One day in Greentown: what to see

Hope dies last. Nowhere on the net can one find out whether it is accessible or not. Well, it’s not the first time… There are other things that will make us drive about 100 km mostly by bad road…

Thankfully, my tires were inflated and only half an hour left to get in the car and go…

Sometimes the process of getting on the car takes longer than the drive, but a Zen wheeler like me quickly adopts patience. The people who use the wheelchair are the most patient in the world…

 

Serbia Sombor Travel

And so, not to beat around the bush, we got to  Sombor or Greentown for which its appropriately named.

Serbia Sombor Travel

Why? Because of the hackberry tree. The hackberry tree has been a symbol of Sombor since the 19th century, when the city’s fathers decided to give some color to Sombor, which by then had been full of dust in the Summer and mud in winter.

Serbia Sombor Travel

The choice fell to a Mississippi-origin hackberry  tree called by the locals of Sombor “American cherries” because of its characteristic fruit. Since then, every tree has been recorded and many of Sombor’s streets look like green tunnels.

Serbia Sombor Travel

Sombor is said to have 120 km of streets and 121 km of aisles.

Serbia Sombor Travel

Nice day to visit Sombor but it’s also a weekend. It only means one thing. There will be weddings… It is known who is in charge that day. A bride behind the tree, a bride in the church, a bride UNDER the tree and so on…

Serbia Sombor Travel

Of course there is also the groom who is fully aware that he is not very important here. They are all furnished by professionals along with godparents. It’s a pretty sight. They were all taking pictures before the rest of the guests “maul” them. And so weddings are the first thing I will remember Sombor by.

Serbia Sombor Travel

You will also come across this monument downtown.

Serbia Sombor Travel

Sombor is very beautiful and here’s what you should visit in that town which is also called: “City of the Carriages” or “Little Florence” …

Serbia Sombor Travel

Interesting places in Sombor

City Prefecture

Serbia Sombor Travel

That’s why we went. Why? Because that is where the biggest picture in the whole of the former Yugoslavia is located. The frame occupies almost 40 meters of space, and the piece is called the Battle of Zenta. It was commissioned in 1896 by the artist Franz Eisenhut on the occasion of the millennium anniversary of the arrival of the Hungarians in the Pannonian region. The picture depicts the moment of the victory of the Grand Duke Eugene of Savoy over the Turks in the Battle of Zenta, which preceded the signing of the Karlovac Peace, after which the Turks withdrew irreversibly across the Danube. The picture also shows the artist himself, observing the moment of surrender of the Turkish Pasha. If you get far enough you will have the impression that his eyes follow you. The artist, in preparation for this painting, sought the approval of Francis Joseph to attend some military maneuvers, and the idea was considered to have taken over from an engraving by an 18th-century Dutch painter. criticism was dissatisfied as the image was offset by a “lack of Hungarian character”.

Serbia Sombor Travel

After that, the painting arrived in Sombor, but because of its size, they had to break through the wall to accommodate it.
The picture frame is a story unto itself. On the lower part is the date of the battle and on the upper one are Austrian and Turkish weapons with the noble coat of arms of Eugene Savoy and the coat of arms of the Backa-Bodroska county on which is shown Saint Paul.
There were more attempts to get the picture taken from Sombor. Even the Hungarians wanted it, there were attempts to buy it from the National Gallery in London, then Novi Sad wanted to take it, as well as the National Museum in Belgrade, but it remains here as one more reason to visit Sombor.
The painting was in danger three times and had to be protected by a wooden paneling. This barrier protected her during World War II, then during the reconstruction of the ceremonial hall in which it was located, as well as from the 1999 NATO air strikes.
If you want to see it you have to make an announcement but I don’t care because it is not accessible at all… So I solved another enigma. Can the wheelers see the Battle of Zenta? The answer is NO.

In front of the building, large yew trees planted in the early 20th century are also very striking.

Serbia Sombor Travel

I have only seen trees like this in Kalemegdan and what is strange is that this climate does not suit them at all. They are thought to have grown and are maintained so much because there was once a swamp here.

Serbia Sombor Travel

 

Sombor Town House

Serbia Sombor Travel

The Magistrate or Town Hall dominates the market of Saint Trinity. It was built on the foundations of the palace, erected by Count Jovan Brankovic, the first captain of the Sombor township.

Serbia Sombor Travel

It was built in the style of neoclassicism and was upgraded several times during the 18th and 19th centuries. Apart from its beauty, it is also known as a place where important events took place. The annexation of Sombor to the Kingdom of Serbia was signed here in 1918. The stained glass representing the coat of arms of Sombor should not be missed in front of the ceremonial hall.

 

Town Library

Serbia Sombor Travel

It was founded on the initiative of the 72 most learned and respected Serbs in the mid-19th century. It is housed in an eclecticist-style building, and the interior was later enriched with the works of lifelong honorary President Sava Stojkov with 20 oil portraits of celebrities.

Town Museum

Serbia Sombor Travel

The Sombor City Museum is another place I wanted to stop by. In the museum you can see the salon of Laza Kostic as well as the “one”, A sundial that was transferred with the facade and placed in the hall of the museum with the aim of preserving it from the ravages of time and many other things…
Can wheelers come to this museum? The answer is NO.

Foiled again!

The Carmelite Church (The Church of St Stephen the King)

Serbia Sombor Travel

You can’t miss the Carmelite Church. With its two towers, it represents the tallest building in Sombor. It was built for several decades due to lack of funds, consecrated in 1904 and is known for owning the organs, which are officially the largest in Serbia. They consist of 43 registers. I wanted to hear them but I didn’t have that much time…

The Church of Saint George

All the brides I saw that day ended up in the magnificent church of St. George.

Serbia Sombor Travel

The church was built in baroque-rococo style in the 18th century with an impressive iconostasis.

Serbia Sombor Travel

It has 77 icons, stained glass and other landmarks. I visited her between two weddings and could not help but make a snapshot of the iconostasis.

Gallery of Milana Konjovića

Serbia Sombor Travel

There is another place to visit in the Holy Trinity Square or, as the locals call it, “Bald Square”, which is the Milan Konjovic Gallery, one of the symbols of this city. He donated more than 1000 of his works to Sombor with the motto:

This pictures, my darlings,
with love I give to my hometown,
They only belong to him.

The gallery opened in 1966 and has remained unavailable ever since.

The Church of Holly Trinity

Serbia Sombor Travel

It was erected by the Franciscans in the 18th century. Below the church is a crypt that housed prominent locals until 1782 when it was closed. Plebanija, is the seat of city history, because in 1749 inside it was handed to the locals a charter by Empress Maria Theresa granting Sombor the status of a free city… On the southern façade of Plebanija is a replica of that sundial that in 1850, for the love of astronomy, made a commision for a painting the then hated professor Jovan Cakor. Below the clock, a mysterious ‘graphite’ says: ‘You are one of the last’.

Paul Blesic’s sculptures on Main Street

This artist donated sculptures of famous Sombor people to his city:

Laza Kostić

Laza Kostic is a trademark of Sombor, the author of one of the most beautiful poems in the Serbian language, a writer, politician, philosopher, bohemian and joker, can be found on the bench in front of the house where he lived.

 

Serbia Sombor Travel

He was not born in Sombor but stayed there the longest. Sombor was a refuge for him, where they sympathized with all his extravagances. A woman had been waiting for him in Sombor for a quarter of a century, but he had not dedicated his most beautiful verses to her.

Ernst Bošnjak

Serbia Sombor Travel

The man who wanted to turn Sombor into Hollywood.

Veljko Petrović

Serbia Sombor Travel

A political writer, translator and songwriter who was born in this city.

National Theatre of Sombor

Serbia Sombor Travel

All that is beautiful needs to have an end, and so does my visit to Sombor” Is what people wiser then me would say. But first a ‘snack’ for the road.

Serbia Sombor Travel

Good food was always eaten in Sombor. In addition to carriages, writers and greenery, Sombor was once famous for its cheese, which was the only one of these in the area to be recognized by the World Dairy Association as a product of completely indigenous origin. It was sheep cheese in cups, with a very intense taste, which the mother of the family made. The secret of making it was given to the daughter-in-law, not the daughter, so that she would not take the secret to someone else’s house when she married.

Serbia Sombor Travel

There is one more specialty that can be prepared today, and the locals take pride in, which is called a potato pyramide. The potatoes are cut into lobes, the onions into ribs and then a row of dried sausages, a row of dried ribs, potatoes, then again and then a thick flesh bacon garnish. enough weather in the oven so that the  whole street could smell it. This is for lunch as soon as I get home.

In the meantime, I had to ‘find comfort’ in other ways because it was a long way from here to home.

All in all, this was a nice one day trip. ‘Greentown’ is a place worth visiting several times.

Serbia Sombor Travel

What do you think about Sombor?

Did I miss anything?

 

Traveled and enjoyed,

Marko Veličković

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