Its Christmas Eve in Serbia!

Tonight is Christmas Eve in Serbia and the last day of 40 fasting days before Christmas. According to tradition, today's lunch is a lenten lunch which usually consists of soup, fish, stuffed wine leaves, beans and salads and during the day we also eat dried fruit, walnuts, red wine and honey. Before lunch the tradition is to bring into the house a branch of an oak tree which symbolises the tree brought by a shepherd and given to Joseph and Mary to make a fire in the stable where Jesus was born. In the villages around Serbia the branch of oak is cut in the forest but in the big cities it's usually bought at the market or in church, and it is burned tonight to represent light and warmth bringing a new beginning. There are lots of traditions which symbolise Jesus's birth, for example, it's good to bring straw into the house to symbolise the crib in which Jesus was born, and to have coins scattered around the house similar to the gold coins given to Jesus by one of the Kings.

Tomorrow is Christmas Day and according to tradition, we go to the midnight liturgy, then in the morning a guest (ideally a young healthy male!) is allowed into the house on this day, bringing the new year. The greeting on the Christmas Day is Hristos se rodi which means Jesus is born - the reply is Vaistinu se rodi which means Verily is born. After returning from the morning liturgy the custom is to serve a Christmas lunch which means the end of the 40-day long fast. The feast starts with prayer, lighting a candle and incense. Lunch is different rotiserie meats, lots of cakes, salads and drinks, and a loaf of home-baked bread in which is hidden a coin - whoever finds it can expect lots more money during the coming year! The custom is to exchange presents and spend the whole day at home, visiting friends and family the next day.

Churches that follow the Julian Calendar celebrate Christmas Day on 7th January – Serbian Orthodox Church, Russian Orthodox Church, Jerusalem Church, Egyptian Kopti, some Etiophians, Ukrainians, Belorussians, Macedonias and Montenegrians.

Merry Christmas!

For more information about Serbia please check www.ReadyClickAndGo.com or email Tara@ReadyClickAndGo.com

Belgrade’s newest attractions

ReadyClickAndGo, a travel company specialising in private day trips, spent a few days in Belgrade last week to discover more about this fast-changing city’s latest highlights:

1. Virtual Tourist has recently declared Belgrade’s Ada Ciganlija Island to be the 3rd best island within a city, behind Paris and Prague. Perfect for picnics and watersports, the island is covered by trees that muffle the sounds of the city, and it is also the site of Serbia’s first golf course. The beautifully clean waters of Sava Lake that lap its gravel beaches are home to many varieties of carp, and can reach 24 degrees C in the summer, thanks to the warm microclimate here http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6B229Z20101203

2. At the tip of the island you can watch one of Belgrade’s most eye-catching landmarks taking shape, a new bridge across the Sava River that will be the largest asymetric single-pylon cable-stayed bridge in the world. The main span of 376m has no supports actually in the Sava so as not to restrict shipping even during construction, and the deck is anchored by 80 stay cables as thick as a man’s arm and a single pylon 200 metres high – one of the highest points in the city. The whole bridge including the main span will be nearly a kilometre long and 45 metres wide with 6 road traffic lanes, 2 railway lines and 2 cycle and pedestrian paths, and it is due for completion in September 2011. http://www.savabridge.com/project.htm

3. Just a few metres higher than Sava Bridge is Mount Avala’s TV transmitter tower, reopened earlier this year and a popular out-of-town picnic spot for locals. This new tower is almost identical to the original that was bombed by NATO in 1999, and money for its reconstruction was raised by donations from over a million people. It is slightly taller and much better built however, and is one of few built as a tripod anywhere in the world. http://serbiatraveller.blogspot.com/2010/11/avala-mountain-and-national-park-near.html

4. Another tower in Belgrade has been restored and will re-open any day now, and that is the medieval Nebojsa Tower at the foot of Kalemegdan Fortress. Renovations were partly funded by Greece as one of their revolutionary heroes was executed in the tower when it was a prison, and one of the exhibitions will feature his life. Other exhibitions will be on the shared history of Serbia and Greece under Turkish occupation.

5. The Museum of Yugoslav History is hosting an exhibition of modern art until the 15th February 2011 in the Museum of 25th May, called Beyond the Iron Curtain. Painting and sculpture by Soviet and Polish artists from 1945 to 1989, both official and dissident, is on display, and you can also visit Tito’s tomb, ironically with a great view of the vast new St Sava Church.

Whilst travelling around Belgrade can be straightforward on public transport or on foot if you can master some Cyrillic script first, getting out of the city is often a little more challenging. ReadyClickAndGo offers private day trips and sightseeing excursions throughout Serbia, with your own English-speaking local guide, car and driver. A private day trip from Belgrade city centre to Avala Mountain and the nearby Vinca archaeological site with a private car, driver and English-speaking local guide is £75 per person.

For more information about Serbia please email Tara@ReadyClickAndGo.com

Travel guide to Serbia

Visa

You may not need visa but you need to register with the Police. Registration is done automatically by hotel staff upon check-in, however if you are staying with friends in a private dwelling, you must register your presence with the police in the district in which you are staying.

Getting there

The main airport in Serbia is in the capital city, Belgrade, and it is named after the Serbian scientist Nicola Tesla. It’s avery small airport and quite close to the city centre. Once you are out of the building don’t let yourself be persuaded by cab drivers to take you to the city centre for 20 euros as that is not a bargain. As the airport is very close to the town (25 min from New Belgrade and 35 min from the old town, depending from the traffic over the Danube) you can get on the shuttle bus service provided by the national airline, still called Yugoslavian Airlines (JAT) or on one of the local buses (LASTA). The JAT shuttle will take you to the city centre and drop you in front of the Hotel Slavija, and the buses will take you to the train and bus stations which are not far from each other. The cheapest option is bus number 95 which stops close to the domestic departures building, but it does take ages to get into town, driving through all the new suburbs of Zemuna and New Belgrade – interesting though! Tickets can be bought before you catch the bus from the newsagent at the airport, and they cost 90 dinars which is less then £1.
You can also fly to Nis, a quaint town in the south that is rapidly gaining popularity.
Trains connect Serbia to all quarters of Europe, the main routes being Budapest, Vienna, Thessalonika, Bucharest, Sofia and Skopje and with the possible exception of routes to the East, they are comfortable, punctual and clean, and overnight trains are a good way of arriving. Trains within Serbia however are a little older and a bit shabby.
The Danube flows right through the centre of Belgrade and many river cruises on the way to the Black Sea from Budapest moor overnight here. It’s an expensive way to get to Belgrade, but you do have time to see Belgrade’s main street and impressive fortress.

Getting around

Very difficult! Most maps, sign posts and other important information is written in the Cyrillic alphabet rather than the western Latin alphabet, and this is the official script of Serbia. You might find it useful to familiarise yourself with Cyrillic letters in order to be able to spell out words – names especially.

The main public transport in Belgrade are the buses which are very frequent. There are thousands of taxis too, they vary in size, comfort and price – sometimes you get a little old Yugoslavian banger, sometimes a much more modern car! You can hail taxis in the street or go to a taxi rank, or call one (or get someone local to call one for you)

Beotaxi, 011/970 (White cab)

Žuti taxi, 011/9802 (Yellow cab)

Pink taxi, 011/9803 (Pink cab)

Hiring a car is very easy but driving on your own around Serbia could be a tricky business especially if you are a first time visitor. Driving is on the right, roads could be bumpy, traffic signs are posted in the official cyrillic letters and fellow drivers are not very patient. If you can’t afford to pay for someone to drive you around then travel by bus.

Where to stay?

In Belgrade I would recommend the Moscva Hotel which has a very long history (it opened in 1908), is very conveniently located in the city centre and has welcomed such distinguished guests as Albert Einstein and his Serbian wife, Mileva. Another hotel with a good location is the Balkan Hotel, not far from the Moscva.
Be aware that prices are higher but the standards not as good as in four or five star hotels in Western Europe. If you are going outside Belgrade I would suggest you stay in small inns which are affordable and professionally run. This Easter I am staying in one very close to the National Park of Fruska Gora., where there is a spa and a few beautiful old monasteries to visit.
Spa hotels are usually too expensive for the level of comfort they offer. The rooms are old fashioned and the hotels themselves usually a little unkempt as there has been not enough money for the government to invest in them (they are mostly state-run). However, the staff are always lovely!
National holidays.
There are too many holidays for the western soul! The number of official holidays comes from the fact that the old communist ones are still kept plus there are several new ones added since those days – so they represent the turmoil Serbia has been through in the last 20 years.
January 1 - 2 (New Year's Day), January 7 (Eastern Orthodox Christmas), January 14 (National Holiday (Orthodox New Year), February 15 (Constitution Day), 2 Apr Orthodox Good Friday, 5 Apr Orthodox Easter Monday, May 1 - 2 (Labour Day).

Working holdays

January 27 (Saint Sava's Day), 9 May Victory Day, 28 Jun St Vitus' Day, 31 December New Year Eve.

Local time

Central European Time Zone GMT+1

Religion

Orthodox Christianity is the major religion, the Serbian Orthodox Church became autonomous in 1219. Other important religions are Islam, Catholicism and Judaism.

What is Serbia famous for?

Hospitality – regardless of the hardship Serbians have been through in recent times guests are always very welcome. And always welcomed with open arms.

Spas – the Republic of Serbia is rich in thermal mineral springs whose waters, depending on their chemical make-up, temperature and other properties, make it possible to treat and cure almost any illness for which spas are recommended.

Monasteries - medieval orthodox monasteries such Studenica, Manasija, Žiča, Ravanica are an excellent opportunity to see part of Serbian history. If you are interested in art, there are excellent fresco masterpieces, especially the Beli Anđeo (White Angel) fresco in Mileseva monastery.

Nightlife – Belgrade is one big night club from 10pm until the early morning, especially during the summer time when most of the bars are open on the banks of rivers Danube and Sava. Drink domestic beers as the bars don’t stock a huge amount of foreign beers and they often run out of them. Try the national drink, rakija (raki) which is usually made of plums and is 40% alcohol. Older people swear by its medical attributes.

Festivals - Visit EXIT festival that is happening in the beginning of July, in Novi Sad, on Petrovaradin fortress. The EXIT festival came into being in the year 2000 as an act of rebellion against the regime of Slobodan Milosevic, that had for years been keeping Serbia out of touch with the outside. The Belgrade Beer Festival, takes place at Ušće in Belgrade every August. Anotehr famous Serbian Festival the Guca trumpet festival also known as the Dragacevo Assembly is an annual brass band festival held in the town of Guča, near the city of Čačak, a three-hour bus journey from Belgrade.

What to eat?

The main dishes are based on meat, usually pork. There are some vegetarian dishes available, and it’s vegetarian heaven in the weeks before the Orthodox Christmas or Easter when Serbians fast, or eat no meat.

• Gibanica – filo pastry pie with spinach and cheese or just cheese (like spanakopita or tiropita in Greece)

• Pasulj – beans, a national speciality, often cooked for a long time and delicious with cured meat.

• Prebranac - cooked and roasted beans with various spices and vegetables. Completely meat-free

• Punjene Paprike - stuffed peppers

• Roštilj– various meats grilled on an open fire, charcoal grilled.

• Paprikas - stew with paprika, usually made with chicken

• Gulas - stew with paprika with beef

• Sarma - cabbage rolls, similar to dolmades but made with sauerkraut instead of vine leaves

• Riblja čorba - Fish soup using freshwater fish, very good at the barge restaurants along the Danube and Sava.

• Proja - a type of corn bread with white cheese, and a national speciality.

And don’t forget to try domestic product – rakija – ( raki) which is usually made of plums and has 40% of alcohol. Older population swears by it’s medical attributes.

Do not

Talk about war. Especially the recent one. If you have to - talk about WWI and WWII. If you are gay do not show affection publicly – it is still a rarity here.

If you need more information about travelling in Serbia please email Tara@ReadyClickAndGo.com or click out our website at http://www.readyclickandgo.com/

Its Christmas Eve in Serbia!

Tonight is Christmas Eve in Serbia and the last day of 40 fasting days before Christmas. According to tradition, today's lunch is a lenten lunch which usually consists of soup, fish, stuffed wine leaves, beans and salads and during the day we also eat dried fruit, walnuts, red wine and honey. Before lunch the tradition is to bring into the house a branch of an oak tree which symbolises the tree brought by a shepherd and given to Joseph and Mary to make a fire in the stable where Jesus was born. In the villages around Serbia the branch of oak is cut in the forest but in the big cities it's usually bought at the market or in church, and it is burned tonight to represent light and warmth bringing a new beginning. There are lots of traditions which symbolise Jesus's birth, for example, it's good to bring straw into the house to symbolise the crib in which Jesus was born, and to have coins scattered around the house similar to the gold coins given to Jesus by one of the Kings.
Tomorrow is Christmas Day and according to tradition, we go to the midnight liturgy, then in the morning a guest (ideally a young healthy male!) is allowed into the house on this day, bringing the new year. The greeting on the Christmas Day is Hristos se rodi which means Jesus is born - the reply is Vaistinu se rodi which means Verily is born. After returning from the morning liturgy the custom is to serve a Christmas lunch which means the end of the 40-day long fast. The feast starts with prayer, lighting a candle and incense. Lunch is different rotiserie meats, lots of cakes, salads and drinks, and a loaf of home-baked bread in which is hidden a coin - whoever finds it can expect lots more money during the coming year! The custom is to exchange presents and spend the whole day at home, visiting friends and family the next day.
Churches that follow the Julian Calendar celebrate Christmas Day on 7th January – Serbian Orthodox Church, Russian Orthodox Church, Jerusalem Church, Egyptian Kopti, some Etiophians, Ukrainians, Belorussians, Macedonias and Montenegrians.

Merry Christmas!

For more information about Serbia please check www.ReadyClickAndGo.com or email Tara@ReadyClickAndGo.com

Merry Christmas from Belgrade, Serbia!

I am sitting on the 3rd floor of my mum's apartment in the city center of Belgrade and emailing all around the world wishing a Merry Christmas to all my friends scattered around the globe, from Rachel in Nepal who is doing charity work after being dumped yet again, to Elke in Thailand after being made redundant yet again, to Fran in London doing an MSc in Environmental Science after deciding that she had enough of travelling. Out of sheer fun, I wish Merry Christmas to my friends in China even I know they don’t celebrate it. They do the same to me.
I can hear my mum on the phone to her brother in Holland and her best friend just across the river Danube which is just at the end of the number 706 bus in a different part of Belgrade and wish them a Merry Christmas too.
Despite the celebratory feelings we, the Serbian people, don't actually celebrate Christmas on the 25th December. Our Christmas comes a bit later on the 7th January - some people in the West call us the "Eastern Catholics". This is because of our use of the traditional Julian Calendar, under which December 25 falls on the Gregorian calendar's January 7. The Julian calendar, a reform of the Roman calendar, was introduced by Julius Caesar in 46 BC and it has a regular year of 365 days divided into 12 months, and a leap day is added to February every four years. Hence the Julian year is on average 365.25 days long.
The Gregorian solar calendar is an arithmetical calendar. It counts days as the basic unit of time, grouping them into years of 365 or 366 days; and repeats completely every 146,097 days, or 400 years, and which also happens to be 20,871 seven-day weeks. Of these 400 years, 303 (the "common years") have 365 days, and 97 (the leap years) have 366 days. This gives an average year length of exactly 365.2425 days, or 365 days, 5 hours, 49 minutes and 12 seconds.
Basically, the only difference is that the Gregorian calendar is 13 days behind the Julian calendar.
During this festive time, you greet another person with "Christ is Born," which should be responded to with "Truly He is Born." The Serbian name for Christmas is Božić , which is the diminutive form of the word bog, meaning 'God'.
Most Serbian families celebrate the Christmas/New Year season with a Christmas tree in the house. The decoration of the tree is a very good opportunity to gather family members around, and the main tradition is for the head of the household to go into a forest on Christmas Eve (6th January) preferably before sunrise, or at least before noon, to select a young and straight oak tree and a log cut from it is in the evening ceremoniously put on the domestic fire. A bundle of straw is taken into the house and spread over the floor.
On Christmas Day, (7th January) the celebration is announced at dawn by church bells and by shooting. Huge importance is given to the first visit a family receives that day. People expect that it will bring prosperity and well-being for their household in the ensuing year; this visit is often pre-arranged. Christmas dinner is the most celebratory meal a family has during a year. A special, festive loaf of bread is baked for this occasion, and the main course is roast pork . It is not traditional in Serbia to exchange gifts at Christmas. Gift giving is, nevertheless, connected with the holiday, being traditionally done on the three Sundays that immediately precede it. Children, women, and men, respectively, are the set gift-givers on these three days. Closely related to Christmas is New Year's Day by the Julian calendar (January 14 on the Gregorian calendar), whose traditional folk name is Little Christmas.
I wont be in Belgrade for little Christmas but I am sure I will celebrate it in London with my friends Rachel, Elke, Fran….

Train from Sarajevo ( Bosnia) to Belgrade ( Serbia)

According to the Bosnian winter train timetable the first direct train between Sarajevo and Belgrade since the 1992-95 war will start running on the 13th December 2009 at 1135. True to typical Balkan confusion the train will consist of three carriages : one from Bosnia, one from Republika Srpska and one from Serbia. The price of the ticket is the same for all three carriages and one way in 2nd class is Euro 25 or GBP23 The train will run daily leaving Belgrade at 0815 and arriving in Sarajevo at 1735 according to the spokesman of Bosnian trains.

Religious Tour of Belgrade ( Walking tour of Belgrade)

Walk to the lower part of Kalamegdan Fortress passing the Nebojsa Tower which used to be a prison during the Turkish occupation and which today is a museum dedicated to the Greek revolutionary Rigas Feraio, strangled by the Turks here and thrown into the Danube. Not far from the tower is St Petka’s Church, well known for its spring which according to locals has healing powers. The church has lovely mosaics and also relics (bones) of the saint herself which are displayed every Friday.

A few yards away is St Ruzica Church, the oldest Orthodox Church in Belgrade, which was badly damaged during WWI and rebuilt in 1925 when two statues of soldiers were added at the entrance.

On the famous Knez Mihailova Street is Bajrakli Mosque, built around 1575 by the Ottoman Sultan, Suleiman the Magnificent. During the Austrian occupation (1717 -1739) the mosque was converted to a Catholic Church only to be changed back again in 1741 during the Turkish invasion. Today it is the only active mosque in Belgrade.

Not far from the mosque is Belgrade’s Synagogue, opened in 1926. This synagogue is the only active synagogue in Serbia and its rituals are held by Serfadi Jews who came to Serbia during the 1490s from Spain and Portugal.
Crossing Knez Mihailova Street see the most prominent Orthodox Christian place of worship, the Saborna Crkva, also known as the Cathedral Church of St. Michael the Archangel. The cathedral was built in 1840 by Prince Miloš Obrenović, one of Serbia’s early kings. The church was built in the neo-classical style with late baroque elements, and the interior is richly decorated with a carved golden iconostasis. At the entrance in a small garden are two graves, one of them of the Serbian linguist, Vuk Karadzic, who is best known for his book on Serbian spelling, Write as you speak and Read as it is written. The second grave belongs to Dositej Obradovic, the Serbian author, philosopher and linguist who tirelessly advocated ideas of European Enlightenment and Rationalism.

Opposite the Cathedral Church there is the Serbian Orthodox Patriarchate which was built in 1935. On the main façade an impressive portico has low columns and an arched portal above which is a sculpted coat of arms of the Patriarchate of Serbia. On the top of this facade, in a niche, is a mosaic representing St. John the Baptist.

Closer to Tasmajdan Park there is St Mark’s Church built from 1931 to 1940 in the Serbo- Byzantine style. At the south end of this church is a sarcophagus with the remains of the Serbian Emperor Stefan Dusan, and at the north end is a crypt of white marble containing the body of Patriarch German Doric. St Mark’s has a highly valuable collection of 18th and 19th century Serbian icons, and next door is a small Russian Orthodox church.

In the centre of Belgrade there is a new addition to the city’s religious architecture, the Cathedral of Saint Sava which, once finished, will be the largest active Orthodox Church in the world. The church is dedicated to Saint Sava, the founder of the Serbian Orthodox Church and it is located where Saint Sava is thought to have been burned in 1595 by the Ottoman Empire’s Sinan Pasha. Work on the cathedral started in 1935 only to be stopped during WWII. In 1985 the Patriarch reapplied for permission to continue building only to be refused 88 times, and permission to finish the building was finally granted in 1984.
The topmost point of the cathedral is some 134 m (439.6 ft) above sea level and is visible from everywhere in the city. The interior of the church is not yet finished but standing inside even now is impressive and awe-inspiring.


Please email tara@ReadyClickAndGo.com for further information.