00:00Welcome to Balkan Trip. Did you know that in the area of Serbia there is the oldest European city, Lepenski Vir, dating from the period 6,000 to 5,500 BC.
00:20That right through Serbia, on the Danube river, there is the narrowest, but deepest gorge in Europe.
00:26And that from the surrounding cliffs, there is an incredible view of the Djerda gorge.
00:31That's why you join me on this beautiful journey through Eastern Serbia.
00:42About 130 kilometers east of Belgrade, there is a fortress that you will recognize by the views of Serbia.
00:49It is the Golubac fortress, the place where the national park Djerdap begins.
00:54It is not known who exactly built the Golubac fortress, but it is believed to be in the spirit of the Serbian fortresses of the 13th and 14th centuries.
01:01The Serbs, Hungarians and Turks constantly fought around it, so that it went from the hands of some rulers to the hands of others.
01:08It was never conquered. And here's how it got its name.
01:12The story is about a Byzantine princess, Jelena, who was actually trapped in the highest tower of the fortress.
01:19That is the Šešir tower, which is located at an altitude of 75 meters today.
01:23So she was trapped there all her life. She was very sad, very sad.
01:29And the story says that her only real friends were the pigeons.
01:33And at the end of her life, she actually said a sentence that will remain here,
01:38the reason why people start calling this place after that.
01:42She said that this beautiful city was her secret during her whole life,
01:46but one thing remains here, that she had a real friendship with the pigeons,
01:50so she starts calling her secret by a nice, gentle name, and that is Golubac.
01:56Today, the Golubac fortress is part of the national park Djerdap,
02:02which is rich in rare plant species and is located in the eastern part of Serbia.
02:08On this Danube stream, in these 100 kilometers that pass through the national park Djerdap,
02:13it is specific that here is the widest Danube, and in some parts the narrowest,
02:19and the deepest, about 110 meters, and that is the largest river depth in Europe.
02:24Here you have over 40 cultural, historical and archaeological sites,
02:29which only shows the fact that in the last 10 millennia,
02:32here are the first modern civilizations, so various times have intertwined.
02:41By the way, this region was once part of the Great Roman Empire,
02:45where the gorge itself represents and presents a history more than 2000 years old.
02:49And the key evidence that the Romans were in these areas is the Triangle Table.
02:54And the Triangle Table is actually the inscription carved into the rock above the Danube.
03:00In the National Park Djerdap, you can also see the Decebal's Head,
03:04the tallest sculpture in Europe, 40 meters high,
03:08but it is located on the other, Romanian side of the gorge.
03:11Decebal was the last king of Dacians, who resisted Roman attacks for a long time,
03:17but Trajan still ruled him.
03:19When the Roman troops surrounded him in 106, he committed suicide.
03:24This was the end of the great campaign of Trajan against Dacia.
03:28Emperor Trajan, by the way, traveled through the Danube gorge,
03:33during the preparation of the war with the Dacians.
03:36The Dacians were on the other side of the Danube, in today's Romania.
03:40The main opponent of him and his army was Decebal, or Decebalus,
03:47the last Dacian king.
03:50Trajan and Decebal are still seen today, probably under the dock and over the Danube.
03:59When you visit the Djerdap gorge and the National Park Djerdap,
04:04take a break and try the obligatory fish soup,
04:08which is made from fresh fish caught from the Danube.
04:12They say that every part of Serbia has its own recipe for preparing fish soup.
04:16We prepared a traditional Golubac soup with several types of fish.
04:21This is all fresh fish, caught yesterday.
04:25It is cooked on the trees that we gather next to the Danube.
04:29It is best to cook it on those trees, it is usually fir, poplar, whatever.
04:34The smoke from those trees gives it a soft taste.
04:38This is a real Alaska soup, we learned to cook it from our ancestors, the way they cooked it.
04:47I can't wait to try what we made today.
04:50Eat it!
04:55An inseparable stop before visiting the National Park Djerdap
04:59is certainly the archaeological site of Lepenski Vir,
05:02which is the result of an intensively populated place, almost 9000 years old.
05:07They say this is the oldest city in Europe.
05:10Lepenski Vir is the oldest organized human settlement in Europe.
05:15It is the beginning of the settlement way of life in Europe.
05:19The Lepenskis left a lot of it for us.
05:22People who lived here started to inhabit this area more than 10.000 years ago.
05:28The oldest traces are marked about 9500 years before our era.
05:37The highest level of development was reached about 6300 years before our era.
05:43At that time, they already perfected the way of building houses, their architecture.
05:49Certainly, the most recognizable and significant representatives of the culture of Lepenski Vir are not people,
05:55although they were very interesting.
05:58Those are famous sculptures that represented the fishermen of divinity.
06:03In that way, we saw that Lepenskis brought the adoration of water and fish to the level of divinity.
06:11Some of the weapons, clothes and figurines can be seen in the new exhibition of the museum.
06:20It seems that life here has been connected to the river for a long time,
06:25as well as to the belief in deities, but also in creatures from the Danube.
06:29Some stories are still believed today.
06:32There is a carpenter after 200 years, some say 200, some say 50.
06:37He closes himself, like a fish.
06:42Once, it was early, about 6 o'clock, I went to the shop.
06:47The neighbor of the deceased from the other street was returning from the shop.
06:52We met on this bridge.
06:55We talked to each other.
06:58We heard something from the carpenter, but we didn't know what it was.
07:03Suddenly, like a fire, we hit each other in the head.
07:11He goes over the river, the carpenter goes up the river.
07:17He goes like a fish, a big fish.
07:25Whether you believe in myths and legends or stories about creatures from the Danube,
07:29you will agree that the visit to the east of Serbia is inevitable,
07:33if you are taken to the Balkans.
07:36You watched the Balkan trip.
07:38I believe that you have returned centuries ago,
07:41while we visited the national park Djerdap,
07:44where we saw the Golubac Fortress, Trajan's Table,
07:47but also the first permanent settlement in the area of Europe, Lepenski Vir.
07:51With new stories. See you soon!
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