Places to go BELGRADE
Belgrade, the city at the confluence of the Danube and the Sava has forged to itself the confluence of cultures as different as the East Ottoman, the Austrian Europe and the Slav civilisation. Destroyed more than twenty times in the course of its millennial history, Belgrade has kept a Balkanic firmness and pride. The “White Town” surprises always especially by its stormy rhythm of life and by a certain nonchalance that found their origins in its history full of movements. So trip to Belgrade is also a trip through history!
Belgrade has above all been noticeable by its taste for liberty. The stubborn defence against the Germanic attacks in 1915 as well as the spirit of resistance of its inhabitants have forged strong values of independence in its population.
In 1980s Belgrade has been before all other towns in Yugoslavia a port for the independent journals and a focus of the contest against the fetters of the communist administration. It has been totally natural that this attacking spirit found its vent in winter 1996-97 in a longer movement of the pacific contest organized against the communism of Eastern countries. The Belgrader has been voluntarily boastful and contestable and he never hesitates to say in a high voice what he thinks!
Belgrade has been constructed on a group of hills leaning on the Danube and Sava offers various urban landscapes suitable to walking and discovering. Before your trip to Belgrade, we strongly advise you to stay in some of the hotels in the city center because you can visit everything on foot. From the fortress of Kalemegdan dominating the Sava to the height of the ancient royal estate in Topcider, going through the bohemian Skadarlija, this variety makes many days necessary to discover the “white city” But one place has been imposed itself to welcome those who start their trip here in Belgrade or to say good-bye to them - the walking Street Knez Mihailova. This is the main artery of the town which everybody passes at least once a day, and Belgraders need not to make rendezvous as they always meet a wanted person there. So if you are planning a trip to Belgrade, you should get used to the general philosophy of farniente and an entirely oriental exhaustion.
It is this mixture of nonchalance, festive Balkan spirit and obvious oriental influences expressed by certain culinary specialities, by the taste for the Turkish coffee, or in certain musical sonorities, with the opening towards the Western culture, which make of Belgrade a very special city.
The variety of choice is very large... in summer and winter. In summer, you will be able to go swimming in the Lake of Ada Ciganlija, to taste roasted fish, and to finish your evenings at one of the houseboats. In winter, you can take a sljivovica in an old bar, then dance in one of the cellars discotheques which are located below Kalemegdan. You will want this trip to Belgrade never to end!
All in all, "the white city", illuminated by thousand night lights , opens its arms to you! One is for sure, Belgrade will not disappoint you!
Novi Sad, folded on the Danube and peacefully installed in the planes of Vojvodina has got all trumps to become the new Prague. Its placement and its configuration, the cultural riches of its monuments and of its festivals has been above the whole atmosphere made by the seriousness of a European centre and the entirely Balkan euphoria at the same time, these are the trumps of a great future for tourism.
The “new furrow”, the literal name of Novi Sad could effectively known how to develop a strong character entirely independent of the very nearby Serbian capital and at the same time to clear its own way accumulating various tourist opportunities. The region finally contained the reserves of the good luck: the natural reservations and the monasteries of Fruska Gora, the castles and residences of the dynasty of Dundjerski, the capital of wine and the Hungarian farms – salasi – where one may eat well at the sound of tamburica, Novi Sad has above all been a remarkable site on the Danube. On its left bank an important commercial centre on the river between central Europe and the Balkans had been developed. Here have been disembarked the monger [products to transport the cereals from the region. Novi Sad became so the economic capital of this immense wheat plane of Vojvodina. In the XX century an important industrial activity had been added. The result has been that Novi Sad became the next to the first town in population with its 300,000 inhabitants.
Novi Sad has also been the town of the Serbian culture and was born and had developed under the Austro-Hungarian protection and thanks to the personalities o character. The “Serbian Mother” had collected all great names of literature and the thinkers of the Serbian language. The first Serbian lyceum and the first library had been founded here 1826e. to the present town all Serbian intelligentsia fled from the Ottoman yoke, after their study in Vienna, Budapest an Krakow had come here. You may find this very marked character in the town during your visit to the very central quarter: the cathedral, the “Serbian Mother” and the library.
The capital of Vojvodina has also been peopled by different nationalities such as Serbs, Hungarians. Montenegrins, Slovaks, Ruthens, Croats and Gipsies. The Montenegrins having fled because of the war violence, had been settled here especially 1946. It was forbidden to them to return under a decree by Tito. Closer to us the Croats had continued to move into this town very peacefully in spite of the war context and the battles in Vukovar. This multiethnic character had truly been enhanced because it may explain that Novi Sad never had warlike discussions and had no followed the war path.
An important symbol of multiethnicity has been the observance of the minority languages. If you would be roving close to the municipal counsel hall, you may find to the left of the monumental entrance gate the name of the town and of the Counsel written in four languages and two alphabets: Serbian, Hungarian, Slovak and Ruthen being the official languages. The inheritance from the Titoism this equality of the languages has been visible in media: still today the television journal has been given in four parts respecting the minority languages. In villages where the minorities had been represented by 50% population the minority language became that of the majority at schools. This multiethnic identity has been taken by the uncertain political projects. On the one hand the strong national revenge supported by the parties and the movements turned to the past, and on the other hand the creation of a great autonomist current for Vojvodina led by Nenad Canak with a hymn and a multicoloured flag. Before these identity intentions the inhabitants of Novi Sad and of the region remained attached to the observation of their local traditions, but in the federal Serbo-Montenegrin framework the autonomist list had not exceeded 5% votes for the legislative in December 2003.
On the right bank there is the fortress of Petrovaradin with its painters ateliers and its hotel on the trench wall are offering an unforeseeable view of the town and farther on of the hills of Fruska Gora. The centre of the town placed in front and with the advantage of being of little dimensions has easily flanked along the central korzo and all museums and galleries have been limited here in the evening a lot of cafes, taverns and concert halls are in an explosive gaiety.
PANČEVO
The first stage of traditions in Banat, Pancevo, has been known as a town of the history as the churches of many confessions have been witnessing. Pancevo has been a multiconfessional town indeed, and one should merely go to the cemetery to take account. A half of the tombs have been Orthodox, a quarter Protestant, and the last quarter Jewish. This was a town of colonisation during the Habsburg monarchy. The Austrian, Hungarian and other workers, artisans and others had been coming to settle here, and that is what has given the today multiethnic aspect to the town with not less than 23 nationalities. The communities have been co-existing in the greatest peacefulness and there has been developing an industrial life with the famous brewery constructed in 1722.
Today, Pancevo remained an industrial town being such a one since 1945 with its petrol refineries and its chemistry plants. The 1999 bombings had damaged them to the ecological consequences. But it had known how to develop its trumps on the Danube bank, especially with the camping on the bank of the river.
SOMBOR
Situated in the extreme North-West of Serbia at the beginning of our part of the Danube, Sombor has been a town of culture and at the same time a place surrounded by hunting grounds. Sombor has been a town of green, with the elegant bourgeois facades and of numerous parks where one still may take a walk on coach and listen to the “tamburasi”, the typical cord music, and in the Danube breeze.
Arandjelovac presents a particularity perhaps unique in Europe: the spa of Bukovicka is wedged in a park itself in the heart of a town of 50,000 population. You can say that one breathes a fresh air and walking through the heart of the ton in agreeable. Since Prince Milos Obrenovic has discovered and exploited its mineral water the town has been developing with the spa. This effervescent water has been served in all good establishments in Serbia. It is the famous calcareous and radioactive “Knjaz Milos from Arandjelovac”. It is comparable to the mineral water of Vichy. In the park of 14 hectares there are two hotels and the medical centre, but also the sources of the mineral water and an open swimming pool. The park has been traversed by the tree-lined paths below the trees. It constitutes the greatest sculpture museum under the blue sky in Europe. In summer time many concerts, the theatre plays and the folklore dances have been performed under the blue sky. The culture had not been missed with the complex around the villa Karadzic, the museum of the town and of the church. St. Gabriel; from here the walks toward the hills in the environment have been beginning to take a view of this town full of trees. The last particularity of the park is the presence of a cave at the entrance to the town.
Novi Pazar is interesting as a typically Muslim town in South Serbia.. It is surrounded by some of most beautiful Orthodox monasteries. Its history is significant by this wedging between the two different religions, Orthodox and Muslim. Under the dynasty if Nemanjics the town of Ras and its fortress was the capital of the Serbian Empire spreading to Kotor at the Adriatic seaside. As at the beginning of the XIV century King Milutin enlarged his empire toward the South, Ras was not the capital any more and was known under the name Pazariste meaning commercial town. In the middle of the XV century Isa Beg Isakovic had founded here a Turkish fortress of Novi Pazar that became an important city for caravans placed on the commercial crossroads. In the XVII century Novi Pazar had been supplied by mosques, medresas, Turkish baths and other bazaars. But already in the XIX century the town declined and today it seems to be dozing.
