Hiking at work and reaching the top of Avala mountain

Every time your working day starts a bit differently than usual, consider yourself to have done a great thing! Getting out of the routine is very healthy and not as difficult as it seems, but you need to have people by your side who change everyday life for the better with their ideas! And then everything is possible! Even reaching the top of the mountain during your working hours. 😊

The girls I have by my side and work with have designed an app that helps people explore hiking trails and spend their time at beautiful nature spots. Thanks to this app, many people will discover trails they didn't even know existed and spend more time with their families and friends in nature.

On Friday morning, we left the office to test this app and explore one of the hiking trails on Avala mountain, near Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. We started from the Sakinac spring and headed towards the top of Avala.

The path was narrow, surrounded by greenery.

But soon the app directed us to continue on another soil path that led into a deeper and deeper forest.

It had rained the previous day, so the path was a bit slippery with mud, but we carefully continued on.

Along the way, we came across holes in the ground and wondered which animals had made them. 😊 There were a lot of them.

We came across a fork in the path and followed the direction in which the app directed us.

And then the path became a little more difficult because we went uphill and were careful not to fall due to the slippery conditions. We encountered obstacles on the way, fallen trees.

And cut down trees...

Rich flora surrounded us. I enjoyed looking at all those plants that grow by themselves, without any care...

And then the path led us to an interesting spot with a fantastic view.

And obviously a historically important spot because there was a monument dedicated to the victims of the plane crash that happened in 1964.

In the accident, 18 members of the Russian military delegation that went to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the liberation of Belgrade in World War II lost their lives. We read that on the board near the monument.

Then we got closer to the monument and saw that it was a real masterpiece. It symbolically represents two broken airplane wings.

There is a lookout point. It's high, but we haven't reached the top yet.

We continued towards our destination to the top of the mountain and the Monument to the Unknown Hero located at the very top. Along the way, we came across wild fruits...

But also on a board where it was written which amphibians and reptiles live in Avala. This is interesting to know because you can meet them along the way, but it's good that the snakes that live here are not poisonous. That was good to know for our further hike. 😊

We came out of the forest onto the road that led to our destination.

And here we are. In the distance we saw the monument that the locals erected to the unknown hero of the First World War and buried him there to honor him.

We headed towards the monument and climbed the stairs leading to the top.

And up there you are like on top of the world.

At the entrance, on both sides, there are female figures representing the mothers of war soldiers from all over the region that once made up the former Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

The views of the greenery there were so relaxing. It was my best day at work ever!😊

We rested a bit there and then headed back along another path that also leads through the forest but is paved and very nicely arranged and neat.

I liked the wooden board with the leaf shapes that you can see here. Leaves of linden, black ash, hornbeam and oak are presented. These are the trees that make up the forests of Avala.

Along the way, we came across some interesting messages hanging on the trees. We stopped to read each one. These are messages written by children and they tell passers-by that it is important to take care of forests because they give us oxygen, without which we cannot live... And that it's good to walk, but we shouldn't throw trash around.

Reading the messages, we reached the end of the trail. It took us 2 hours with breaks. We felt very good and not tired at all.

When you have a good team, everything is easy and so are the steps you take together to new heights!😊

Thank you very much for reading.

The images and writing are original and mine.

Jelena