MULTICULTURAL TOUR OF VOJVODINA Guaranteedanteed departureddepartu e tourou 28.04-5.05.2012. ; 25.08-1.09.2012. Minimum 15 persons Day 1.: Belgrade (D) (cca 20 km) Arrival in Belgrade in the afternoon. Transfer to hotel and check in. Free time for leisure. In the evening, enjoy a traditional welcome dinner with music in a restaurant in the bohemian quarter of Belgrade. Overnight stay. Day 2: Belgrade - Golubinci – Krušedol Monastery - Sremski Karlovci – Novi Sad (BD) (approx. 150 km) We will start this day in Srem, one of the provinces of Vojvodina. The fi rst stop will be in Golubinci village. This village is populated by people of Serb and Croat nationality. We will visit the Šlos Castle from the 18th century, take a carriage-ride through the village and visit the Nostalgia traditional house, with its exhibits from the former Yugoslavia. A real treat for visitors is the chance to participate in a wedding in the role of the bride’s guests. Continue top northern part of Vojvodina. There will be a short break at Krušedol Monastery. This monastery is over 500 years old and has played an important role in Serbian history. We continue to Sremski Karlovci, a small baroque town. Sightseeing of the town and wine-tasting in one of the wine cellars. We continue to Petrovaradin Fortress, and tour the fortress. We cross the bridge and enter Novi Sad. Sightseeing of the city’s most important sites: Zmaj Jovina street, the Name of Mary Church, the Bishop’s Palace and the Orthodox cathedral. Accommodation is in a hotel in Novi Sad. Vojvodina-style dinner with music in a traditional restaurant in Novi Sad. Overnight stay. Day 3: Novi Sad – Čelarevo – Bački Petrovac - Selenča- Sombor (BL) (approx. 130 km) This day is set aside for for getting to know the Slovak’s of Vojvodina. On the way to your destination, we visit Čelarevo, a small town where we will visit the brewery and beer museum. Tasting diff erent types of wine. We continue to Bački Petrovac, the cultural centre of the Slovaks in Vojvodina. The hosts will meet us at the Museum of Slovaks and the Matica Slovenská, and then take us to the Ahoj traditional house. The Ahoj cultural centre has established a craft school where, under the watchful eye of a master craftsman, you can have your own try at making a souvenir that you will then take home with you. Taste Slovak kulen in combination with stewed fruit compote as a salad, as well as other traditional local specialties. Continue your tour at the gallery of the painter Urbanček, who, after spending his working life in America, returned to continue his artistic endeavours in Petrovac. In one of the hunting lodges, we have lunch featuring Slovak specialities and accompanied by music. We continue to Selenča. The Slovak population settled in this village 250 years ago and now forms the majority here. Richly-decorated costumes and many-layered skirts are what makes it easy to recognize the Slovaks, but only Selenča still preserves the tradition of wearing the parta – a headdress worn by the bride before the wedding. As part of the program you can enjoy the traditional “dress the bride” activity! Today Selenča is known for its production of healthy organic food, and guests can visit the facilities of the Slovan company where you see the modern facilities with cold storage equipment and fruit-selection machinery. In one of the households, learn how to make traditional brooms and products from hemp. At the traditional house we have a presentation of ethnic and folk music from this village, and a chance to taste diff erent wines and brandies. This day is concluded in Sombor. Overnight stay. Day 4: Sombor – Sombor salaš farmstead – Stapar – Sombor (BL) (approx. 30 km) We start this day in Stapar, a small village near Sombor. The people of Stapar are mostly of Serb nationality, settled here from old Wallachia half a millenium ago. You will be welcomed by your cheerful hosts with some hearty food, mulberry rakija, traditional listara pie, and the sounds of the harmonica. Besides good food, the main tourist attraction of Stapar is its horses and horse-drawn carriages. Carriages known as fi jaker take us to tour a school with an interesting traditional display, a church with exceptional stained glass, several village households where 19th-century barns can be seen (there are some 50 in the village), cattle herds, a fi shery and corn cribs full of corn. The best listara (a pie made of many thin layers of hand-made pastry with raisins and walnuts) is made and eaten in Stapar, while a favourite of guests is the famous yellow svečarska soup and mutton paprikash. Ham is eaten in this village when there is nothing else. Continue to a salaš farmstead, where a traditional Vojvodina dinner awaits you. Return to Sombor. Overnight stay. Day 5: Sombor – Bački Monoštor – Donji Tavankut – Subotica (BL) (approx. 120 km) After breakfast, we continue our tour. The fi rst visit is to Bački Monoštor. After our long drive, our hosts will welcome us dressed in traditional costumes. We visit the traditional house where our hosts present their music and folk-dance, along with a chance to taste walnut liqueur and juices. We take a walk through the village and visit the Catholic church where we will have the opportunity to enjoy the divine voices of the local church choir. We continue to Donji Tavankut. In Tavankut the majority population is Bunjevci. Besides the production of fruit crops, a trademark of the village are the straw pictures, made by the women of the village using a unique technique. In Tavankut you can hear their unusual speech, but also the richness of Bunjevci folk art – costumes, songs, story-telling, games, straw-weaving and folk customs. The school in this village off ers a presentation of customs and traditions, as well as entertainment for children. Late lunch will be served at one of the neighbouring farms that have preserved their authentic look, and where visitors can help prepare food for winter, make doughnuts or take part in a straw picture-making workshop. In the evening, we depart to Subotica and Palić. Overnight stay. Day 6: Subotica – Turija (BD) (approx. 90 km) After breakfast, we visit Subotica. This city in the very north of Vojvodina was settled by Hungarian feudal lords who fl ed to these parts before the encroaching Turkish armies. The area was settled by Bunjevci and Serbs, and later Hungarians. A walk through the city centre and tour of the City Hall, Synagogue and the Rajhl with its modern art gallery. We continue to Lake Palić, a renowned holiday resort and picnic area. In times gone by this was a fashionable place to live for the landed gentry. We stop for coff ee or tea in these pleasant surroundings. We then continue to Turija. Accommodation is at the Hunting Lodge, a newly-built hotel in this village. Carriages await us outside the hotel and take us to a traditional house where we will enjoy a folk-dance program and have a chance to learn a Serbian dance. During the program we have a tasting of the famous sausages. There follows a tour of households in the village with modern agricultural machinery for working in the fi elds. Dinner in the hotel. Overnight stay. www.bogatstvorazlicitosti.comti MULTICULTURAL TOUR OF VOJVODINA Day 7: TurijaTurija - Belo Blato – Idvor – Kovačica (BL)(B (approx.(app x 15015 km)m) After breakfast, we continue to Belo Blato. Belo Blato has more diff erent nationalities living in it than anywhere in Vojvodina. The village is home to more than twenty nationalities, the most numerous being Slovaks, Hungarians, Bulgarians and Serbs. Enjoy the charms of the village to a lively and varied choice of dishes. At the reed workshop that we will visit you will get to fi nd out how products are made from reed. In the yard there is a windmill from the nineteenth century. Taste local foods and wines and spirits. We continue to Kovačica. On the way to Kovačica is the village of Idvor, birthplace of Mihajlo Pupin, the famous Serbian scientist. We continue to Kovačica, a village known the world over for its naive painters. Their motifs can be seen on UNICEF greeting cards. Visit our gallery and one of the painters’ studios. Late lunch in the village restaurant. After lunch, you will be accommodated in the Relax Hotel in Kovačica, where you can rest and relax in their spa and wellness centre. Overnight stay. Day 8: Kovačica – Gudurica – Vršac (BL) (250 km) After breakfast, we go to Vršac. A tour of this beautiful town on the border with Romania. Visits to the Catholic and Orthodox churches, and then the Patriarch’s Palace. Walk through the beautiful baroque town, and then visit the old “Pharmacy on the Stairs“ and the gallery of Paja Jovanović, one of the most famous Serbian painters. In the afternoon we head for Gudurica, a village where Serbs live together with many Slovenes, Macedonians, Roma, Romanians, a single Turk (an old confectioner) and one French woman who moved here after falling in love with this region. All the people of this village go to one Greek Catholic church, which observes both Orthodox and Catholic saints. Visit a wine cellar with wine-tasting and dinner in one of them (we recommend the hunter’s stew) to the music of the tamburica. Day 9: Vrsac – Češko Selo - Skorenovac - Belgrade (BL) (approx. 100 km) After breakfast, we continue to Česko Selo. This village has 36 inhabitants, Czechs who settled in this area to guard the border between the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires.