Meet the Romans in Serbia

 

I was sat right at the top, in the Royal Opera House it would have been seat Y51 – very high up with a restricted view. Looking down and behind the half naked archaeologist who was unmoved by the burning sun I could almost see Russell Crowe fighting ferociously for his freedom. Behind me was a flat green field with occasional glimpses of the Danube river, on whose bed was preserved this rich archaeological site.

 “We are standing at the top of the amphitheatre with a capacity of 12,000 seats” the voice of the enthusiastic guide woke me up.

We are at Viminacium, one of many Roman towns and fortress in Serbia, not far from the capital city Belgrade. It covers a huge area and some of it is still undiscovered due to the presence of the nearby power plant which produces 20% of Serbia’s energy. The government is trying to buy land still owned by the local people to stop the theft of artefacts that are uncovered after heavy rain.

Large numbers of lamps, bricks, paving tiles, rings and coins have been uncovered and exhibited either at the Museum in Pozarevac or the Museum in Belgrade. The Viminacium complex is building their own museum too at the moment.

The site has beautiful tombs decorated with frescoes whose colour was still bright and with mixed pagan and Christian symbolism. Tomb G5517 has a Christogram in a double floral garland and this is known as a Constantine Cross, after the first Roman Emperor to convert to Christianity. Tomb G2624 has animals and flowers and is clearly pagan, thus proving that Christians and Pagans were sometimes buried in the same cemetery.

Serbia has the largest number of Roman emperors born outside of Italy – 17 altogether, among them Constantine I and Justinian I. The tourist board has put together a project to combine visits to all the major Roman excavations on Serbian soil, called Itinerarium Romanum Serbiae. It will incorporate Sirmium, today known as Sremska Mitrovica, Singindunum which is Belgrade, Viminacium or Stari Kostolac, combined with visits to the forts of Nis, Kostol and Karats. The itinerary also includes visits to the imperial residences at Gamzigrad and the UNESCO site, Šarkamen, Mediana and Iustiniana Prima .

2013 will see the 1,700 anniversary of the Edict of Milan by which Emperor Constantine legalised Christianity throughout the Roman Empire, and celebrations will take place in the city of his birth, Nis. A historic moment is planned when the Pope and the Patriarch of the Orthodox Church meet formally for the very first time.

 For more information about travelling to Serbia please email Tara@ReadyClickAndGo.com or check our website at www.ReadyClickAndGo.com

A Night at the Museum in Belgrade, Serbia

 

For the eighth year in a row Belgrade is organising a Museum Night! This will take place on the 14 May 2011. Contrary to the movie “Night at the Museum” where Ben Stiller discovers that an ancient curse causes the animals and exhibits on display to come to life and wreak havoc, Museum Night in Belgrade is more havoc but in the sense that all these people who never had the time or money to go to a museum suddenly decide to go. The opening hours of the museums are 6pm-2am, and the best thing is that you buy one entry ticket for the price of RSD350 (approx. 3.5 EURO) and the ticket is valid for all museums and events open that night! Even public transport is free of charge with a museum ticket. 

In Belgrade there will 95 events at 67 locations scattered around the city, and 58 other towns and cities in Serbia will host similar events. In order to see as much as possible you would need to plan and prepare, but the best way to start is at the official website of the Museum night - the only problem is that the site is in Serbian but at least with Latin script rather than Cyrillic! http://www.nocmuzeja.rs/ 

Expect a lot of crowds but not the regular ones like the usual strikers on the streets asking for their jobs back, but happy crowds, running from one part of the city to another and in passing exchanging tips on where to go and what to see. This is an excellent opportunity to find out more and learn about little secrets in this city with a uniquely fascinating history. The last time I went on a Museum Night stroll in Belgrade I visited the Bank Museum which I didn’t even know existed even though I was born in the city. We had a fantastic time learning about money in Serbia since the Tsar Dusan, the first Emperor of Serbia, whose coinage was on display.

 Except for the unusual opening times at the standard museums such as Konak of Kneginja Ljubica, Art Museum, Natural Museum, Jewish Historical Museum etc, there are some exhibitions open just for this night, Museum night. 

At the Kalemegdan Fortress near the impressive Military Museum boys will be able to see a workshop for forging iron swords and try their skills at making a sword themselves. Not far from them, the girls will have unique opportunity to see the art of making hats and to try and make one too.

The Faculty of Philosophy will have an open door and show how old Romans played social games, the National Tourism Board of Serbia has an interactive exhibition called Danube Adventure where you can see how to cycle along the Danube river on the famous Eurovelo 6 route which goes all the way to the Black Sea. At the Educational Museum there is the possibility to learn about the process of making wine in Serbia. At the Villa of King Peter Karadjordjevic you will be able to see for the first time hundreds of photos of the king, his family, contemporaries and events. Brazil will be represented at the night of Museums at Kalemegdan Fortress with different dances, concerts and readings of Brazilian stories. There will be an excellent opportunity for train spotters at the Railway Museum with an exhibition of the Blue Train which was Tito’s official train and carried a huge number of foreign dignitaries such as Indira Ghandi and Queen Elizabeth. For the first time the exhibition will display the original features from this period: busts and paintings, official stationery, models, emblems, charters, badges and schedules of the Blue Train.

Lots to see and experience but not enough time to squeeze everything into 8 hours. Definitely an excellent opportunity to get to know Belgrade and Serbia! 

For more information what to see and do in Serbia please email Tara@ReadyClickAndGo.com

Build it Bigger in Belgrade, Serbia

In our post “The Newest Attraction in Belgrade“ dated 23rd December 2010 we mention one of Belgrade’s most eye-catching landmarks taking shape, a new bridge across the Sava River that will be the largest asymetric single-pylon cable-stayed bridge in the world.

The main span of 376m has no supports actually in the Sava so as not to restrict shipping even during construction, and the deck is anchored by 80 stay cables as thick as a man’s arm and a single pylon 200 metres high – one of the highest points in the city. The whole bridge including the main span will be nearly a kilometre long and 45 metres wide with 6 road traffic lanes, 2 railway lines and 2 cycle and pedestrian paths, and it is due for completion in September 2011. See more at Sava Bridge website.

You can watch program about Construction of the Serbia’s Largest Bridge on the Discovery Channel on the 6th May at 10pm.
 
For more information about traveling in Serbia please email Tara@ReadyClickAndGo.com

 

Belgrade's newest attractions

ReadyClickAndGo, a travel company specialising in private day trips, spent a few days in Belgrade last week to discover more about this fast-changing city’s latest highlights; 

1. Virtual Tourist has recently declared Belgrade’s Ada Ciganlija Island to be the 3^rd best island within a city, behind Paris and Prague. Perfect for picnics and watersports, the island is covered by trees that muffle the sounds of the city, and it is also the site of Serbia’s first golf course. The beautifully clean waters of Sava Lake that lap its gravel beaches are home to many varieties of carp, and can reach 24 degrees C in the summer, thanks to the warm microclimate here http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6B229Z20101203

2.  At the tip of the island you can watch one of Belgrade’s most eye-catching landmarks taking shape, a new bridge across the Sava River that will be the largest asymetric single-pylon cable-stayed bridge in the world. The main span of 376m has no supports actually in the Sava so as not to restrict shipping even during construction, and the deck is anchored by 80 stay cables as thick as a man’s arm and a single pylon 200 metres high – one of the highest points in the city. The whole bridge including the main span will be nearly a kilometre long and 45 metres wide with 6 road traffic lanes, 2 railway lines and 2 cycle and pedestrian paths, and it is due for completion in September 2011. http://www.savabridge.com/project.htm

3.  Just a few metres higher than Sava Bridge is Mount Avala’s TV transmitter tower, reopened earlier this year and a popular out-of-town picnic spot for locals. This new tower is almost identical to the original that was bombed by NATO in 1999, and money for its reconstruction was raised by donations from over a million people. It is slightly taller and much better built however, and is one of few built as a tripod anywhere in the world.

 http://serbiatraveller.blogspot.com/2010/11/avala-mountain-and-national-park-near.html 

4.  Another tower in Belgrade has been restored and will re-open any day now, and that is the medieval Nebojsa Tower at the foot of Kalemegdan Fortress. Renovations were partly funded by Greece as one of their revolutionary heroes was executed in the tower when it was a prison, and one of the exhibitions will feature his life. Other exhibitions will be on the shared history of Serbia and Greece under Turkish occupation. 

 

5.   The Museum of Yugoslav History is hosting an exhibition of modern art until the 15^th February 2011 in the Museum of 25^th May, called Beyond the Iron Curtain. Painting and sculpture by Soviet and Polish artists from 1945 to 1989, both official and dissident, is on display, and you can also visit Tito’s tomb, ironically with a great view of the vast new St Sava Church. 

Whilst travelling around Belgrade can be straightforward on public transport or on foot if you can master some Cyrillic script first, getting out of the city is often a little more challenging. ReadyClickAndGo offers private day trips and sightseeing excursions throughout Serbia, with your own English-speaking local guide, car and driver. A private day trip from Belgrade city centre to Avala Mountain and the nearby Vinca archaeological site with a private car, driver and English-speaking local guide is £75 per person.

For more information about Serbia please email Tara@ReadyClickAndGo.com

A Serbians second home, the kafana

 

The English have pubs, the French their cafes, Italians their ice cream parlours, the Greek Tavernas and we, Serbians, have Kafanas or second homes as we spend more time there than at home. The word Kafana is derived from the Turkish kahvehane (“coffee house”) which is in turn derived from the Persian term qahveh-khaneh and the first kafana in Serbia was opened by the Turks in the part of Belgrade called Dorcol, in 1522, at the start of their 400 year occupation of the Balkans.

 

Kafanas are a cult for Serbian people and any self-respecting Serb has kafana or two. Maybe three depending on what your average Serbian citizen needs one for at any given time in his social life.In the past a kafana always had red or blue checked tablecloths and tin ashtrays but today many kafanas masquerade as restaurants or cafes or even clubs, but at heart they are simply a kafana. So there is a kafana for a social gathering which includes lots of alcohol interspersed with breaks for tasty food, loud live folk music, with smashed glases on the floor and dancing on the tables.

There are kafanas near the office where all the office games and intrigue take place, always described however as ‘business meetings’.  There are a few kafanas which are always full even though there is never any live music or good food, but which still live on their reputation as a haunt for long-ago heroes or intellectuals who would freely discuss politics during the communist era when there was no reliable information except what could be gleaned in such places – nowadays people still go there to be seen and to gossip. And there is a new breed of family kafanas where there is no live music only a kids’ garden in the back, and very good food! 

 

You know you have succeeded in life if the waiter of your kafana knows you by name, your favourite table has a reserved sign on it just for you and when you get your favourite drink served before you even take your jacket off. If you are well known and short of money you can drink and eat free and pay when you get money.  You waiter is your best friend and confidant as he knows where you are and never tells anybody. Not even your other half.

 

If you are coming to Belgrade you must explore a bohemian part of town called Skadarlija where live music and good food last until the early hours. The most famous kafana here is Tri Sesira (the three hats) but there are many others, such as the Dva Jelena ( Two stags ), Ima Dana and the famous Znak Pitanja (the question mark, the kafana with no name). This is in an old traditional house, typically Serbian, very rustic, with laid-back service and good food.

 

A small tip for foreigners going to a kafana with Serbians – your host will never allow you to pay for dinner or drinks, so don’t even try to pay. Just raise your glass, look at your host and shout cheers – ZIVELI!!!!! 

For more information about Serbia and private dat trips in Serbia please email Tara@ReadyClickAndGo.com or check our website at www.ReadyClickAndGo.com

Tara

Mountain hideway near Belgrade, Serbia

Another weekend of very warm weather in Belgrade for this time of year (November and it’s 20 C) brought a huge number of people out to visit Avala, a mountain and National Park 16 km from Belgrade.

Avala was part of my upbringing. I would visit at least once a year, mostly with my family – we had vast numbers of relations who’d visit us in the city, and we’d run out of ideas where to take them and always end up doing a day trip to Avala, sometimes with a picnic in one of the many hidden spots on the mountain, sometimes having lunch in the restaurant in Avala Tower. At school there were day trips to Avala for every pupil to learn about the Monument to the Unknown Hero and as a university student I had some field work there, learning everything about the geomorphology of Avala and orienteering in the forest.  

The reason for the huge number of visitors last weekend is the newly opened Avala Tower, one of Belgrade’s landmarks, which has been restored and reopened in April this year after the NATO bombing of in 1999 which wrecked it. The original construction started in 1961 and finished in 1963 and at the top was an enclosed observation deck from which you could see as far as Belgrade and it was one of the city’s main tourist attractions. Today the old glory of the Avala Tower is restored and the views are even more magnificent. The only setback is that the restaurant hasn’t been opened yet, but there is a nearby hotel, the Avala, with nice rooms and restaurant, and a small cafe at the foot of the tower itself. Food here is very good and affordable. 

A village called Zmov grew up at the top of the mountain in the Middle Ages, and when the Ottomans invaded in 1442, they took it  over and built a fortress which they named Havale (meaning shelter) to oppose Belgrade’s Kalamegdan fortress which could be seen in the distance. In 1934 by order of King Alexander I of Yugoslavia, the village of Zmov was bulldozed to make way for the Monument to the Unknown Hero, an anonymous Serbian soldier from WWI. Marked only by the dates 1912-1918, the monument also commemorates those lost in the Balkan Wars (1912–1913). The monument was created by the well-known Croatian sculptor Ivan Mestrovic in the form of a mausoleum with 8 female figures, each representing a woman from a different historical region of Yugoslavia.

 On the way to Avala there is a Monument to the Soviet War Veterans, the members of a Russian military delegation who died in an airplane crash on their way to Belgrade for the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the liberation of Belgrade in WWII, October 20, 1944 – it was the Red Army who liberated Yugoslavia. And at the top of Mount Avala there is also a Memorial Park dedicated to the victims of WWII – so the whole mountain is steeped in the history of Yugoslavia and it is a very significant place to us. 

If you are staying in Belgrade we would definitely recommend a visit to Mount Avala or even an overnight stay there as there are plenty of opportunities for walking, trekking, cycling or simply enjoying the stunning views.

For more information about Serbia please email Tara@ReadyClickAndGo.com or visit our website at www.ReadyClickAndGo.com

How to make Serbia’s favourite dish – Sarma?

In one of my previous post I explained how to make a sauerkraut in order to make a Serbian favorite dish – Sarma. Today you will find a recipe how to make her Highness of winter dishes – sarma. If you need any help or explanation please email me at Tara@ReadyClickAndGo.com  

 

 

You need the following ingredients:

 

 

5 large leaves of sauerkraut, rinsed and drained
1 pound minced pork or beef

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon of ground paprika

1/2 teaspoon of black pepper

2 large eggs, well beaten

1/2 cup of uncooked rice, rinsed

3 slices of smoked bacon

1/2 pint of tomato sauce 

6 tablespoons of cooking oil

4 tablespoons of flour

Gently fry in some oil the minced pork or beef, adding the salt, ground paprika, eggs and rice, and stir. Once it’s browned, place a large spoonful of the mixture into each of the sauerkraut leaves, wrap them into rolls tucking the ends of the leaves in, and place in a cooking pot. My mum usually covers the bottom of the pot with cabbage leaves first, to prevent the sarma burning and disintigrating. Once all the stuffed leaves are placed neatly, cover them with a mixture of the smoked ham which we usually cut into small pieces fried with the tomato sauce for a juicy taste. Put any remaining cabbage over the sarma and add enough warm water to cover the rolls. Bring it to boil and then reduce the heat, cover and cook gently for 2 hours, adding a paste of oil and flour to thicken the sauce if necessary half way through.

  

Sarma freezes well and can be served hot or cold.

 

 

Enjoy!

 

For more information about Serbia please email Tara@ReadyClickAndGo.com or visit our website at www.ReadyClickAndGo.com

 

 

Day Trip to Oplenac, Serbia

The Hill of Royal Splendor

An unusually warm day in November in Belgrade gave me the excuse to take a day trip to a small town in central Serbia, called Topola. I had always wanted to go and visit this charming town to see its church of St George which is the mausoleum of the Serbian Royal Family, Karadjordjevic. The five-domed church was built in the style known as Serbian–Byzantium, a sort of oriental gothic style, between 1910 and 1930, by King Peter I who was a grandson of the founder of the royal family who led the Serbs in an uprising against the Ottoman Empire that had controlled the Balkans for centuries. The revolution was successful, the Ottomans were booted out and in 1811 Karadjordje was confirmed as the lawful ruler of Serbia and his heirs after him. At St George’s Church four of Serbia’s kings and 18 members of the Karadjordje dynasty are buried in the crypt, their tombs made of onyx from Decani in Kosovo, and representing the pearl of Serbia’s cultural and historical heritage.

The most important characteristic of church is the mosaic that covers much of the interior walls, made from Murano glass from Venice. I loved the huge candelabra which is made of melted weapons from the Battle of Kajmackalan in WWI and in the shape of the medieval crown of Serbia but upside down, symbolising Serbia’s mourning at the loss of their country at the Battle of Kosovo in 1389.
Entry tickets are 300 Serbian Dinars which is around GBP2.5 or Euro 3. The price includes entrance to St George’s Church (the curator is happy to give you lots of information in English), King Peter’s house (a small summer villa built in 1912 for his own use and today a museum), the villa of King Alexander I and Queen Mary (closed to visitors at the moment) and entry to the tower and Church of Our Blessed Lady of Karadjordje Town, dating from 1811-1813.
If you have time you may visit the royal winery at the foot of Oplenac Hill. Every year in Topola since 1963, on the 2nd weekend in October, the traditional Oplenac Vintage takes place.
By car from Belgrade is around 3 hours each way, through picturesque countryside. But please be aware that the roads are potholed and road signs are very poor in Serbia – most of the time there are no signs at all, and if you are lucky enough to find any they are in Cyrillic. But on the upside, there are lots of traditional Serbian restaurants known as “kafana” which serve wonderfully hearty, freshly cooked food and the average price is a modest GBP15 for a three course meal including drinks. We recommend MB Kafana.

For more information about a Private Day Trip to Oplenac and Topola or any place in Serbia please email Tara@ReadyClickAndGo.com or visit our website at www.ReadyClickAndGo.com

The National Dish of Serbia – Sarma

If you want to eat healthy wholesome meat dishes, the best time to visit Serbia is the winter – the amount of tempting homemade food makes you fat just by looking at it!

One of the most popular winter dishes is stuffed cabbage leaves and I am sure you are thinking this must be easy as it reminds you of stuffed peppers which are popular in the UK and very easy to make, but stuffed cabbage leaves have a special twist as the cabbage has to be prepared in a special way which only mothers can do. The younger generation, which I would like to count myself in, just buy ready prepared cabbage from the supermarket which we stuff with minced meat with and the job is done! But when my mum cooks stuffed cabbage leaves, the whole process begins at one of the many food markets in Belgrade (my mum knows that potatoes are much cheaper at Zemun food market and that the best cabbage is found at Bajlonova market). I do accompany my mother on occasional trips and get dazzled by the neat displays of bright colours, and get carried away and buy a bit of everything which really annoys my mum – she buys food not for the colour but for what she is cooking that day.

Choosing the right cabbages is an art in itself. They must be round, firm, with big healthy leaves, which can peel away easily – check that by pulling off one of the outside leaves, and if it breaks, it means the cabbage won’t work for wrapping around the meat. At home cut out the core of the cabbages and fill the cavities with salt. Yes, salt. Then you lay the salt-filled cabbages neatly in a wooden barrel (which gives a much better taste than if you use a plastic bucket), filling the spaces between them with cabbage quarters, and put it somewhere cold like the cellar. Fill the barrel with water almost to the top, bearing in mind that the volume of the cabbages will shrink, then put a heavy object on the top to press the cabbages. My mum uses a ‘house rock’ she brought back from the mountain near Arandjelovac during one of our weekend trips when we were kids and she has only ever used it in the preparation of cabbage – it is her domestic treasure!

Leave the cabbages to soak and press in the wooden barrel for a week, keeping the rock clean and cleaning the foam that gathers on the top of the water every day. Top up the water level and add more salt – generally, use 2kg of salt for every 30kg of cabbage! After a week of this, your cabbage leaves will be ready to stuff – the recipe will be in my next blog!

For more information check our website at www.ReadyClickAndGo.com or email Tara@ReadyClickAndGo.com

Where is Europe?

 

A few years ago we went for a long weekend to Morocco and as a  responsible traveller we arranged insurance which clearly stated that Morocco is in Europe. Then we went to Slovenia which was referred as the most progressive country of Eastern Europe. Of course the Slovenians were not impressed being positioned in Eastern Europe when they are clearly ’an Alpine country bordering Italy and Austria ’.

Here in the UK they refer to Europe as a continent. “We are going to the continent for a holiday” means two weeks in Provence.

So where are the borders of Europe? And does a single Europe exist? Or are there   Eastern, Western, Scandinavian, Balkan, Alpine, Central, South Eastern Europe …And this divide is valid only if you are coming from the Western Hemisphere. If you are flying from China then Eastern Europe is Germany, Holland, UK, France!

The most significant eastern border of Europe was established by the Swedish geographer and cartographer von Strahlenberg  as lying in the Ural Mountains. But that border is not in accordance with the EC divide which has members of the EC, non members of the EC and prospective candidates. As someone who comes from Eastern Europe, from a country which is not a member of the EC and a long way from  even becoming a candidate,  I find it very difficult to explain to people when they ask me where I come from. Sometimes I make a terrible mistake saying “the former Yugoslavia” and we end up talking about the Iron Curtain in Europe when there was a clear divide based on political systems. We were communist and the rest of Europe capitalist. Then in accordance with political preferences the United States and Western Europe established the NATO alliance and later the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe established the Warsaw Pact. I felt for the Germans being divided into East and West but also divided into NATO and the Warsaw pact. Then after forty four years Germany was reunited, after the symbolic fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and the maps of Eastern Europe were redrawn once more.

I think only the Europeans define themselves so much by division - mainly by geography but usually by wars  - while the rest of the world see us just as  ’ Europe’ .There are various descriptions of Europe’s boundaries, some some sources include territories that other sources do not include in Europe.  

For example, Cyprus is close to Turkey but is often considered part of Europe and is a member state of the EU. For Western Europeans, Eastern Europe is Bulgaria but for the Bulgarians themselves Turkey is Eastern Europe as far as the Bosporus Straits, but for Western Europe Turkey is not Europe at all. Lots of people think that Malta belongs to Africa .Would you say Finland was in Europe or Scandinavia? Or is Bosnia in the Balkans or Europe? When you search for your next holiday please have a look at which countries  are really ‘Europe’.  The travel industry is the biggest culprit for dividing Europe. Usually by price.

What do you think where are they – the borders of Europe? My email is Tara@ReadyClcickAndGo.com or leave comment here.