Exploring Vojvodina

Many people would know that Vojvodina and Slovenia were in the same country, but only a few people know that this was for a much longer period then just a few decades of Yugoslavia. Vojvodina was already before the First World War a part of Austro-Hungarian monarchy. The name itself means it was a territory of a Duke, and the main function of this area was to organize the defense of the southeastern border of the monarchy. Thus Vojvodina became a part of the Habsburg lands even before the era of Maria Theresa.

For all who might not know, an interesting fact is that just after WWI (after the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy) there was a state known as The State of Slovenes, Croatians and Serbs – from Vojvodina (not to be mistaken for the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes). It desired to be an independent, European oriented and democratic republic, alas it never was recognized and due to the pressure of neighboring countries (most of all Italy) it had to join one of the winning allies of the war and the logical choice was the kingdom of Serbia (already joined with the kingdom of Montenegro).

But enough of history and politics, lets take a look at what awaits a tourist visiting this formar Socialistic Autonomy Region of Vojvodina.

I have to admit I got spoiled in the last couple of years, when it concerns borders. I’ve got used to the idea of them not being there, thus it seemed somewhat odd to reach a border crossing, where they checked what I had in my car, doublechecked my papers and the border patrol guard started some everyday chit-chat with me. At least it was pleasant, so it made me feel almost at home, although there were many signs I was abroad (despise the whole common history Slovenia and Vojvodina share). Lucky enough I still had to learn the Cyrillic alphabet back in primary school, for some road signs were only in the Cyrillic alphabet, while other were in both.

My destination was Apatin, a town on the left bank of the Danube river, where I stopped at the bus station to pick her up. She got there some ten minutes before me and was waiting for me, to take her to spa Junaković, only a three miles from the town. We checked in and dined. Although I had my doubts of the elderly staff, but I quickly learned my worries were unnecessary.

Generally the spa saw run down, but it didn’t surprise me, for I reserved a room in the old wing – they didn’t have king-size beds in the new wing. The really modern part, however, was still in construction (and I could see in on the other side of the open pool). The pleasant surprise was, that the old part, already, was using the geothermal energy as a source of hot water and also for heating the rooms. I don’t know if that’s due to reduction of costs in an impoverished land, or due to environmental awareness, but either way, I liked the idea.

Since it was late and dark already, with the cold wind blowing and a long day behind me (I went on the road straight after work), we just showered with slightly salty, but nice and warm thermal water and went to bed.

Next morning after breakfast we went to explore our surroundings, so we went to Apatin. The easiest way to describe it is a pleasant quiet town, big enough to offer all the comfort of a city, but small enough to feel safe and warm in it.

The town, apart from the spa, also has a brewery. Naturally I felt the need to try the local brew. Now seeing how beer always goes down well, and how the spa always had many guests (for it was also a rehabilitation facility), the town was quite prosperous and could be compared to most average towns I’m used to.

You’ll find catholic, Lutheran and orthodox churches in town as well as a somewhat strong Jewish (or Jevrej  as the locals call them) community. You can feel that the open space of this straight also influenced the people to be more open.
Sadly it started to rain, just as we got to the promenade by the river, so we went to a Čarda Zlatna Kruna, to try some of their cuisine. From all the mouthwatering things in the menu I decided I just had to try the famous fish stew (from fresh Danube fish).

After a tasty lunch, where I also had a taste of excellent local wine (for fish and beer don’t really mix), we went back to the spa, to take a nice relaxing dip in the warm healthy water, where I felt so cozy I just wanted to take a nap.

The days were already short and we didn’t feel like leaving the warm room, we instead made plans for the next two (unfortunately only two) days.

After an early breakfast we went to Sombor, where I immediately recognized a few buildings. When I say recognized, I mean that know of just such buildings in Maribor, Graz, Zagreb, or even Budapest or Prague. The reign of Habsburgs definitely left a mark on Vojvodina, although it had more of a Panonic feel to it. The city is developing, and generally oozes an aura of an welcoming and pleasant tranquility. After all, what else could you feel in a town, where even a police station, court and jail house are worth to see, due to their beautiful architecture (for they are placed in a luxurious mansion)?

It is also a town on the European cycling route, so I was quite nicely surprised to see the cycling paths in the city. Naturally there are also many people cycling, far more then back home. I guess it’s because bicycle still is the most economic mode of transport, oh and the fact there are no hills to tire you out while peddling also helps.

Next we went to Kula and just had to stop at Coolsko jezero. It’s an artificial lake that reminded me of Schwarzlsee outside Graz, but it seemed the project was a bit too ambicious for its surroundings. Still we were more then happy with the culinary delicacies of the čarda at the lake (fresh game and even fresher lepinja buns – straight out of the owen).

As with other cities, Kula also has a religious variety and the Adventist church seems like a very modern building and although it was obvious it was a sacral object, it could still pass as a modern museum or an art gallery.

But unfortunately, as I’ve said many times before, the days were getting shortes and the wind freezing, so we went back towards the spa.

On the way back I had to refuel and was more than happy to learn that many Serbian gas stations also have LPG (which is quite rare back home, so I have to take care where to stop if I want to fuel up with a cheaper and environment friendlier fuel). Still there was some unpleasantness when I realized why so many people use gas instead of gasoline. The oil prices are the same as ours in Slovenia, but their monthly income is about five times lower (so imagine you fuel price to jump five times and you’ll see what it means for them to fuel up).

Another interesting thing I saw on the way was the army barracks, where the families went to visit the recruits for the weekend and were obviously just returning home. Personally I was the first generation of conscripts in Slovenia that didn’t serve its army duty and more (Slovenia switched to professional army instead of conscripts), so watching conscripts did seem like an interesting thing to me.

The last day of my stay we went to Sremski Karlovci, a small town outside Novi Sad (the capital of Vojvodina, and the second biggest Serbian town).

The center of Sremski Karlovci reminded me of Maribor, or better put, I clearly identified two buildings to be the rectorat of the University of Maribor (which again indicated how many things Vojvodina – this special part of Serbia – and Slovenia have in common). Otherwise the town takes pride in the first Serbian high school (a school for theological studies) and on the Peace Chapel, built as a memorial to the peace signing between Austrians and the Ottoman Turks.

The fortress itself is today a restaurant, a hotel, a museum, a gallery, a look out point, a stage for the biggest summer rave party in Eastern Europe – EXIT and above all a magnificent building, dominating the city. One of its most interesting features is the clock tower. It has switched hands, so the short hand shows minutes and the long one hours (it’s because the fishermen on the river needed to know appropriately what the time was, so it was much more important to know which hour it is, then how many minutes until or pass it there are).

But the main city square with the city hall was by far the most impressive thing I’ve seen on this trip. Probably because it had gotten dark already and it was all in lights, but it reminded me of a square of a famous old world capital, something along the line of Prague, or maybe even Brussels.