BELGRADE – Mt AVALA – OPLENAC – BELGRADE

Breakfast. Deaparture in direction of central Serbia – Shumadija ( land of woods). On 16th Km from Belgrade, we will visit Avala. The height is 511m, and these 11 meters make it mountain, not a hill. On the place where medieval fortress existed, in 1934. a monument dedicated to all Serbian unknown soldiers killed in wars for Serbia, was erected. The author is sculpture Ivan Mestrovic. It is mausoleum like monument with 8 caryatids, women in national costumes of that time Kingdom of Yugoslavia holding the roof on their heads. Inside is a grave in which one Unknown Soldier from I WW is buried. Impressive. On this mountain there is one more attraction to be visited and seen. Since it was finished in 1965 it becomes the symbol of Belgrade. It is, of course, Avala Broadcasting tower. The original tower was built by plans of architects Uglješa Bogdanović and Slobodan Janjić, and engineer Milan Krstić. After completion, with the 202.87 m height it was the fifth tallest self-supporting construction in the world, after Empire State building, La tour Eiffel, Chrysler Building and Grand Dixence Dam. It was destroyed in NATO bombing in 1999. In 2006. started rebuilding of the tower which was finished on 2009. It is height is now is a 204.5 m. On the 119 meters there is café bar, from where visitors can observe Belgrade and central Serbia. While climbing to these two attractions, there is one more monument, dedicated to the Russian generals. They were flying to Belgrade on October 20th 1964., to celebrate 20 Years of Belgrade’s liberation from German occupation during the II WW in which Red Soviet Army participate, led by these generals. Their plane crashed into Avala and all of them were killed. So far the cause of this accident is not known.

From Avala, we will proceed to Topola and Oplenac, to the very heart of Serbia – Sumadia.

After some 55 Km, we are reaching city Topola on feet of hill Oplenac. Topola is the place where Karageorgije was chosen as a leader of First Serbian Uprising against the Ottoman Empire in 1804. Here, Karageorgies home and church within the walls are visited.

Then we will climb to the pick of Oplenac hill ( 335 meters) to visit impressive Church dedicated to St. Geogrgije / Mausoleum. Its building started in 1910. and finished in 1930. All members of Karageorgevich family have been buried in the crypt, while the ground level is all covered with copies of the best frescoes from Serbian medieval monasteries and churches. Surface of 3.500m2 mosaics is covered with 40 milion of colorful pieces, 15.000 nuances, forming 1.500 figures. There is not no covered space

Also the house in which King Peter the I lived, now turned in museum is visited.

After visiting Oplenac, we will drive to the Kings vinery and vine cellars.

Possibility of organization of vine testing and also lunch in this region. Drive back to Belgrade.