Excursion to Northern Serbia

It is May Day. A public holiday.

I am awake again early but at least it is 4 a.m. not 2 a.m.

Today we take a tour by mini-bus to Novi Sad, 2nd largest city in Serbia. Our meeting point is Revolution Square and we arrive early so we fill in time walking the main pedestrian street Knez Mihailova which is quiet at this time of the day.

The (large) mini-bus is full and our guide Milica (a very popular girl’s name in Serbia) is organised and provides a good introductory history of Belgrade as we leave the city via a freeway (speed limit 130 km/hr!) and enter flat rich agricultural country, signs enroute pointing to Vienna and Budapest, although we are well east of those.

We reach Fruška Gora, a low mountain area renown for its vineyards and linden forests. There are 17 medieval Orthodox monasteries in this area and we visit one of these: Krušedol. It was founded in the early 16th century and despite damage by the Turks in 1716 and then in WWII, many original paintings, frescoes and icons remain. There are also members of the Serbian noble Branković family buried here, as well as King Milan Obrenović.

Next we drive to the small, pretty Baroque town of Sremski Karlovci which was where in 1699 the peace treaty between Christian European forces and the Ottoman Empire was signed, putting an end to the Ottoman conquest of Europe. It was also a religious and educational centre for Serbs for more than 250 years.

We do a wine-tasting here of the region’s most well-known wine: the Bermet. It is an aromatic dessert wine - very nice! We wander around taking photos as the buildings are very attractive and colourful.

Next stop is the Petrovaradin Fortress which overlooks the Danube River and the city of Novi Sad. It was built by the Austrian Empire in the 17-18th centuries and was important in defending the area from Ottoman attacks.

Finally we arrive in Novi Sad with its very attractive 18-19th century architecture, the central Liberty Square being the hub and dominated by the cathedral. 

We had free time here so we headed off for lunch at Project 72 which turned out to be a real find: the food (and wine) were glorious. Just amazing. 

It was a bit over an hour back into Belgrade which was buzzing with people enjoying the holiday: there were bands and buskers, people dining out, shopping. We walked (yet again) down Knez Mihailova, also exploring side streets. Actually, we were also trying to walk off lunch! (No dinner tonight).

Back at our apartment, we sort ourselves out and pack ready to leave early tomorrow.

Walked 10.4 kms today.