Since we had to go to Belgrade for a short time to do some work, on the way back we decided to stop by Avala, a low mountain near Belgrade, and visit the famous Avala Tower, the tallest construction in the Balkans. The mountain is close to the highway, so we arrived very quickly. The children were thrilled with the idea that we would be at the Avala Tower.
But before I say anything about the tower, let me first introduce you to the mountain.😊
Avala is a mountain that literally tells the history, from the third century BC when the Saxons had mines in this place and extracted lead, zinc, and iron ore. Avala is a mountain of volcanic origin, more precisely a classic example of a laccolith. This type of mountain occurs when the Earth's crust rises, as a result of the pressure caused by the magma that is injected under the surface layers of the Earth's crust. Where there were volcanic activities in the geological past, there is also ore. The Romans also mined ore in this area.
There are no more mines in this place, except for the tunnels that remained in the interior of Avala. Today, Avala is a well-known picnic spot, mostly for Belgraders and nature lovers, but also for those who are not.
Avala is a mountain only 511 meters high. According to the classification of mountains in Serbia, if it were 11 meters lower, it would be a hill. The highest peak is Žrnov. The name remained as a memory of the former medieval fortress,which was located at the top of the mountain, but was unfortunately demolished. A mausoleum was built on that place in the first half of the last century.
But to return to our impression and our day and leave the interesting facts alone :) I am a geographer by profession, and one of my characteristics is curiosity, so sometimes I overdo it with information :)
And here we are at the Aval Tower, which was built, demolished, and then rebuilt. The tower is 204.68 meters high, and the viewpoint is 122 meters high.
This beautiful and cuddly dog is the guardian of the tower.😀He was waiting for us at the very entrance to the tower.
When we reached the Avala Tower, Vuk was frightened by its size. Two elevators lead to the viewpoint and after a few moments we reached our destination. The view is fascinating. It is wonderful to be at that height and observe the surroundings in all directions. The only problem was that it was extremely cold and windy.
There is protective glass, but space is left below and above it, so we felt a strong and cold wind. That's why we couldn't stay long and take photos. For photographs, I was bothered by the glass, because of the reflections, which affected quality photography. But despite that, the view is enchanting, and the feeling is fantastic.
Fortunately, a few meters lower there is a cafe, so at 119 meters we enjoyed the view and drank coffee and hot chocolate. And we warmed up well :) In the meantime it got dark, the lights slowly started to light up. The view of the surroundings at night was also phenomenal.
The working hours of the tower were shortened due to the situation with the current pandemic, so we had to leave.
Although the New year is long gone, Santa Claus did not leave this place :)
We parked our car a little further from the tower. The wind calmed down, so we enjoyed the night walk through the forest.
This is the last view of the tower.
I have a lot more to say about Mount Avala, but about that in a future post. It was beautiful for us. And one more thing. Although I found two translations for the word Avala, I will tell you the more interesting one, which corresponds to this story. The Turks named this mountain which means viewpoint. The viewpoint is really a trademark of this mountain.
I hope you enjoyed. ❤️
Regards to all!😊
This is my story for the #wednesdaywalk and #makemesmile competition.❤️
Note: some information i found on avalskitoranj.rs