Joan Miró exhibition

Sombor is a small sleepy town in the far north of the country, but it’s organizing a very interesting event. Starting on 27Th November, Sombor city museum will open a big Juan Miro exhibition. There, almost 70 paintings, graphics and drawings created by this Spanish contemporary artist will be displayed.

I can’t say that I know a lot about his work, but he is a world renowned painter and sculptor, so this looks like an ideal opportunity to visit Sombor for a lazy afternoon of art and relaxation. The exhibition is open till December 20Th.

Medical tourism in Serbia

Being sick isn’t usually the first thing people associate with travel, but the phenomenon of medical tourism is growing in Serbia.
A little background story:

Republic of Serbia, like all former Yugoslav countries, has a very strong social approach to medical care. All citizens are eligible to receive a complete medical insurance package, provided by the state. There are several bases for this, and it doesn’t matter if you’re a child, unemployed or something different – everybody has it.
This system is in place for almost 60 years, and wasn’t disturbed by the regional conflicts or anything else.
Naturally, the level of medical services has dropped in the period of 1990-2000, but is steadily recovering. Because of this, Serbia has a lot of medical professionals like doctors, dentist, nurses and many others. Now, some of them have set up private clinics or smaller practices, because a lot of people choose to pay and receive faster service. For example, an ultrasound diagnostic will be complete after some 45 days from the moment the patient show up in the general hospital; in a private practice, it takes only few days to make an appointment and receive full results.

Medical tourism offers to foreign visitors, usually those from Western Europe, a chance to come to Serbia and get the medical treatment they need at a much lower price. For example, dental procedures are 4 times cheaper than in UK and the noninvasive diagnostic methods like magnetic resonance imaging are even cheaper.

So far, Belgrade and Novi Sad (capitol and second larges city) are expanding offers in medical tourism. Belgrade, with its international airport is the logical first choice, but organized transport to Novi Sad is also available.
In my case, I use both private clinics and state run medical institutions in Novi Sad, and I’m generally very pleased with the levels of service and professionalism, even having in mind that the free options are somewhat slow.
If you have some kind of medical condition or problem, especially a non-life threatening, like bad teeth or knee injury, think about this somewhat unusual option.

For more detailed information, check out Serbia Medical Tourism.

Beer Museum

Do you like beer?
I absolutely love it – no matter what time or place, I won’t refuse a cold one.
So you can imagine why I was pretty excited when I heard that Celarevo brewery (now part of the Carlsberg Serbia company) opened a beer museum!

The Beer Museum, set inside the brewery complex in the small northern town of Celarevo, will showcase how the process of beer-making evolved in this region. Although people were traditionally more inclined to wine or schnapps, beer became more widespread in the 19th century. Now it’s the most popular alcoholic drink in the land.
Celarevo brewery was established in 1892, and although there are older ones in the country (Apatinska brewery began working in 1756); this is still an impressive history of uninterrupted production.

I trust there will be things to see in the newly opened museum.
Of course, a chance to try out some of the beers from the current Celarevo production line like Lav and Tuborg, and then compare those to other big European brands like Kilkenny or Guinness isn’t either going to spoil the trip to this, shall we say, house of learning.

Days of Honey

Another day, another food festival!
This one named somewhat unimaginatively ‘’Days of Honey’’, is intended to promote... well, you guest it, honey.
It will last for three days, starting on the 17th October, and the location is town only a few dozen miles from Belgrade - Indjija. This little town in Fruska Gora range is by itself a pretty interesting place, being somewhat of a mini industrial Mecca inside Serbia, all thanks to its local government that has wisely offered a variety of Greenfield investments opportunities.
This place is definitely going places, no pun intended.


Having that in mind, I’m betting ‘’Days of Honey’’ will be a very meticulously organized event, and should at least prove interesting.
The main venue will be the town square, where the honey makers will present their products, and local art societies perform music and small-scale plays. Beside honey, there should be other kinds of honey-based products – I recommend you try Medovaca, a honey-infused schnapps drink. Personally, I prefer my spirit straight and cold, but Medovaca isn’t half bad, especially if you like sweet liquor.

This is chance to see a micro industrial boom town and try a lot of different honey flavours while drinking honey-schnapps – how bad could this half day visit be?

Devil’s Town

Recently, there’s been a lot of talk in Serbia about a place called Devil’s Town (Djavolja varos).
It’s a relatively small nature park, or nature monument, as defined by local law.
What is it exactly?
Well, simply put – a collection of weird rock formations. There are around 200 of them in Devil’s Town and they look like strange, elongated sculptures. Every one is really narrow and has a stone on its peak. They are created by erosion, and as I understand it, are somewhat of a geological rarity.
I never visited this place, or even heard about it till recently, but I’ll give it this: it sure looks like out of this world.


Devil’s Town became more famous when it entered the ‘’New wonders’’ competition, under the ‘’nature’’ section. Currently, it’s on the 24th place.
Generally, I’m always skeptical about any ‘’new and hip’’ tourist locations. Devil’s town it located in the southern Serbia, near the town of Kursumlija, so it’s not exactly very accessible because of the distance and road quality (except if you’re visiting Nis or some other southern city). For example, a one-day visit from Belgrade would take up around 10 hours just in transit.

Devil’s Town does look like it’s worth a visit, but don’t expect much more than what you have seen in the pictures.
Near-by Kursumlija has more tourist sites, so it’s probably best to incorporate Devil’s Town into a bigger sightseeing trip, just in case.

Belgrade air show

This is somewhat unexpected – Belgrade is going to host its first big air show.

Of course, there are periodical air shows all over the country, but this one sounds really big – around 40 aircraft and 60 pilots and skydivers are going to take part.

They will include the Serbian air force, national airline JAT, special airborne police units, private air companies and air sport societies. This will all take place on this Saturday, the 27 of September, starting at noon. The main spectator location will be the upper part of the Kalemegdan fortress (now really more of a park), located just next to the city center.

I’m not sure how will this air show stand up to similar events in the rest of Europe, but the idea is absolutely fabulous.
The Serbian capitol needs this kind of major public happenings for all ages, so if you’re in Belgrade or planning to come this weekend, I’m recommending you take a look to the sky from Kalemegdan.



The view should be interesting.

Update:

Yesterday, while practicing for the air show, one of the aircraft had a malfunction and crash-landed on the Belgrade airfield. Its pilot, Istvan Kanas a veteran instructor, has died in the accident.
The organizers decided to cancel the upcoming event because of this tragic development.

Vojvodinijada food festival

Vojvodina, the northern region of Serbia, has a very mixed ethnic background. During last 200 years, almost 20 different nationalities have migrated to this region. Naturally, they brought their own culture, and with it, cuisine.

‘’Vojvodinijada’’ intends to promote this fact.
Actually, this festival is organized like a ‘’best of’’ collection of several similar events that take place year round in several Vojvodina towns. Every one of them is centered on a particular dish or product, like cabbage stew or spicy sausages. Everything will be made on site (riverside resort called ‘’Dunavski salasi’’ located in the suburbs of Novi Sad) and following traditional recipes. Of course, local traditional music band and performers will also attend.


‘’Vojvodinijada’’ looks like nothing new – like all ‘’best of’’’, it’s better to visit one of the original festivals that revolve around just one food product. On the other hand, if you can make to one of those, this isn’t going to be bad, either.
Because I live in the region, I can tell you that the food will be slightly greasy, spicy, and mostly based on pork meat product. If you’re a vegetarian, run for your life.
But if you like me find those thing tasty, you should spend an hour or two there.
Just plan for a light dinner afterwards.