highlights

Parts of the mountain above 300 meters height above sea level are mainly covered with deciduous trees, tame and pleasant to stroll. The whole mountain is covered with the network of marked walking paths. There are a lot of villages, pastures, orchards and vineyards located in the meadows. Close to thirty monasteries, of which seventeen are active, represent the main attraction. From some mountain peaks you can have amazing view over Vojvodina plain. A few lakes exist in the mountain and the most beautiful is Lake of Ledinci, surrounded by high rocky cliffs. You can take a rest in some of several mountain lodges and smaller hotels. Place Vrdnik is famous for its spa and hot springs and numerous villages for their wines.

history

 

Once upon a time Fruska Gora mountain was an island in the huge Pannonian Sea which covered the area of nowadays Pannonian plain. The highest peak of the mountain is Crveni Cot and it’s 539m high. The mountain itself is 80 km long and only 15 km wide. Even during the Roman Impire Fruska Gora was inhabited . The most famous testimony from this period is, probably, Vrdnik tower, built by Romans in 12th century.

In the beggining of 15th century, fleeing from the Turks, Serbian people inhabited Fruska Gora, founding numerous monasteries to fill them with relics from the churches in Central Serbia. Around thirty monasteries existed, 17 of them are active even today and others are in different stages of delapidation.

A lot of villages are located in Fruska Gora today, so even if you find yourself lost in the woods, sooner or later you will surely bump into a man or settled area. The mountain is very tame and easy for walking.

getting there

 

Fruska Gora is covered with numerous roads. The mountain itself is 60 km away from Belgrade and approximately 10 km away from Novi Sad. The old road connecting these two cities is passing through Sremski Karlovci and eastern part of the mountain. There is also a road from Novi Sad to Irig, big village on the western side of the mountain, via Sremska Kamenica.

It is easiest to get the mountain if you use some of the many buses connecting Novi Sad with villages in Fruska Gora. Buses are operating during the whole day, and they are departing from the main bus station (bulevar Oslobodjenja 1) or suburban bus terminal (downtown, just beside the fish market) depending on where do you want to go.

In general, buses marked with two-digit numbers begining with 7 will take you to some place in Fruska Gora. They are, mostly, departing from the main bus station. You have to buy the ticket from driver and the good thing is to say the final destination because the ticket prices are different depending on the place you are going to.

Here are some examples:

* 72 Paragovo –go to the last stop, proceed a little bit further, cross the road and you will get to a little field. A path leading uphill is starting there to take you to the mountain lodge “Zanatlija“ on Glavica peak, where a few marked tracks are.
* 74 Popovica – get off the bus at the last stop and follow the path through the woods to get to the small lake in the meadow.
* 76 Stari Ledinci – leave the bus at the last stop. Keep walking in the same direction for about thirty minutes, take macadam road and you will get to the stream. Now take the the path uphill, on the right side of the spring, and you will reach the lake of Ledinci, surrounded by rocky cliffs.
* 78 – Beocin Selo – get off the bus at the last stop and keep walking in the same direction. Very soon you will reach Beocin monastery and after that you will see the path leading to Crveni Cot, the highest peak of the mountain.
* You can take the buses 61 and 62 to get Sremski Karlovci, the old town close to the very beautiful part of the mountain called Strazilovo. There is 800m long forest path leading from Strazilovo to the top of the hill and the grave of a poet Branko Radicevic.

You can take any train that stops in Sremski Karlovci to reach Fruska Gora from Belgrade or Novi Sad. You can use any of the trains operating between these cities except for the fast or business trains which don’t stop in Sremski Karlovci.

To come to the picnic area Glavica is pretty easy. You have to take narrow road from the bus station near the Institute to the south. It’s the one situated between the Institute for Cardio-Vascular Desease and Police Academy. When you exit the inhabited area, cross the flyover on the Novi Sad – Ruma road. Turn right after 100 meters toward the old Institute building. Don’t take that road, but proceed straightforward, slightly uphill, next to the summer houses. When you reach the end the weekend complex and the begining of the forest, on the left side you’ll see mountain lodge ”Zanatlija”.

You can also reach Glavica by bus operating between Novi Sad and Paragovo if you leave the bus on its last stop and walk for about 150 meters toward Fruska Gora., than turn to the left, cross the little bridge over Novoselski stream, and then walk the field slightly uphill. After 200 m the path, becoming steep, turns left into the forest and in about 10 minutes you’ll get to the mountain lodge. It takes about 20 minutes to get to Glavica from the bus station.

things to see

 

Walking paths

Fruska Gora is, among other things, convenient for walking and picnics. The longest path, passing through the numerous villages and by almost all mountain lodges, is Fruska Gora marathon footpath. The marks are usually on the trees, shaped like white circles with red heart in them. If you stick to these signs, sooner or later you’ll get somewhere.

Monasteries

Monasteries in Fruska Gora are the biggest attraction. These are, mostly, the whole complexes surrounded by walls with the church, usually painted, in the center. Here are only a few listed:

When you enter the village Vrdnik, you’ll see the monastery under identical name. It’s dedicated to the Resurrection of the Christ. It’s a complex consisted of a church and three wings of monks' dormitories, surrounded by the wall. It is for the first time mentioned in the written documents in the second half of the 17th century. It was destroyed and reconstructed several times. Facade existing today is made in classical style. It was painted by Dimitrije Avramovic in the middle of the 19th century. You can get Vrdnik using regular bus line from Novi Sad, departing from the main bus station (bulevar Oslobodjenja 1).

Hopovo Monastery- now it’s a church, dedicated to St Nicola. It was built in 1576, indicated by the inscription carved above the west doors of the temple. Frescoes on the walls are painted in the middle of 17th century and iconostasis is made by Teodor Kracun, one of the most important Serbian painters. Educator Dositej Obradovic lived in this monastery for some time. After the October Revolution, Russian nuns came and lived in this monastery until 1943, when it was left deserted. It was reconstructed after the World War II. You can reach the monastery from Iriski Venac or from the village Irig in about 40 minutes on foot. Nearby is much damaged monastery Staro Hopovo which is being renovated at the moment.

Jazak Monastery was founded in 16th century, but the most of the buildings of monastery complex date from 18th century. Baroque bell-tower was built in 1753. Iconostasis is made by Dimitrije Bacevic and Teodor Kracun. The relics of the Serbian emperor Uros who lived in 14th century are preserved here. The monastery is renovated after the World War II. It’s located in the Jazak village connected with Vrdnik by 10 km long road.

Beocin Monastery is placed nearby village Beocin, which you can easily reach by bus, as described here. The correct date of its erection is unknown, but it is mentioned for the first time in 16th century. The church as it is today was built in 1740 in Serbo-Byzantine style with gothic elements. The grave of the poet Jovan Grcic Milenko is placed inside the complex. The church is mostly painted by Janko Halkozovic, and the engravings are made by Aksentije Markovic in the year 1791.

Lakes

Lake of Ledinci is close to the village Stari Ledinci and represents one of the most attractive nature beauties of Fruska Gora. It’s in the natural amphitheater surrounded by vertical reddish rocks. The lake is 300 m height above sea level, 15 m deep and there is a little beach made in one of the approaches. During the summer it is so overcrowded that you can hardly find the place for your towel.

Lake of Besen is also very interesting. It’s near the village of Besenovo, within the complex of some kind of limekiln, cement factory or something like that. It’s in a big valley with sloping edges. You can reach lake if you take the bus from Novi Sad to Beocin, than you walk by the Monastery Beocin to Crveni Cot, and than you go down in the same direction till you reach Monastery Besen and finally the village where the lake is. It takes about the entire day for this kind of a trip. Picture of the lake you can see in photo-gallery of Fruska Gora.

Picnic Areas The best known picnic areas are Strazilovo (near Sremski Karlovci ), Testera (close to village Cerevic) and Popovica.

Popovica is a picnic area with a little lake and a few mountain lodges: Zeleznicar, Orlovac, Penzioner, Medicinar.

Iriski Venac is placed on the crossing of the roads Novi Sad - Ruma – Sabac and Cortanovci - Banstol - Crveni cot - Letenka - Vizic. It’s 15 km away from Novi Sad, and 68 km away from Belgrade. It’s 440m height above sea level. There are a restaurant, an old hotel, petrol station and a shop on Iriski Venac and if you take the road to Banstol and Certanovci only 300 m away is a monument dedicated to the soldiers of World War II. The monument is 40 m high and in its base is bas relief showing scenes from the World War II from the occupation until the liberation period. Monument can be seen from Novi Sad and other places in Backa.

Zmajevac is a picnic area on the way between Iriski Venac and Vrdnik. It takes about 30 minutes of walk from Vrdnik and there is a viewing tower from where you can see big part of Srem and ruins of Vrdnicka tower.

Glavica is picnic area only 9 km away from town. You can get there by car. Although the road is not entirely concrete, it will take you to the mountain lodge which is always opened. It is placed under the peak Glavica (328 m) after which the whole area got its name- Pod Glavicom, which means “under Glavica”.

Caves

There are not many caves in Fruska Gora, but for the real speleology enthusiasts a few interesting locations can be found.

Grgurevacka cave is near Grgurevci village. The cave is very small; it consists of one small chamber which turns into a deep, vertical shaft which you can’t climb down without the equipment. In the lateral caves a great number of small stalactites and stalagmites exist. The colours are yellow and red. Also there is coral-like cave jewelry. Calcium bicarbonate sedimentation made shapes similar to grapes, which is the thing you rarely can see in this region. If you go from Letenka to Rohalj basis, only two kilometers away you’ll see the hunting lodge on the left. Before it there is a macadam road turning to the left, downhill toward Grgurevci. Behind the fenced hunting lodge, toward the west, the forest and underbrush are cleared all the way to the rounded peak, which is only 50 m away. You can get there by car if you keep on driving 70-80 m past the lodge using concrete and forest road, and then turn left. Road leads around the peak and gets to the old quarry. And here, on the left, is the entrance to the cave.

Perina cave is on Popovica and it is believed it’s an old, abandoned mine. The entrance to the cave is from one ditch, trench. It’s covered by branches, leaves and stones. Next to the entrance the passage is getting wider and after only few meters the cave becomes higher- around 120 cm all in all. Twenty meters after, the corridor suddenly narrows again and turns right expanding slightly. In the following ten meters the direction of the cave is west-east, it’s higher and wider than one meter, and then suddenly turns south. This part of the corridor is very steep and after one more narrowing turns south to end with vertical shaft, the hole much bigger than other passages and 5 m deep. From the bottom you can get to a clearing where the passage splits in three ways. These three tunnels are the lowest parts of the cave. One of the passages is wide and around 8 m long. The other two are pretty narrow and you can barely pass through them. There is no cave jewelry, and you can reach the cave if you take forest path from Ledinci to Popovica and then take hardly visible path on the right (if you go in Popovica direction) and go down the way for some time, into the bottom of the small hollow where the entrance is.