu crkvu ili manastir.Ne zaboravite da je pravoslavna vera sestra bliznakinja rimokatoličke vere.

[@phillyandkeely]

хвала вам пуно на пружању тог знања. Видим сличности са католичком црквом ❤ и хвала вам што сте одвојили време да поделите ову мудрост са нама

[@roytofilovski9530]

That box you thought was a coffin does indeed contain the remains of a local Saint.

[@phillyandkeely]

Wow, it was very small so we weren't sure. That's crazy that we were in the same room as the ruins of a Saint! I feel very privileged ❤️❤️

[@roytofilovski9530]

@@phillyandkeely I think it is just the bones. That is why the box is small.

[@eprohoda]

man! liike it.amazing 📢

[@phillyandkeely]

Thankyou so much for watching 🥰

[@roytofilovski9530]

The first church you visited I think is from the 9th century. Maybe it is not the first church or temple on the site though.

[@phillyandkeely]

Yeah that's what I had read, that church is known to be built then but there are texts writing about a building there as far back as the 4th century. Another viewer told me that this is the sixth oldest church in the world, how cool is that!

[@owenthomas5876]

love your videos guys, your love for life shines through. subbed. safe travels and best wishes from crete

[@phillyandkeely]

Thanks so much Owen. Always wanted to go to Crete, is it as beautiful as we imagine 😍and thanks for those kind words 🥰

[@kerrichristian7991]

That monastery is amazing! I wonder if erosion has affected the structure over time.

[@phillyandkeely]

Such a beautiful place ❤️

[@milosjovanovic8025]

Don't be worried, Father Peranovic will find you

[@phillyandkeely]

Oh no, is he the arrested one? 😂

[@milosjovanovic8025]

@@phillyandkeely yes, he was busy , but once he gets released, you can go back there for daily dose of physiotherapy

[@davidvincent2nd757]

Stroking I’m stroking to the east , I’m stroking to the west , I’m stroking .

[@phillyandkeely]

🤣

[@frostflower5555]

6:40 Crna Reka Manastir: Black River Monastery :)

[@phillyandkeely]

Thankyou for sharing that, I thought there must have been a river around it as it looked like a moat at the bottom.

[@Ivanhoo11]

Very nice 👍

[@phillyandkeely]

Thankyou 🥰🥰

[@igormaricic7421]

it was probably ok :D

[@phillyandkeely]

Thanks Igor ☺️☺️

[@MrFloris]

Wow, what a place.

[@РајкоМиљановић]

This is beatiful :) tnx for video.

[@phillyandkeely]

Thankyou 🥰🥰🥰

[@viktorrakocevic1556]

"Monks hibernate during winter'! 😂Hahahahaha

[@phillyandkeely]

Philly is glad someone thought that was funny 😂☺️

[@rahamadullahahamed7592]

thank u cople

[@phillyandkeely]

🥰🥰

[@edisbasovic5117]

😍🥰🥰❤🇷🇸

[@phillyandkeely]

Thankyou for watching Edis 🥰🥰

[@marymagerr6488]

Wow the monastery built into the cliff amazing ❤

[@phillyandkeely]

Awesome wasn't it!

[@beliorao1709]

Will you spend the new year in Serbia?

[@phillyandkeely]

No, I'm sure it would be so beautiful though, but it's probably for the best as we don't have snow tyres 😂😂 we are meeting friends in Turkey during Christmas season which we are very excited about ❤️

[@ogimati5175]

@@phillyandkeely yea.. Sounds logical to spend Christmas in Muslim country.. Lol.

[@phillyandkeely]

Haha, yeah will have to make the van very festive, but Christmas time with people we love is the most important thing 🥰

[@goranstojanov1160]

@@phillyandkeely The bets time to visit Serbia is in teh Summer.So whenever you think you wnat to revisit Serbia i think the best time to visit is somewhere around summer time or spring/summer (depending on the weatehr change bcs these times/past 4-5 years are never the same as it used to be)

[@phillyandkeely]

Thanks Goran 🥰 we will take this advice. Weather has changed alot everywhere hasn't it!

[@ogimati5175]

Nice but always remember that those monesterys are historical and religious sites and people actually live in them, those are not tourist attractions like Disney land. Sometimes unlocked doors doesn't mean that you are free to walk in.. Anyway nice video. Enjoy exploring Serbia.

[@phillyandkeely]

Thankyou, we were worried, but when we looked it up online after there were photos of other people indoors in the rooms we were in so we think it must be ok 🙏❤️ we hope so anyway. It was a very beautiful place. Thankyou so much for watching 🥰🥰

[@ogimati5175]

@@phillyandkeely yes. Well am puzzled cos nobody is there to give you a tour. Maybe they were on lunch or it was time for pray. Lol. Idk..

[@nebojsa1976]

Ok ok, now, let me tell you the secret. Serbs are Celts. There are a lot of Celts graves in Serbia.

[@phillyandkeely]

That's so interesting, we did not know that! Thankyou for sharing more with us, and for watching 🥰🥰

[@nebojsa1976]

@@phillyandkeely "Singidunum (Serbian: Сингидунум/Singidunum) was an ancient city which later evolved into modern Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. The name is of Celtic origin, going back to the time when Celtic tribe Scordisci settled the area in the 3rd century BC, following the Gallic invasion of the Balkans. " Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, was established by Celtic tribe. kzbin.info/www/bejne/nYjPZqujopqNfrM See the Celtic graves at 8:28.

[@ogimati5175]

Lol. 'Serbs are Celts'..🙄 🙄😅.. Fact is that there are Celtic tombs all over the Europe. But truth is that we like Irish people, idk maybe cos we have some mentality similarities.

[@phillyandkeely]

@@nebojsa1976 absolutely love all this information!! Maybe that's why we feel so at home here ❤️❤️

[@phillyandkeely]

The Celts have definitely spread themselves everywhere by the looks of it 😂😂