Hiking and biking in Fruska Gora ’small’ mountains region of Serbia
Almost exactly two years ago, Mark Daniels, a British biker owning one of the best Serbian translation company, Odista, wrote a well-worth reading blog post over at MTB serbia.com about biking around Vojvodina region of Serbia. First, he noted “Sounds funny just saying it: Novi Sad and mountain biking!“. He then went on to explain that, despite its unfortunate flatlands location, Novi Sad, and Fruska Gora mountain have more potential for mountain biking than might be expected. He also pointed out that it’s hard to call Fruska Gora a mountain “I hesitate to call it a mountain at a maximum of around 540m (1770ft) - stretching from the Danube river just outside Novi Sad, all the way to the Croatian border for a length of around 80km (50 miles).” In fact, many travellers wonder why a hill is called a mountain in Serbia.
The latest example is a recent blog post by Noemi Helfenstein, a 23-year-old Swiss woman, spending several months in Subotica (100km far from Novi Sad) thanks to the European Volunteer Service (EVS) programme. She was invited to hike in the Serbian mountains of Fruska Gora. What she discovered when she got there was something else, the modest range of low hills of Fruska Gora:
“I met a guy in Subotica, who told me he was an active member of Suboticas alpinist clubs and who invited me to come to hikes in the Serbian mountains. The first mountain in Serbia is Fruska Gora, near Novi Sad, 100 km south of Subotica. The second one another 100 km further. You have to know Vojvodina is mainly just flat. Really flat. There is not even a hill of 3, 4 meters. Fruska Gora is what we would call a forest in Switzerland. Okay, a forest on a hill. But which forest in Switzerland isn’t on a hill?
In Vojvodina they call it mountain. So on Sunday I went with the Novi Sad Alpinist Club for a 20 km hike in Fruska Gora. It is a really beautiful place. A chain of hills all covered by beautiful forest, with very high trees, that now, in the beginning of spring, have this shiny bright green leaves. Still it was like a joke, having to follow a mountain guide for a simple walk through the forest. We were a group of almost 40 people and walking pretty slow, so when I wanted to walk a little faster one of the guide women, called me back, saying: “Stay behind me! The alpinist codex says that everyone has to follow behind the guide!” (Maiann, han di grad vermisst, het di gern chli agsmilet in dem Moment und ab dem Chnuschti dr Chopf gschuettlet). Yeah, what an alpinist codex for some hills! Still, it’s a beautiful place.”
There are two key things to note in all of this. First, some mountains can be called hills and some hills can be called mountains - it’s just a matter of the original name given to the relief. In Serbia we call Fruska Gora a mountain even if it’s just a hill. That brings up the second key point. Noemi Helfenstein assumes that there are only two mountains in Serbia. This is simply untrue, and any look at a map of Serbia shows this is untrue. Of course, Serbia has numerous mountains. Although not particularly well known in Europe, there are also plenty of excellent ski resorts in Serbia. The most famous unknown resorts in Serbia include Kopaonik (2017 m), Stara Planina (2169 m), Zlatibor (1495 m), and Divibare (1095m).
Comments
By markowe on May 10th, 2009 at 8:13 am
Hi. Thanks for the mention of my site (MTB Serbia, and also Odista, my Serbian/English translation company). Although I wrote that text several years ago, I am still enjoying mountain-biking on Fruška Gora more than ever!
I agree it is a bit funny calling it a “mountain”. I think although Fruška Gora is not very high, it is quite long - some 50 miles perhaps - so it kinds of sounds funny calling it a “hill” (”brdo”) too, and there is no other word in Serbian that would really work. Also, it is the only thing around for lovers of hiking, so although it sounds strange to have a “Mountaineering Club” based on Fruška Gora (of which there are several), it’s the most mountaineering most people will get to experience unless they venture further south in Serbia, where there ARE mountains reaching up to 1800 m. For anyone with even a little experience on a “real” mountain though, what you do on Fruška Gora is closer to “hiking” than mountaineering, and I can understand their frustration if they were looking for something a little more extreme. And it is still very possible to get lost on Fruška Gora, so I wouldn’t blame a guide for doing their job.
As for mountain biking though, Fruška Gora is VERY much adequate to the task - although perhaps there aren’t many rocky/technical parts and not that much single-trail (although we’d be happy to show you some of that, including plenty of sections I certainly don’t dare ride!), and some of that other more extreme stuff many MTBers look for, there is a lot of VERY challenging uphill climbing and some great fast descents, and 100’s of kilometres of trails to enjoy.
Well, come along, bring your MTB and we’ll show you
But for walking, well, no need to call it “mountaineering” - just come for some enjoyable hiking through some beautiful forest, with plenty of monasteries thrown in.
By Filip on August 16th, 2009 at 9:15 am
Actually in Serbian language mountain is closer to be called “planina”. Also, hill should be translated as a “brdo”. But word “gora” has a different meaning and it includes both, some sort of mountain or a hill but densely covered by forest (in Serbian “šuma”). So when you say “gora” than first what pops up in Serbian mind is forest therefore you have “Fruška Gora”.
By Karl Haudbourg on August 16th, 2009 at 2:13 pm
Filip, very useful information, thank you very much!