Wine Tasting at the Kovačević Cellar

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Responsible Mom and Aunt, originally uploaded by bill kralovec.

Yesterday we visited Kovačević Wine Cellar located in the village of Irig, which is about 70 kilometers north of Belgrade. The village lies in the Fruška Gora National Park. Fruška Gora means “Frankish Mountain” in English. It is a region of hills that are in the middle of the flat plains of Vojvodina. The hills were a natural frontier of the Frankish Empire back in the 400s. I prefer the Roman name for the area, Fertile Mountain because it is a great region for growing grapes. The Franks have not been around in a long time. Besides wine, Fruska Gora has some hiking and 12 Serbian Orthodox monasteries, and we will come back again for those.

We found the address of Kovačević in a guide to the wines of Serbia and it was recommended to us by friends. It is not the vineyards and elegant tasting experience of the wineries we went to in Australia, but a nice experience nonetheless. There is no sign in front and so we went around the side of the building. The workers were busy with crushing the grapes and the kids got to see the process of fermentation and storage.

 

The Kids Save the Grapes from Being Crushed
The Kids Save the Grapes from Being Crushed

I was most excited to try the Bermet, which is a type of wine only produced by the Fruska Gora wineries. It is a strong dessert wine, that is infused with herbs and spices. It used to be very popular with the Austro-Hungarian royalty and it was on the wine list of the Titanic. Today, it is not known outside of Serbia. We liked both the white and red versions of the Bermet. We bought two bottles of the red. We also liked the Aurelius, a mix of Cab Sav and Merlot, aged in the barrels below. Nadia also bought a Rajninski Reisling and Chardonnay. I also liked the Reisling, which had tones of green apples. We will be visiting the region again! After the winery, we had dinner in Novi Sad and walked around the beautiful old part of town. 

The highlight of the day however was not the sightseeing, but just spending time with the kids. Below they are eating another of my delicious breakfast entrees. It is good also to have my nephew Sebey visiting us. 

 

 

Sunday Breakfast
Sunday Breakfast

Serbia Qualifies For The World Cup!!

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Owen & Sebey At Red Star Stadium
Owen & Sebey At Red Star Stadium

 

Last night my friend Claudiu and I took the kids to the Serbia versus Romania World Cup Qualifying match. Serbia was leading Group 7 in the European Group and needed a win to secure a spot in next summer’s World Cup soccer tourney in South Africa. They earned their spot with an emphatic 5 – 0 win over neighboring Romania. 

We got pumped up for the game with a lunchtime soccer match
We got pumped up for the game with a lunchtime soccer match

My last experience at the stadium for the Austria qualifying match was horrible and I was apprehensive in taking three young boys (Owen, Sebey & Tudor) to the game. We were crushed in the entrance at that game, but last night’s game was very well organized. Stadium officials looked at the tickets at several checkpoints on the way to our seats. The seats were numbered and there was one seat for every person. There were also many police and ushers in the aisles to prevent overcrowding in the exits like last time. 

Serbia obviously outplayed Romania and were back to their up tempo attacking football that has been lacking the past few matches. At the end of the match, there was a big celebration with fireworks and President Tadic in his luxury box opening up the champagne. Serbia qualified for the first time as an independent nation – in 2006 in Germany, they were still Serbia-Montenegro. It is interesting the there are several ex-Yugoslavia republics with chances of qualifying. Bosnia-Hercagovina will finish in second place in their group and will play off to get in. Slovenia also is in second place and could qualify automatically as group winner if Slovakia loses to Poland. Croatia is one point out of second but will probably not get into the playoff.

How will they do in South Africa? They have as good of chances as anyone else. They have one superstar, Manchester United defender Nemanja Vidic. They are solid in the midfield with InterMilan player and team captain, Dejan Stankovic. My favorite player on the team and possibly their best, is Milos Krasic. He plays for CSKA Moscow and really makes things happen for Serbia. He is fast and always moving forward and is always involved in Serbia’s goals. He is a player to watch out for as he is only 24. I can’t believe one of the bigger European clubs hasn’t picked him up yet. They also have the tallest soccer player at this level, 6’8” Nikola Zigic. He usually gets several good header opportunities in front of the goal every game. Their goalie is solid and if the role players can step it up, they have a shot at taking on the big boys. They need another big scorer as I don’t think Marko Pantelic, one of the strikers is up to World Cup level of play. He is always complaining on the field and doesn’t really do a whole lot in my opinion. They will always be in games with Vidic as center back. 

 

Lunch With the Romanian Supporters
Lunch With the Romanian Supporters

The qualification means the World Cup will be much more interesting for me with Serbia and the USA in the tourney. I have photos on my Blackberry but haven’t yet figured out how to upload them to my computer. I will post some photos from the game when I get a chance.

Boško lends a hand

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Bill & Boško, originally uploaded by bill kralovec.

Last Friday evening we were driving downtown near Ulica Njegosova to pick up Oliver’s vaccines from a pharmacy. He got his 4 year old booster shot and the local clinic the expats used, asked us to order and buy the vaccine ourselves. Anyway, we were cruising down the street near a construction zone and we heard a thud on the back tire. Immediately we then heard a loud escape of air and the bumping of a flat tire. Apparently I hit a something that tore an inch long rip in a tire. We were on a narrow street and couldn’t find a spot to pull over. We eventually found a gate open on a driveway. The security guard of the area, a perfect stranger, Bosko, pictured above came over and helped me change the tire, doing most of the work . Since it was such a narrow driveway and street to get out of, he even drove the car out so we could be on our way. Then when we asked where we could get a tire repaired, another perfect stranger walking down the street overhead us and offered to take us to a tire shop a few blocks away. Very kind indeed.

 

The Chavez Girls Cheerlead the Tire Change Crew
The Chavez Girls Cheerlead the Tire Change Crew

My Thoughts On Romania

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It is quite appropriate to post about the country of Romania as tomorrow, Serbia plays against its neighbor in an important World Cup qualifying soccer match. My first impression of the country was the same as when I visited neighboring Bulgaria – “These guys are in the EU and Serbia is not?” It was most evident in the border crossing. Coming back into Serbia, the Romanian border post was run down and the guards very inefficient. Crossing into Serbia, the installations for immigration were better maintained. The roads were in better condition, less garbage along side the roads, and the villages and towns on the Serbian side were also nicer and better maintained. I know Serbia is not part of the EU because of politics and not economics or standard of living, but when compared to Bulgaria and Romania, they are EU-quality. 
The Romanians were very friendly and we enjoyed the visit. The Romans had a larger effect on them than the Serbs. I wonder why? The Romans were also here in Belgrade. I also learned of the Dacians, one of the early groups in Romania. I would like to learn more about them as well as the Vlachs. I did notice a significant gypsy population, even in villages, which one does not find in Serbia where they are mostly located in the larger cities. 
Gypsy Wedding Dance in a village we drove through
Gypsy Wedding Dance in a village we drove through
The Carpathian mountains were beautiful as well as the rolling hills of southern Romania. Very similar to the Serbian countryside, although we saw more pumpkins in Romania. We had to stop at a pumpkin patch and get some photos. It reminded me of the old Peanuts cartoon when Linus waits for the Great Pumpkin to come. 
The boys climbed some of the Carpathians! We didn’t see any vampires, which is always strongly associated with Romania. We did see a girl at breakfast in the hotel rubbing garlic on her toast however. We will probably be back again. 

Visit to Southern Romania – Baile Herculane

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This weekend we visited southern Romania. Above is the view of from our window of the Carpathian mountains in the town of Baile Herculane. Romania borders Serbia and we were invited to see the sights by our Romanian friends living here in Belgrade.

We stayed at a bed and breakfast in the resort town of Baile Herculane. It means Hercule’s Bath in English. The area has geothermal water springs and since Roman times, people have thought that the water has medicinal properties. The setting of the town is beautiful. The Carpathian mountains are a long mountain chain that goes through Romania and into northern Serbia. They are not the peaks of the Alps, but as you can see, they are scenic in their own way. We drove through much of them and stopped in several places to hike and take photographs.

The town is very strange. When this part of Romania was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the town was discovered by Emperor Franz Joseph. He built several large hotels, a casino, and several formal bathing palaces near the turn of the century. Back in the days before antibiotics and modern medicine, geothermal waters and mountain air were more popular medical treatments. I read of Franz’s wife or sister, I can’t remember which, visited the town and had an affair with a Romanian officer in the Austro-Hungarian army. She visited the place frequently and she had a villa. It sounds like the town was once the Monaco of the Empire. I can’t get over the amount of money it must of cost to build these palaces. It is crazy that one many, Franz Joseph could have so much power. It is also unbelievable that the two countries, Austria and Hungary, dominated European affairs. Today they are two smaller nations, that are well off, but by no means lead Europe.

The buildings are still in Baile Herculane today, but they are in very poor condition, many of them abandoned. It was eerie to walk around the town and see all of these magnificent palatial buildings in such a state of disrepair. The fog and gloomy weather combined to make it all the stranger experience. Late Saturday afternoon, we walked with the kids down to the city center and saw up close all of these buildings. The kids loved the park and buying honey in the comb pieces from a street vendor. We were loving the architecture and mountain scenery. The place could really be a five-star destination with about 100 million dollar investment in the buildings, roads, etc.

The Kids Enjoyed the Park
The Kids Enjoyed the Park

The environmental consciousness of the Romanians is not quite up to EU or American standards. We saw lots of garbage in the village and throughout this part of Romania. The river going through the town was also quite polluted and I saw several open pipes running into the water. The geothermal springs are hot, but the water does have a definite sulfur smell and one could identify walking through the town.

Everyone was very friendly at the hotel and we ate well. Claudiu and Vesna were great as our Romanian tour guides. We really enjoyed ourselves! I’ll be blogging more this week on some of our experiences.

Oceans Favorite: Pollenta and Cream Cheese
Ocean's Favorite: Pollenta and Cream Cheese

Family Journal: September 26-27, 2009

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Under the Pergola, originally uploaded by bill kralovec.

The beautiful early fall weather continued this weekend with blue skies, a slight breeze, and perfect temperatures. Temps have been in the low 80’s during the day and dropping in the 60’s at night. We took full advantage of this, as the cold weather and winter will be fast approaching. Nadia and Ocean are shown above in our pergola on Saturday evening. We ate outside in front of the fire. Absolute magic! I read a choose your adventure book to the boys and eventually, Oliver fell asleep Nadia’s lap.

On Saturday morning I mowed the lawn and cleaned up the patio and garage. In the afternoon, the boys and I took film producer Tony Pappa around the city to show him the sites of Belgrade. He is shooting a promotional video for the school. Sunday Owen, Ocean, and I went for a bike ride/run to Ada Ciganlija and then we had dinner at the Fuiroea’s home.

 

Owen Strutting Around
Owen Strutting Around

Happy Birthday Ocean!

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Last Sunday Nadia wanted to do some shopping in Budapest so we went down to the walking street in the center of the city. There is a square named after the Hungarian poet Vorosmarty. While she was in the various shops, I hung out with the kids in the square. What a wonderful morning it was. The kids ran around, climbed the statues and fountains, and watched all of the people in the square on a sunny early fall Sunday morning.

Being in Europe it is appropriate to think about Friedrich Nietzsche and his concept of eternal recurrence when looking at the photo above. The concept is that the universe and its events have already occurred and will recur ad infinitum. I wish the moment Nadia captured on film above would occur ad infinitum. Sadly, I don’t share the same philosophy as Nietzsche, and believe these moments happen only once. But, if I could relive a moment, it would be a tender hug and kiss from Ocean.

Ocean turns two years old today. What a glorious tumult she brought to our lives. We didn’t plan on having three children, and after two boys, a girl has arrived with all kinds of surprises. Her personality is starting to show and she’ll be another lively, enthusiastic Kralovec. She loves to laugh and has very strong feelings on what she wants and likes, and she is not afraid to let you know how she feels! She is also very independent and wants to do things herself.

Last night I took her to the store to buy milk. We did some shopping and she followed me around the store with her little cart. She was dressed in her cherry pajamas. So cute.

Happy Birthday Ocean, we love you!

BITEF

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Scene from the “Blue Dragon”, originally uploaded by bill kralovec.

Nadia and I attended the play, “The Blue Dragon” last week. It is one of the features in the BITEF (Belgrade International Theater Festival). The Festival is as old as I am in its 43rd year. This is quite amazing considering the political tumult Belgrade and Serbia has been through since the festival started.

We thought The Blue Dragon was brilliant. The play was done by Robert LaPage, who  is a Canadian playwright and director. We were enthralled with the sets and lighting. It was amazing the scene changes and how real everything looked and felt. They went from a snowy day outside to an airport terminal, inside of an apartment, to biking in the city, throughout the play. The scene above shows La Page demonstrating Chinese symbols and their meaning. 

The play was set in modern China and looked at Chinese culture and society, the effects of time on love, among other themes. It made me want to visit China to see it for myself. We were also impressed with the Yugolsav Drama Theater (below). 

 

Photo courtesy of the Yugolsav Theater Web Site
Photo courtesy of the Yugolsav Theater Web Site

My Take on Budapest

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Budapest, Hungary is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Above is just one tiny example of the amount of architectural beauty that abounds. Everywhere one looks, down hundreds of streets, towers, facades, statues, etc. can be appreciated. And all of the buildings are massive. It felt a bit like Washington DC in the fact that there are so many areas with landmark buildings and squares. I can see why most of the city is an UNESCO World Heritage site. I can’t believe all of the buildings survived WWII and the communist era. 

The international school is also spectacular. It is set about 7 miles out of the city amidst orchards and villages. The K-12 campus is huge and it looks like a university campus. If I was working at the school, it would be nice to live in the village near the school.

Now the bad side – The over 3 million inhabitants of the Budapest metro area and more than 20 million tourists make the city feel crowded. Every where we went, from the cinema, to the grocery store, to the zoo, was packed with people. We felt it and it must increase the stress level of everyone. It will be something to consider when we make our next move to another international school. Many international schools are located in large cities and this will be a consideration. Belgrade is a nicer size. We also saw many more homeless people in the streets. I am not sure where they are in Belgrade, but you just don’t see them. Only the occasional gypsy, but they usually have a home. We also noticed that the street people were drinking publicly, bottles full of a yellow alcohol.

Our first hotel choice was hilarious. Nadia picked it over the internet and it looked like a nice family apartment. When we got there, it was in the middle of the red light district. They did not accept credit cards – only cash and I had to go to an ATM. While walking to the ATM, a prostitute said hello to me. Nice, with the family in the car 10 meters away. We called the owner and got out of our obligation and found a nice suite hotel in a better part of the city.

The Hungarians were much nicer this time than when we went in Christmas of last year. They make a big point of helping tourists and I had locals explain the IKEA parking lot ticket machines, people apologize for rude salespeople, etc. I imagine tourism brings a lot of money to the city. We saw tour buses and groups everywhere!

The country is much more developed than Serbia. The standard of living and cost of living are both much higher. This is good and bad, especially for expats living in the country. In talking with the international school’s principal, childcare and domestic help would be too expensive there.

The Hungarians look central European and Slavic, but their language and ethnic background is distinct from their neighbors. The language is very complex, with most words having over 10 letters and lots of symbols above the vowels. it is related to Finnish, but distantly related and the Finns don’t understand it. There are around 10 million Hungarians and the country is one of the biggest tourist destinations in the world. With the architecture, wine industry, thermal baths, history, I can see why.

This was our second trip to the city. Our first I blogged here. There is still more to explore and we will definitely return.

Family Trip to Budapest

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Outside the Budapest Zoo
Outside the Budapest Zoo

This weekend we headed 4 hours north to the capital of Hungary, Budapest. Our boys’ soccer teams were playing the American International School of Budapest. I brought the family up to watch the game and enjoy the weekend in a beautiful city. The kids are shown above playing in the hotel room.

That is the funny thing about kids, they enjoy different things than adults. Nadia and I were appreciating the amazing architecture of the buildings of Budapest. Most of the city is an UNESCO World Heritage site and I can see why. Everywhere one looks, there are huge, ornate facades on these magnificent buildings.

The kids enjoyed most the hotel rooms and the swing at the zoo.

More later on our trip and the city.