ELEVATE - NOVEMBAR

92 | A leksandra, Tanja, Marjan, Bo- jan and Rade are behind the blog “TrippinSrbija” and they are the fivesome that surpris- eseventourismexperts.This ismadeeven more surprising by the fact that none of themhas any formal expertise in tourism- Aleksandra(30),Tanja(30)andMarjan(30) are political scientists, Bojan (37) is an ar- chitect and Rade (30) is a civil engineer. As such, their view of Serbia’s beauty and points of interest ismore varied and inter- esting. As they are all employed in their sectors and there are five of them, organ- ising tours proves quite challenging for them.That’swhy they’vedeviseda special travel concept - one day once amonth, as that’s a tempo that suits their obligations. And, believe it or not, since January 2016 they haven’t missed a single trip. “We responsibly claim that everyone can set aside oneweekend per month for a tour of Serbia - both financially and in terms of free time. As far as the choice of destination is concerned, Serbia is a sym- biosis of history, natural beauty, art, cul- ture, myths and legends.We are trying to tour all the regions of our country equally. We visit adifferent regioneverymonth, so last month we were inWestern Serbia, in August we were in Kladovo, eastern Ser- bia, and in July we visited Srem. As there are five of us in the group, we all have dif- ferent wishes - the political scientists are more interested in cultural and historical monuments, while the architect and con- struction expert prefer some kind of ac- tive break. And we all find each other on hedonism,”they tell us. Testifying to howmuch Serbia has to offer is the fact that after two years of trav- elling and sightseeing constantly, visiting over 150 sites and covering 13,000 kilo- metres, this fivesome still finds something interesting and hitherto not commonly knowntothewiderpopulationeverytime. “Everythingdepends onperspective. Not every location has to be fascinating, perfect and incredible, andnot all of them are.There’snodestinationintheworldthat offers that, and not Serbia either, nor do we consider that to be the essence. Some beauty hides in little things, in those un- told stories from the places themselves. You just have to be capable of listening. “Apart fromcountless sites of natural beauty, our country is also abundant in re- minders of its turbulent history - from the neolithic Vinča, through medieval times - primarily in the forms of fortresses and monasteries,theroyaldynastiesofObreno- vićandKarađorđević,tositesrelatedtothe two world wars. In addition to all of that, there’s also a very important element of ourculture–folk legends,whichare insep- arablefromfolkloreandvery importantfor popularising tourism,”say this fivesome. Thefactthattheyarecurrentlytheon- lytravelblogdevotedexclusivelytoSerbia has ensured they have a wide audience. About 20,000 followers on all social net- works eagerly await reports of their lat- est adventures, and they are particularly popular on Instagram. After 13,000 kilometres travelled the length and breadth of the country, they have collected many impressions of Ser- bia, but they have a ready-made list of destinations that are perfect for the win- ter period… Ako nas pitate, nije tako teško naći lokalitet u Srbiji koji možete pose- titi i zimi. Srbija je vrlo bogata peći- nama, a pitali bismo vas kad ste po- slednji put posetili neku? Ukoliko se zaputite ka istočnoj Srbiji, neizostav- no morate svratiti u Rajkovu pećinu kodMajdanpeka. Rajko, po kome ova pećina nosi ime, bio je pravi razboj- nik, koji je krao tursko blago. Ozbilj- na mreža doušnika, kao u filmskom scenariju, bila je ispletena oko akci- ja presretanja Turaka i zbog toga je Rajko sa svojim hajducima bio ozbi- ljan trn u oku neprijatelju. Oprečna su mišljenja u vezi s tim da li je Raj- ko bio majdanpečki Robin Hud ili je blago čuvao samo za sebe, ali jedno je sigurno – pravo bogatstvo je ono koje ćete videti oko sebe kad kročite u ovu homoljsku lepoticu. Poseban utisak na nas ostavila je poseta isposnici Svetog Save , sve- ga desetak kilometara od manastira Studenica, na obroncima planine Ra- dočelo. Nalazi se u steni i predstav- lja svojevrsni pećinski kompleks, koji monasi i danas koriste. Nemamnogo istorijskih činjenica o nastanku ovog jedinstvenog lokaliteta. Legendakaže da jenastalakad imanastir Studenica. Navodno ju je sagradio sluga Stefa- na Nemanje, dok je po drugoj, ispo- snicu podigao Sveti Sava po povrat- ku iz Hilandara. Predanje dalje kaže da je upravo tu Sveti Sava nalaziomir i pisao Studenički tipik i Žitije Sve- tog Simeona. Ovo mesto vredi pose- titi tokom cele godine! Isposnica Svetog Save na svega desetak kilometara od manastira Studenica The Hermitage Cell of St Sava, located just ten kilometres from Studenica Monastery 2. 3.