Travel with Ned

01/09/2025

Let’s explore Serbia together!

Join me, Ned, on a FREE tour to Gudurica, Sunday, 14th September!
What's free: transport, guide (me!), and lots of love for Serbia.

Not free: food & drinks in wineries

Our adventure:

In this exciting harvesting time, we will visit Gudurica wineries.
• Bahus
• Selecta
• Mišić

You can taste wine, speak and hear interesting stories from the owners and buy their wines.

Pick up in Belgrade at 9-10am, return afternoon after visiting all three wineries.

Let's make some unforgettable memories together!

25/06/2025

Free tour with Ned
Let’s experience together our beautiful mountain Kosmaj!
Available days: Saturday, Sunday
What is free:
Transport, driver & car, modest, and a little bit rusty but with a lot of love for Serbia, licensed tour guide, me.

What is not free:
All you want to eat and drink

I will be your driver and guide.

I will pick you in arranged place in Belgrade, morning, best until 9-10h. Than we go to Kosmaj, it will take around 1h.

1 When we arrive first, we will go to see Tresije monastery https://www.eparhija-sumadijska.org.rs/eparhija/manastiri/tresije.
We will stay there a while, talk about our Orthodox religion and our customs, our Slava, founder Saint Sava, our royal line Nemanjići.

2 After we will go to viewpoint on Kosmaj peak where you will have fantastic view on Šumadija, a heart of Serbia. https://www.srbijapodlupom.com/vidikovac-kosmaj/.

3 Between 12 and 1h pm we will go to Kabinet brewery https://kabinet.rs/. We will taste their own beer & sausage & potatoes there. Kabinet has nice lawn in front of brewery where we can have a picnic.

4 Around 2-3.pm we will go to Eden winery https://vinarijaeden.rs/.
It takes around 30 min, by car, this new winery is classic represent of private Serbian producers, lot of hard work, excellent wines.
We will taste their wines in beautiful terrasse.
We will stay in Eden as long as you want.

5 Our last point, around 30 min by car, typical Serbian representative of etno tourism, Zornića kuća (House of Zornić family) https://www.zornicakuca.rs/ .
Colorful surroundings, interesting restaurant drink, food and sleep over.
There we can taste classic Serbian food & drink: rakija first, than mix of dry meat and 6 different spreads with bread, baklava & domestic coffee.
In the evening return to Belgrade.

See you!

16/02/2025

One good day in Serbia 21
Wineries Sremski Karlovci, restaurant Pasent
I am still and always amazed how fast wineries in Serbia growth. It is like mushrooms after the rain, and, putting aside how great it is, I am wondering where money comes from, and still coming. It is a very expensive and hard-working business, and very risky, not only that you depend on nature but even if you got great wine it is a mining work to sell it…
Bu as I said, Serbia is fast growing wine business country. This text is about Sremski Karlovci, wineries around it, the place itself, and one restaurant that I visited.
First about Sremski Karlovci. As always, I will not write much about history, you can find it on the web, just few general information’s.
It is a historical place, Serbs are divided most of our history, between the east and the west (now very much also), Sremski Karlovci are the place, which was sanctuary for us in Austro-Hungarian empire, while the rest of the people were under the Turkish-Otoman rule. And if you look closer you will see that north parts of our present country, north from Sava and Danube, are different from south parts. And yes, we are the same people, but there are small differences in culture, language, architecture, agriculture…
And here we are, Sremski Karlovci. You will find it easily, not far away from Belgrade, especially from Novi Sad. Regarding history and culture, I will only list, The Orthodox Cathedral, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sremski_Karlovci_Orthodox_Cathedral , Karlovci Grammar School https://karlovackagimnazija.rs/en/ , The Patriarchate of Karlovci, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriarchate_of_Karlovci , …… and so on….
I am not an expert, but those who are, says that on the slopes of Fruška gora, lonely hill-mountain in Vojvodina, you can grow finest grapes and wines. I visited Kiš winery. Nice wines https://kis1801.com/ , I could not find web on English. Most of the winers in Sremski Karlovci are proud of something unique, Bermet, sweet wine with herbs, with secret recipe, every winery has its own. And other wines, presently grape and wine Tamjanika, original wine sort, are very popular.
I must point, once more great effort all wineries put in production and presentation of their wines.
In most of them you have a nice “tasting room” , or even small restaurant, where you can taste wine, eat some small starter-cheese, domestic bread, dry meat, prosciutto …
Here is the list of Sremski Karlovci wineries https://karlovci.org.rs/en/wineries/ . And you will have a “sweet dilemma “ which to choose, which to visit, of course, if you will not dedicate more days to Sremski Karlovci wineries.
I was in Kiš winery https://kis1801.com/ , nice, old, small winery, nice people, want to answer on all questions, of course, I would recommend it. Here, I suppose in every winery, you can buy wines, reasonably priced.
After winery Kiš we went to Pasent restaurant https://pasent.rs/ . it was a winter, we seated inside, but it is on Danube bank, and there is a nice garden, so I believe it is more beautiful to go on summer. It was nice, waiters are interesting, you can talk with them…
And that’s it, short text but great destination, one of the most important in Serbian history….

26/01/2025

One good day in Serbia 20
Mileševa Monastery, Sopotnica waterfalls
Evan small country, Serbia has very much to offer, a lot to see. I will write again about west Serbia, as I did in few last posts.
Sopotnica waterfalls are not easy to reach. Everything is ok until you are on the main road. But after you turn in to narrow, still with asphalt, with serpentine it is getting interesting. First you will realize that there is no hurry, you must drive carefully and slowly. You will climb quiet, with a great view during the ride, not for those who are afraid from heights.
It is not marked properly, maybe there are some small wooden signboards, easy to miss. But eventually you will find it. Just to repeat, reserve enough time, if possible whole day, including Mileševa Monastery, for Sopotnica waterfalls. You will park in the waterfall base; from there you can go on foot. The view is amazing, all around you can see mountains. I started to walk to the main waterfall, but unfortunately did not have enough time, and I had to return, I reached a small mountain house with a church nearby, all very interesting. I recommend this journey, it is exiting, interesting even if you visit only waterfall, but if you visit Mileševa, it is a jackpot!
Serbian Orthodox Monasteries are certainly most precious what my country has to offer. Orthodox religion is very important to people, even for those who are not religious, because it is a part of our culture, our history. You probably heard about „Slava“, Serbian Orthodox custom, a day when we celebrate a family Saint. In the morning, we go to our church where our priest blees us, our family and our cake-bread made especially for that day. It is a solemn celebration, the day when all godfathers and close relatives come and celebrate together with a host family, Saint Day. https://www.serbia.travel/en/experience-serbia/nature/natural-monuments/sopotnica-waterfalls
Mileševa Monastery belongs to Raška school, it is founded by Saint Simeon grandson, Vladislav in 13th century, the church is dedicated to Ascension of Our Lord. Mileševa is worldwide known for the frescoes the White Angel, an angel at Christ’s tomb. Every Serbian Orthodox Monastery if worth to see, Mileševa is a must. Place where you will feel good, find your peace. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mile%C5%A1eva_Monastery
That is it, one more great day in Serbia!

06/01/2025

One good day in Serbia 19
Stopića pećina, Pećinar, vodopad Gostilje, Sirogojno (Zlatibor, once again)
Stopića cave is one of the most visited places in Zlatibor. If you are interested in nature, to see „Zlatibor inside “, you should visit it. It is prepared for tourists, there is secured path through the cave, lights in different colors. Like in every cave, the temperature is nice, cooler during summer and warmer during winter. It is also interesting to get there, you are going through the woods, also good, arranged paths, and parking provided too.
https://www.zlatibor.org.rs/sr/sta-videti/atrakcije/stopica-pecina/
After cave you can visit restaurant „Pećinar“ https://www.zlatibor.org.rs/eng/where-to-eat/restaurants/Restaurant--Tavern-Pecinar/
It is „Caveman „their specialties are grilled trout.
Last attraction for the day is Gostilje waterfall. Also arranged entrance with parking. Gostilje is great, especially during summer, falling water cools the air. Arranged path-stairs lead all the way down where you can sit and rest for a while.
If you have strength, or you are staying more days you should visit Sirogojno village https://www.zlatibor.org.rs/eng/what-to-see/attractions/Museum-Staro-selo-Old-village-Sirogojno/
There is an old village museum, and you can buy hand knitted sweaters, jackets, and shawl.
Of course, there are many more to see in Zlatibor, but I leave it to you to explore!

27/10/2024

One good day in Serbia 18
Gostilje, Domaćinstvo Filipović
Zlatibor. One of the most known mountains in Serbia. And its center, Kraljeve vode (King’s waters). In the last 20 years it become very popular modern touristic place, with a lot of big buildings, shops, hotels…. So, forget it.
Zlatibor is much much more that Kraljeve vode, in fact it is only one small part of it. So we decided to explore part of “real” Zlatibor, and we were lucky, we found Filipoviće, https://www.instagram.com/domacinstvofilipovic/ https://selo.rs/en/o/domacinstvo-filipovic
I suppose that people who are interesting in Serbia already know that during last 30 years there is new tourist offer, many wooden cottages, villages, small farm which are hosting tourists in natural environment, good domestic food and drink, warm hospitality. As I can see it is very popular among foreign and domestic tourists for all who want human touch, contact with nature, without sterile and plastic /concrete / glass environment.
Ok, Gostilje. There are more villages which are scattered in some bigger area, which looks like big plate on the mountain. Beside Gostilje there are Ljubiš and Sirogojno, and probably more vilages, which we did not found and visit. Sirogojno is also known village, among other, for hand-knitted clothing, https://www.sirogojno-style.com/en/museum , open air museum, https://serbia.com/ethno-village-in-sirogojno-the-unique-open-air-museum/ , church…
But most visited touristic attraction is waterfall Gostilje and Stopića cave, about which I will wrote on next posts.
Domaćinstvo Filipović, lets translate it as “country household Filipović (which is of course sur name of the owners)”, contains two cottages, two wooden houses, very cozy and modern. Unfortunately, Miloš was not there, our host was his wife Dragana and all her animals, two dogs, cats, chicken’s. You can see from the first look that in this place “rule” calmness, hospitality, and nature. Very soon we found out that all of that comes from Dragana. Nevertheless, all obligations and worries, she is always with a smile, always there for whatever we need. It is nice to get up in the morning, drink coffee and rakija (which Dragana left in the fridge) and eat breakfast which she just had made, fresh, tasty. It was great also to seat in the evening below sky full of stars, in silence. Dragana also gave us suggestions about what to see, where to go. One of her suggestions is restaurant Pećinar, where we went for a lunch, one of their specialties if grilled trout.
I wish the best to Dragana and Miloš, they are hard workers, trying to maintain small touristic entrepreneur business and promote best of Serbia, its nature, people, hospitality, food.

01/10/2024

One good day in Serbia 17
Ledena pećina (Ice cave)
Dule (Biserna dolina owner) suggest to us, among many other places, to take a cruise on Uvac lake. There are two dams, the one we visited and from where we started our cruise is in village Akmačići. Dule made a reservation for us, price is 2000 RSD / person. It takes about one hour to reach the cave, then about one hour in the cave and again one hour in the boat back to starting point. It was nice on the boat, sunny weather, specific green-blue color of the water. Marko was a “captain”, he new quite about Uvac, about the birds - “Eurasian griffon vulture” and about the cave. Many people think that Ledena pećina can be reached only with boat, it is not true. When we reached small dock, we climbed over steep stairway and get into the cave. Marko gave us hand lamp, without which it would be impossible to enter, it is dark, there is no electricity. Temperature is the same whole year, 8⁰C. And it is slippery, you should be careful. 600 meters are open for tourists. Cave is very interesting, especially if you like caves as I do, all is natural, there are no stairs, tracks, electricity, nothing. If you go to visit Uvac, don’t miss the Ice cave!

17/09/2024

One good day in Serbia 16
Biserna dolina (Pearl Valley)
If you are coming with a car from Ivanjica, after a ride through beautiful scenery, surround with mountains all around you, you will come to small roundabout, if you go strait you will reach Sjenica, but on the right is Uvac, Biserna dolina, viewpoint Molitva…Narrow asphalt road, than small sign with direction pointing to left to Biserna dolina, and few other places to stay. Then macadam road, specific pastel red color of the road, and there you are! Vesna is waiting for you to show you where to park, Đura is there, he is always there, weather you see him or not…And finally Dule, modest, polite, informative, kind owner, also always there. An interesting person and story, he was born and lived till few years ago in Belgrade, capital city where everybody wants to come to live. But Dule decided to leave Belgrade and start a new life and business in his grandfather’s land. His wife Vesna followed him.
Biserna dolina presently (they are building more…) has two accommodation units, a house with more rooms and a beautiful new wooden cottage with nice view on Uvac. That cottage, which Dule and his godfather made completely by themselves, is optimal accommodation, it has all you need for a pleasant stay, good new bad, functional clean bathroom, Air conditioner, Wi-Fi, TV…… everything is nice and cozy. On the other hand, it fits in with the nature surrounding, it is made of wood. We had two meals, breakfast and dinner which Vesna prepared. It was always a double pleasure, for the eyes and the taste. Served on a nice pottery plate, tasty, prepared mostly from local groceries.
From Biserna dolina you can walk to Molitva viewpoint, but we did not, it was too far for us, about 4 km through unknown terrain, in very hot weather. For more “mountain” experience people great walk! We went there by car, it is close. And all what people say for Molitva is true, not many words can describe it, you should come and see. Very good feeling standing on the edge looking down on Uvac lake with Eurasian griffon vulture flying above you. And wind, it is always windy….
There are more walking trails and places you can go and visit, but I already wrote too much. Next time, next post…

15/09/2024

One good day in Serbia .....15
Uvac
Evan if you do not want to follow main touristic attraction in Serbia Uvac is a must to visit.
That day came this summer. We did not have a clear picture, where is what and where we should stay, but we were lucky, we chose “Biserna dolina”. First about the trip, from Belgrade, now, there is a highway Miloš Veliki, after you reach Čačak you go back to “normal” road to Ivanjica, then just before Sjenica you enter the Uvac nature region, kingdom of Eurasian griffon vulture. This is a bird, an eagle, which eats only dead animals and with a big wingspan. It is a trademark of Uvac, they were almost completely exterminated. Now, people feed them, helping them to survive on Uvac canyon. As climate change, this summer was a drought, Uvac lakes had less water than usual. But even so, nature is astonishing, standing on the cliff with the lake deep down and those birds above you is unforgettable. There are a lot of tracks to walk, it is not easy, and it is risky little bit, but if you are careful, you can enjoy yourself in perfect nature. Of course, we were at “Molitva”, the most well-known viewpoint on Uvac. And yes, it is a fantastic view, with most of the time with wind in your hair…. In next post about Bisena dolina….

26/08/2023

See Belgrade Inside.....15

Wine route Serbia

Gudurica. The wine route. Grape from the Banat vineyard. I read about it so many times on the net. And always very excited, how wonderful it would be to visit some vine route, to see wineries, to talk with owners, workers. And after a long time, and when having that same time, we decided to go to visit Gudurica. Before the trip, here are the wineries I found in Gudurica:

Bahus
https://gudurica.rs/vinarija-bahus-vino-je-poslednjih-godina-postalo-pitanje-trenda/ https://www.instagram.com/vinarijabahus/
https://vojvodina.travel/winery-bahus-grozd-gudurica/

Nedin
https://gudurica.rs/vinarije/vinarija-nedin/ https://vojvodina.travel/wine-cellar-nedin-gudurica/
https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=245259802518399

Orlić
https://porodicnavinarijaorlic.rs/en/

Rnjak
https://www.vinarijarnjak.com/ https://www.facebook.com/vinarijarnjak https://www.instagram.com/vinarijarnjak/?hl=en
https://gudurica.rs/ljiljana-rnjak/

Selekta
https://gudurica.rs/vinarija-selecta/ https://vinarijaselecta.com/ https://www.facebook.com/vinarijaselecta

And I called most of them, to see if it is possible to visit them during the weekend. And that was my first impression about Gudurica, they all said: "Yes, ofcourse, but please confirm your visit since we have many obligations, maybe in the vineyard, maybe in Vršac going for supplies". I was confused at first, but then, after I spoke a little bit with every owner, most of the time you will get the owner on the phone, I realized that they are hard workers dedicated to their work, no, this is not the correct word, passion is a good one. And all of them take great risk, to be an entrepreneur in a winery means bank credits, investing all you have in that business, like when you have a talented child for tennis, you must support that child with a lot of money but without any certainty.
We started Saturday morning from Belgrade, ofcourse, the best way is through Pančevo, but this time we had to pick up two more passengers in Brestovik. We passed through another region which is good for vineyards, Smederevo.
Vineyard & winery, we did not visit it, but it looks very interesting:
https://www.vinarijajeremic.rs/sonata.php

It took about one and a half hour to reach Vršac, which is our first check point. I wrote about Vršac, here I will point out:
- Museum in Vršac where you can see paintings of our famous painter Paja Jovanović. In his famous
painting, Vršački triptych, one part is dedicated to grape harvest.
-Helvecija, Drašković winery & restaurant https://helvecija1880.com/restorani-helvecija

And ofcourse, Vršac tower, Cathedral, Mesić monastery……
http://www.to.vrsac.com/docs/vrsac-engleski.pdf

Gudurica! I think about 10km from Vršac. We arrived, narrow road, very hot day, nobody on the street, a few stone buildings in reconstruction, probably the center of the village, no sign of wineries…
But as we all well know, the pearl is in the shell.
I called Ivan, Bahus winery, he gave us direction, and we got there. Big wooden gate, as in front of every house in Gudurica, Ivan is opening, big smile, hard hand shaking, classic Serbian welcoming.
Nice house yard, children playing, laughing, adults preparing tables for some bigger group for lunch and wine tasting.
Ivan brings a plate with pickled grapes and two or three different kinds of hard cheese. Wait, pickled grapes??? Never tasted, but it tasted excellent! Ivan is also a producer of rakija, here I will not translate this word, I think that during last decades who got anything with Balkan region, Yugoslavia is forbidden word, but never the les, when you say Balkan region everybody knows it is ex-Yugoslavia, so if you visit this region or you plan to do it, or you read about it, you know what is rakija.
First, we tasted grape rakija and then wines from Ivan’s production. All the time Ivan is seating with us, performing his magic, presentation of Gudurica and wine making history. A lot of interesting stories, Germans made wines here until the second world war, then they left, and long before Germans, Romans. I was interested in his decision to start with wine producing, buying more land for vineyards, house and wine cellar reconstruction ….

If you want to make wine in Serbia today you must be businessman, vineyards-grape & wine making expert (with constant learning), tour guide with presentation skills and restaurant manager with chef’s level knowledge of food, all in one!

After rakija goes white wines, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanks….
I stopped, was driving, and it was a very hot day.

We said goodbye to Ivan and his family, wishing to come back, maybe now, in September, “Grožđebal” manifestation in Vršac, dedicated to grape harvest.
http://www.to.vrsac.com/Page.aspx?Page=Manifestacije-Grozdjebal&Lang=sr
Unfortunately, we did not visit other wineries, but it may be good, will come again!

Turistička Organizacija Vršac