Day Trip to Sremski Karlovci

I took a trip to Sremski Karlovci on my last day in Novi Sad and spent half a day there.

Sremski Karlovci is located about 30 mins bus ride away from Novi Sad. The town square is very small and easily navigable in just 10mins.

One of the bigger reason for coming here was to visit the wineries. I had gone to the Visitor information centre to pick up some information and on the map were listed a lot of wineries to visit, many which were outside the city centre. Those that were in the city centre weren't really open when I was there.

There was also a panoramic view point, but when I tried to climb up, I encountered a gate midway which was locked.

I then decided to walk to the Chapel of the Virgin Mary of Peace, where there were also a few wineries on the way.

The Chapel of the Virgin Mary of Peace was built on the place where one of the most important world events in modern history happened. This is where the Karlovci treaty was concluded on 26th January, 1699 after the great Vienna war (1683-1699).

The representatives of the powers in war met here for the negotiations : Austria, Poland, Venice and Russia on one side and Turkey on the other side, with the presence of the English and Dutch diplomats as the mediators. After long and difficult negotiations the Karlovci treaty was concluded. For the first time in the history of the official world diplomacy, the round table was used for negotiations.

The Chapel got its present appearance by the decision of Vienna War Council (1808) and was built in 1814. 

Unfortunately it was also closed and I could only take a pic from outside.

It was starting to get to be a rather disappointing trip, but then I came upon Vinum Winery which seemed open.

I walked in and asked if they were available for visiting and Wine tasting, and one of the colleague kindly made his time available for me. I was later told that because it's the year end, it's a busy time for them to get deliveries out for the festive holidays.

Jovica whom is the oenologist, provided me with the wine tasting, and was occasionally joined by Milan, whom I later found out is the Sales Director. 

Together the both of them made my day and the trip to Sremski Karlovci extra special. They were super nice and shared with me stories of history in the area and of their neighbouring countries. Milan also later brought out some pears and cheese for me. He even offered to let me follow him to Subotica if I wanted, when he was going there for a delivery 2 days later.

Jovica later showed me around the winery and I learnt that they were a boutique label with grapes produced about 10km away on their own vineyard. Only 6 staff work in the winery, I was super surprised! 

My favourite wine would have to be the Mustra, a mix of muscat and traminer. Slightly sweet but not overly sweet with fruity notes. As well as Bermut, a fortified dessert spiced white wine. I also like it because it is not overly sweet.

I was hoping to try other wineries, but as I needed to also get into Belgrade today, I decided its best to head back to Novi Sad to collect my luggage and make my way after lunch at the 4 Lions Restaurant (came highly recommended by one of the staff at the hostel). 

They only had a Serbian menu, so I asked for their suggestion and they said Karlovačka Šnicla - pork stuffed with ham and a kind of cream cheese and then deep fried. It was good but also very filling. 

With the travel time to and fro, I reached the Central bus station about few mins before 4pm and bought a ticket to Belgrade that departed at 4pm.

It was extremely tight in timing, as I barely made it on the bus - it was just pulling out from the platform when I reached the gates, thankfully it was the closest platform to the gates and I managed to get the attention of the driver to let me on the bus! Otherwise I would had to buy another ticket! Phew. 

Day 50 : Sarajevo - Novi Sad

I had barely slept much overnight, as I kept waking up. I had a 4am alarm set, and probably because I was afraid I might oversleep. But also, I was having issues with my accommodation reservations in Novi Sad. 

The original place I booked was a distance from the bus station and I couldn't find much information on line about public transport to the city centre from the bus station.  When I wrote them a query to request for information on getting to their place from the bus station, the answer I got was "I don't know, I don't take the bus. We are 2km away from the bus station".  That response completely made me uneasy, and I couldn't find them listed on Google maps either. 

By the time the response came in, it was the day before my travel and already way past free cancellation. I wrote in to Agoda nevertheless to try to get a cancellation, but also because I now intend to stay 2 nights in Novi Sad instead of 3 and take a late afternoon bus out to Belgrade, so that I don't have to wake up early the next day for a bus out. 

It was a good thing the request for waiver with the property was approved, though it only came in close to midnight when I was already asleep. I did look at other property options earlier in the day, but options were rather limited. 

I somehow woke up at about 2am and saw the waiver approval and quickly went to work to decide on an accomodation. I wrote direct to one of the hostel - City Hostel, asking if I could book directly with them instead of with Agoda for a discount, and asked for detailed directions to get to their place. I didnt want to go through Agoda, as I could not do any more cancellation on short notice and I preferred a quick response from the property seeing the current situation I was in, and the money is paid direct to the property anyway. 

Nothing I could do but just wait for a response while hoping really hard they would be very prompt. Afterall they had a rather professional website, and had good reviews from both Agoda and on Google maps. 

I couldn't fall asleep anymore and so finally decided to get out of bed at 3.45am to get ready, and left Infinity Boutique hostel just shortly after 5am. 

Another unexpected hiccup - I was supposed to take a tram to the bus station, which I was told by a couple people operates early in the morning. 

After waiting for about 5 mins, I had a nudging feeling I should check the schedule. 

Thankful that I have data on the go, because I soon realised with some Google search that trams operate slightly later on Sundays, with the earliest starting only at 5.45am. 

With the bus departing at 6am, and the bus station at least 30 mins walk away, I just barely have enough time to walk there to make it in time. No choice, I had to walk very quickly! 

I am so glad the weather held up for me too, because it was forecasted to be raining whole of today. It was starting to sprinkle a couple drops when I started walking. There weren't much traffic nor people on the road at that hour. 

I was sooooo exhausted by the time I got to the bus station, but extremely glad that I made it to the bus in time, with about 10 mins to purchase my bus ticket and some mins to spare! Phew! 

Also very thankful the weather held up through the whole way and I stayed dry, because 15 mins after the bus made its way, it started pouring heavily! 

This is going to be a long bus ride... At least 7 hours and then I will need to change another bus in Belgrade to make my way to Novi Sad. 

The good news is that City Hostel's manager Igor responded really quickly at about 8.30am with the 10% discount and extremely clear instructions to getting to the property. I am so relieved! It's been a hectic morning! 

The view along the way wasn't very eventful, other than life along the river close to the border Checkpoint. But we were well ahead of schedule by about 40 mins, clearing both immigration by about 9.10am. 

The Serbian border was really easy, and we didn't even have to get off the bus.

Officer came up and collected our passports (there were about 7 of us on the bus), and when he collected mine he asked a few questions 

1. First time in Serbia?

2. How long am I staying for?

3. Where am I travelling to next?

4. Show covid vaccination cert 

Barely after crossing the border, we came to a 30 mins pit stop. And very well needed, especially since the toilet on the bus was not accessible and I was urging to go! 

Only one issue, there was a turnstile which will only turn with a local coin deposit, and since I only just cleared the border with no money changer in sight, I had no local money! The cashier at the nearby supermarket seemed to read my mind, as she presented a coin to me. I told her I only had Euro, and it sounded like the equivalent was Euro 20 cents. A good thing I had loose change on me! 

I arrived in Belgrade bus station 30 mins ahead of schedule. Upon arriving, I saw a couple of policemen near where the bus stopped and asked a police officer for directions to the nearest money changer and was pleasantly surprised by the very good English. 

Even taxi drivers asking for business for taxi rides were very courteous. A couple thought I was from China or Hong Kong and started saying "Ni Hao". 

I even see some people smiling, a nice contrast from rather stoic Bosnia. 

Got some money changed and managed to get ticket for the next bus to Novi Sad which leaves in 7 mins from platform 39 (that's quite a lot of platforms in this city, tells the sheer size of travel by bus here)! Happy, cos it means I get to arrive in final destination earlier. 🤗 

And there's Internet on bus to Novi Sad, bonus! Been pretty efficient here. 

Arrived into Novi Sad at about 2.20pm, and then it was a bus ride away. 

Igor from City Hostel had provided clear instructions to get to the hostel so that helped greatly.

Also like the really cute looking drawings on the wall.

OK, time to head out and explore the city!