I’m very pleased to see that cities and town with access to Danube are expanding their tourism offers. This year, from 24th to 26th July, Golubac, a city in eastern Serbia, is hosting a Danube fair. This etno-event will cover smaller venues that will offer local food (especially the fish stew), traditional artwork and crafts, as well as folk music, all with the common theme of Danube.
I personally love Danube, because I grew up with this mighty river. But Golubac, located just before the Djerdap National park is truly a spectacular sight. There, Danube widens drastically, and is a great spot for waters sports like sailing. If you didn’t visit Golubac or Djerdap, Danube fair is a perfect opportunity to change that and enjoy on of Europe biggest rivers in its true glory.
Single party communism was abandoned almost 25 years ago, but people in Serbia are still madly in love with the biggest workers day off – May 1st, or May Day. It’s a nation-wide holiday, and everybody takes to the great (or not so much) outdoors to barbecue and seriously relax.
This year, Sokobanja, one of the leading spas in the country is making a wide ranging picnic festivity. Sokobanja is located in central part of eastern Serbia, some 230 km from Belgrade, and 90 km from Nis. The event is called ‘’Prvomajski uranak’’, or loosely translated ‘’Mayday Morning’’, and it’s going to take place on several meadows and picnic sites, ideal for BBQ. For everyone that doesn't feel like cooking, a mini fair will be dedicated to local cuisine. A part from this, galleries will be presenting an ethnic themed series, and in the center of the city, forth annual flower festival will be held.
This event sound like fun for families or bigger visitors groups. I like the ethnic touch, because usually, Mayday is all about eating meat, drinking beer and doing nothing else. This is a good sign of diversifying a big national holiday.
News like this gives me some hope in development of Serbian tourism – Novi Sad harbor is getting a souvenir shop! This doesn’t sound like a big deal, but in many ways it is. Novi Sad lies on Danube, and weekly, big river cruise liners from Germany, Romania, Hungary and Austria pass through. A lot of tourist go out and spend few hours strolling around city center. There are souvenir shops around town, but it was more than logical to put one right in the harbor, where these types of tourists are sure to pass.
I’m not big on collecting stuff, but I love nicknack's that I picked up during my travels, especially those that where cheap, small and useless – the exact things this new shop should store. For example, my friend has a collection of fridge magnets he bought during his time in the USA, and it looks great. I hope that ‘’river’’ visitor will be able to get “Greetings from Novi Sad’’ or ‘’Novi Sad ain’t half Bad’’ magnets soon.
Like most of the eastern European countries, Serbia is in need of more foreign investment into domestic tourism. Local business investors usually favor heavier industries or commerce sectors, rather then tourism, which is seen as more of an exotic and risky opportunity.
On recent Travel Trade Show that was organized in Berlin, Serbian government promoted its plans for bringing more investment into the tourism sector. Except for the usual rhetoric about our untouched natural beauties, Serbia’s improving image (at least, they hope it’s improving) and so fort, I think two things stand up for investors that are (rightly so) interested in profit, and not the improvement of our world-standing.
First of those is the expansion and promotion of archeological sites from the Roman era, so called ‘’Emperors Route’’ – I believe this is really a potential for development. Ancient Roman sites are always interesting and have a big appeal to most people.
The other thing, although less spectacular, is a planned cycling track alongside Danube, which is intended to promote bicycle tourism. This could be a jackpot for some low to medium investments – the landscape through which Danube flows is very flat, green and tranquil, and good basic infrastructure is already there. With some well planed tours that last 4-7 days, Serbia could easily get on the eco-tourist maps.
So, where do you want to put your money - ancient Rome or bicycles?
Although the New Year holiday season is whining down, there are still some events that are ongoing. In Serbia, majority of the population is Christian-Orthodox, and according to the old Julian calendar, New Year falls on January 14.
In Sremski Karlovci, a traditional event called ‘’Karlovci Christmas festivities’’ started in December, but will end on the 14th. Every year more and more people visit this event because of it broad and interesting subjects: culture, spiritual heritage, traditional folk values. All of this is presented in a modern, multimedia fashion.
If you like to learn more about local culture and, especially, spiritual and religions heritage (Sremski Karlovci is a very important center for both), on the 13th you can see the preparation for the Orthodox New Year in the church of St. Nikolaja around midnight, or New Year mass and church choir concert on the 14th , starting in 9:30AM.
During my high school years I learned a valuable lesson about the ‘’big night’’. Don’t expect anything. It’s just another night out – it can be great, or it can suck big time. Ether way, it’s not your wedding and shouldn’t be over planned. The best way is to simply go with the flow, and this year, if you happen to be in Novi Sad, there will be several ‘’flows’’.
First, there is the traditional concert and fireworks on the main city square – Masimo Savic is probably the biggest star on this venue. Other ‘’stages’’ will include traditional Vojvodina music on the smaller Mladenci square, which is almost next to the main square; a lineup of DJ, both local and foreign will play on SPENS, a big sports center that is also near by.
So, if you happen to be in Novi Sad on the 31. December, feel free to venture out in the cold - there will be dancing on the streets.
Serbia, although never a ‘’hot destination’’, has seen a steady increase in the number of visitors since the regime change in 2000. It seems that this trend hasn’t continued into 2008.
According to the State statistic agency, the total number of visitors that Serbia received during first 10 months of this year is lover by one percent compared to the same period in 2007. The most popular destination is the capitol Belgrade, then the second largest city, Novi Sad. The majority of the visitors, around 38%, stayed in spas and other thermal resorts like Vrnjacka Banja. Also, most visitors came from Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Germany.
I know that this isn’t a big downturn, but I think it may be a good sign for thing to come, especially having in mind the ongoing economical slowdown and the poor state of air travel industries.
I guess 09 isn’t going to brake any tourism records in Serbia - at least no positive ones.
Find out more about Republic of Serbia and check out all that this European country has to offer to tourists and visitors that like to travel off the beaten track. Hope you will enjoy your stay at Experience Serbia blog!
