Karling klub Vukovi

The real Indian summer and unusually high temperatures for this time of year came as a great opportunity for organizing the 38th excursion for members and friends of the NUSATARA, Serbian-Indonesian society of friendship, diplomats and officials of the Indonesian Embassy, visiting Pocerina and Radjevina area on October 19th.

The right place for the first morning coffee and a short break was “Vila Albedo”, an ethno center for tourism and culture development in the village of Varna near city of Šabac. Milojka Mica Kovačević, the owner of this first and only rural tourist household in the territory of the town of Šabac, who is also the pioneer of women’s entrepreneurship in rural development, has been awarded with the largest recognition for tourism in Serbia – the “Tourist Flower”, awarded to her on World Day tourism in 2011. Vila Albedo nurtures a rural lifestyle from the end of the 19th century, but also a civic style from the period of Jevrem Obrenović. For our participants, Mrs. Kovačević has prepared a homemade cheese and apple pies and homemade fruit juices.

After passing through Cer Mountain and villages of Pocerje, NUSANTARA has visited the complex in Dobri Potok near Krupanj. The complex consists of the Church of the Holy Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and several old wooden houses (“vajat”) and built constructions that have been converted into museums: museums of sacraments, old crafts, customs, honey and beekeeping, flora and fauna and similar. This complex left a strong impression on many of our guests, as a very representative complex of the Krupa area, especially when talking about the folk customs and tradition.

On that day, in the center of Krupanj, a traditional tourist event called “Fruits of Radjevina” was held, with more than 120 agricultural producers that exhibited their products from this geographical area, in order to host and offer tasting to numerous guests. For them, this event represents an opportunity to show that they can make a living out of growing fruits and vegetables. Furthermore, the guests got a chance to see an exhibition of old “Zastava” cars called Fića, as well as a competition for making stews. The specialty of this event was mushroom stew from Raževina Hill, among which the most important ones were oyster mushroom, porcini and golden chanterelle mushrooms.

Some of the free time, members used to visit the Krupanj Museum, which is the foundation of the proto-priest stavrophore Aleksandar Djurjev, as a result of thirty years long ethnographic and historical research. There are more than 3000 exhibits in the museum.
Others have enjoyed the touristic and gastronomic offerings of Radjevina.

After driving through the hills above Krupanj, and through Sokolske planine Mountain, the members of the Society reached the monastery of St. Nikolaj Velimirović.

Marko Jelić

Photo: Vladimir Ilić, Oliver Dimić, Milica Djenović, Gilberte Delva and Hasan Astara.