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We will show you two different faces of the Danube in Serbia- the first one is a big lazy river running through Panonian Plain. And the second one is mighty, powerful river chasten among stones and cliffs of Djerdap Gorge. Following the Danube you will discover natural beauties of this region but also reach historical and cultural inheritance of many different civilizations which left their traces in the Balkans. This is the region where many cultures and religions are overlapping. There are still Serbs, Croats, Hungarians, Romanians, Gypsies, Germans, Bulgarian, any many others living together in villages in towns close to the river but treasure its own cultural heritage. Cycle there, meet locals and their music, food, wine, habits and culture and you will understand why is the Danube the river that unites Europe.
The cycling tours are fully van supported so you can easily choose to ride as much - or as little - as you wish. Daily tours are from 50 to 75 km long.
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Apatin is a little town on the Danube in contact with Croatia and Hungary. It had drawn out of this position an economic advantage because it remained an important river port leading to Novi Sad. Otherwise, the common living of Serbs, Hungarians, Croats, Gypsies and other minorities may explain the proliferation of ethno feasts in various colours and in a communicative warmth. Apatin has also got the advantage of being in a region of forests and river isles contributing to the creation of natural reservations and the nautical and fishing places. Apatin had always been a cross-roads of the movement of the peoples. The Sarmates, the Huns, the Slavs and the Hungarians had been successively distributed on the Danube. The Hungarian catholic church in 1371 had given the town its name and had founded a bishopric. Later Turks had occupied the region and the development of Apatin had been stopped. Apatin is today center of fishing and hunting tourism, spas and recreation but also a home of the famous light beer brewery "Jelen Pivo". |
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Our next stop after Apatin will be a small town of Bac. Here you will see the remains of the most ancient fortress of Vojvodina with the walls with trenches remained intact in this place. The history of this fortified place has been characterized by the whirls and the convulsions in the development of this region. The Avars already, according to the scriptures from 873, had constructed here a fortress from wood on a knoll. The Hungarian king Stephan had fortified the Avar construction with stones, and under the dynasty of Arpads Bac became a royal town where the counts and the bishops used to hold their assemblies. Finally, between 1338 and 1342 the fortress had got its present aspect under the king Charles d’Anjou.
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The river Danube is the greatest gift of nature to
Backa Palanka
town. There is the lake Tikvara that stretches on 500 hectares. On the
territory of the community there is a great number of archeological,
ethnological and cultural monuments.. Karadjordjevo is situated 10 kilometres northwestern from Backa Palanka. It is one of the most well-known and one of the biggest horse farms in Europe. Karadjordevo was, thanks to its beauty, a favorite picnic place of supreme statesmen and Josip Broz Tito in times of the old Yugoslavia. |
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Sremski Karlovci is a town of culture in any sense of the word: it is the centre the Serbian orthodox church and the first Serbian lyceum, but also the place where the Treaty of Karlovac which modified the frontiers of the region had been signed. Sremski Karlovci is also the city of the reputation of the vineyards since Antiquity and the Middle Ages. In the very baroque nucleus, you can see a great number of historical buildings that charm with its appearance and also with its importance. There stand out the Lower church from 1718, the Upper church (1745), the Orthodox cathedral (1758-1762), the Catholic church (1765), the fountain "Four lions" built in the city square in honor of the completion of the construction of Karlovci's plumbing, the town hall (1811), the Chapel of piece (the new chapel was built in 1817 as a country monument), the Museum (the house of Rajacic built in 1891), the Grammar School (built on the place of an old one in 1891 serving the monastery Studenica as an example), the Patriarchy (1894), the Theological boarding school (1901) and the palace Stefaneum (1903).
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There we will visit some of town wine cellars and taste local wines. There is a family Zivanovic honey museum where you can taste different bee products.
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Fruska Gora with its 17 monasteries is also known as a Holly Mountain. We will visit two of them. Monastery Krusedol is built in 16th century as memorial of the last Serbian despot Djordje Brankovic. Among some other important people for Serbian history, king Milan and duchess Ljubica Obrenovic as well as Arsenije Carnojevic (leaded the great Serbs migration from Kosovo in 1690) are buried here. |
You will have chance to visit the farm (salas) where people still live traditional way without electricity and running water. We will have lunch there and taste their local specialties. The farms use to produce everything that is necessary for life. Most of the farms were destroyed after the 2nd World War.
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Srebrno jezero (Silver Lake), is 3km far from Veliko Gradiste town, and due to its vicinity to other cities around the region it has become a very popular destination for tourists and fishermen. Srebrno jezero was made by closingone of the Danube’s backwaters, with well-arranged beaches and water being filtrated through sandy dunes. It belongs to a group of lakes that positions Serbia among inevitable destinations of travelers who can recognize a genuine, warm and live tradition. It is 14 km long, average width is about 300 m. It is rich with fish and usually called “paradise for fishermen”, and it also offers good opportunities for numerous water sports. It is rich with catfish, pike-perch, carp and amur and it is mentioned in the Guiness Book of Records since the biggest carp was caught in this lake weighing about 44 kg. |
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Most likely built in the 14th
century, the Golubac Fortress
sits high on cliffs overlooking the Danube at an area known as the Iron
Gate. This fortress was a key in the defense of the medieval Serbian state
and later passed into the hands of the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian empires. |
The National Park Djerdap stretches along the right bank of Danube, for about 100 km, from Golubacki grad fortress to Karatas near Kladovo, thus being one of the longest gorges in Europe. The part of the river Danube which belongs to Serbia accounts for about 9% of surface of the National Park. Therefore the National park Djerdap is also a river national park. The Park is typical river valley park, with Djerdap gorge, the principal natural phenomenon, with cultural and historical monuments, natural scenery, preserved original ecosystems and age-old plant and animal life of remarkable value and rarity. The most beautiful gorge of the Djerdap is Veliki Kazan. In this part of its course, the mighty Danube is seized between steep, often vertical cliffs that rise even up to several hundred meters above the river, which is not wider than 170 m. Exactly at this point the Danube is the deepest. The depth of 90 m, measured in one of the huge hollows that are present in the Danube riverbed, represents one of the greatest river depth on Earth. It is only here where it can be seen in a striking manner how Djerdap (Iron Gate) got its name. The area of Derdap gorge was declared a national park in 1974.
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The National Park Djerdap is distinguished from other parks for its unique and exceptionally significant monumental heritage. This primarily refers to the archaeological find Lepenski Vir. During the systematic archaeological activities that preceded the construction of the first Iron Gate dam and formation of the reservoir, remains of a previously unknown prehistoric culture were found on the Danube terrace Lepenski Vir on the right riverbank. This finding was a true sensation in archaeological circles. |
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The settlement with sacral buildings of
specific construction and shape and sculptures made of huge round pebbles,
representing fantastic fish-like creatures, belong to the one of the most
complex prehistoric cultures from the period between 7,000 and 6,000 B.C. In the
narrow valley in the form of an amphitheatre, complex social and economic
relationships were developed, with the most ancient urban structure, sacral
architecture, and monumental sculptures on the European continent to date.
The Iron Gate Dam was
built during the 1960s as the basis for a large hydro-electric power plant which
supplies Serbia with a significant proportion of its electricity. The basic
activity of this hydro power plant is not only electric power production, but
also operation of water locks in the "Djerdap I" and "Djerdap II" systems.
"Djerdap I" has two-level water locks (ships enter the chamber and then they are
"led" into the end water level of the Danube at the chamber end). In terms of
chamber dimensions, these water locks are among the largest ones in the world.
ACCOMMODATION
Every night we move to another lodging. We will be settled in B&B, family accommodation, pensions, 2 star and 4 star hotels. All rooms are cozy, charming and with private facilities (only in Skorenovac village it is possible that two rooms share one toilets) . We pay special attention to choice of food and all places where we have dinners included have restaurants with great choices of local specialties. If you have some dietary restrictions we will be happy to adapt our menu to you.
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TOUR SCHEDULE
Day 7. Cycling Donji Milanovac- Kladovo |
Before you come on this trip please carefully read Rules of Bicycling Safety.
Please read and respect ACE Responsible Tourism Policy.
TOUR COST
The tour cost is 790 Euros per person and includes:
- seven lodgings
- seven breakfasts and four dinners in hotels/ pension
- four picnic lunches
- transportation during the tour
- full guiding service
- entry fees for all museums
- snacks and refreshing drinks during the daily tours
- wine and honey tasting in Sremski Karlovci
- use of 21 speed ACE bicycles
- van support during cycling tours
- photos from the trip burned on CD
The tour cost does not include:
- all lunches except one on Perkov Salas farm
- beverages (all except breakfasts, picnic lunches and snack brakes during daily
tours)
- transfer from/ to Belgrade (or Belgrade airport) to/ from the tour
Tour price is based on double room occupancy.
Single room supplement 160 Euros.
Please follow this link to read some useful travel information about Serbia
The tour is available from April to end of October.