Stephen Wordsworth

Welsh Scouts on the Danube

Today we are hosting an entry written by Bill Longhurst, Deputy Head of Mission.

For the past few years there have been regular visits to Serbia by some Welsh Scout troops for camping with their Serbian counterparts.  The latest visit started last Friday when scouts from two troops (Caerphilly and West Wales) took a 19 hour journey from Wales via Sofia (better served by low-cost airlines than Belgrade…) to the most easterly region of Serbia on the Danube.  

Having met many of the same friends before when they camped with local scout troops near Sremska Mitrovica last year, this seemed the perfect opportunity to put into action a vague plan I have had since arriving here two years ago to visit this less-explored part of Serbia.  So after packing my family into our car on Saturday morning, we set off along the Danube for the three hour drive from Belgrade to Kladovo, passing Golubac castle mid-route.

Archeology students could spend many happy hours digging in this region.  Remains of stone-age, Roman, Hungarian and Turkish settlements and fortifications can be found here.  We were particularly impressed, unexpectedly, by the remains of the Roman fort, “Diana”.  The site has no real entrance and can be found off a rough track off the main road just east of the main Djerdap hydro-electric dam outside Kladovo with no obvious signpost.  This fact, and the few grainy photos of the ruins I’d seen in some tourist literature, had led me to expect a few shapeless stones overgrown with weeds.  But the reality is an impressive array of walls, arches, tiled areas, and even raised floors revealing the underfloor heating ducts, all against the spectacular backdrop of the Danube and the imposing dam.  Equally as important historically are the remaining pillars of a now ruined Roman bridge built by the emperor Trajan across the Danube further east from Kladovo, which is said to have been the longest bridge in the world for more than a thousand years.

South from Kladovo the road follows the Danube as it winds its way along, forming the border between Serbia and Romania and, further down, with Bulgaria.  Just 20km from Kladovo is the small town of Brza Palanka where the scouts were making camp right on the riverbank with their counterparts from Nis.  The ties between Welsh and Serbian scouts have been growing steadily over the past few years and have inspired contacts in other fields such as that between fire brigades in Wales and Sremska Mitrovica. 

It is not hard to see why the Welsh scouts return regularly to Serbia: great camping weather, strong friendships between the troops and a host of outdoor activities on offer.  For this trip they had planned hikes, camping by caves, by monasteries and cruising through the Iron Gates gorge on the Danube as well as water sports by the camp.  I was told that the water quality of the Danube between the two Djerdap dams is in fact very good and is perfect for swimming with none of the strong currents you would normally expect in a river that size.  The Nis scout leader presented me with a ceremonial Roman coin from the region – a reminder that no fewer than three Roman emperors were born in modern-day Nis. 

My only regret is that I had just a weekend there rather than the much longer time needed to visit other local towns like Negotin or sample some of the local wine in the vineyards of the region.  But I will be back there at some point, and it is very likely the Welsh scouts will be back in Fruska Gora in 2011 to help the Serbian Scout movement celebrate its centenary.

Posted at 10:15 05 August 2009 by Stephen Wordsworth  |  Comments[0]

Were we cycling the joint European future of the region?

Today we are hosting an entry written by Vladan Avramovic, member of our Projects team, and a 'Danube by Bike' tour participant.

A team of staff from the British Embassies in Budapest, Zagreb and Belgrade joined in the  'Danube by Bike'  Tour.  Altogether, four hundred people cycled the length of the Danube river in Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania last week. It was an opportunity to bring together people from all over Europe - EU member states, Western Balkan countries and Turkey - to encourage integration and dialogue, whilst raising awareness of the rich cultural heritage of Southeast Europe.

The British Embassy Team cycled from Budapest in Hungary, through Osijek and Vukovar in Croatia and on to Novi Sad and Belgrade in Serbia. The tour left the participants with a sense of pride, and a number of new friends.   We were only cycling – but we feel we contributed a little to the European future of the region.

Serbia leg of the tour

The Serbia leg of the tour started on Saturday 27 June in Novi Sad and took the group to Sremski Karlovci where it boarded the tourist train, “Nostalgia”. Several keen cycling enthusiasts carried on to Slankamen where they were rewarded with what is claimed to be the best fish soup on Danube.   The British Embassy Cycling Team agrees!

The day ended with an astonishing group ride through Belgrade which brought together more that 500 cyclists. It was a celebration of the European diversity and environmental consciousness, and for local, sometimes not very cyclist-friendly, car drivers, a unique opportunity to get the feeling of being an oppressed minority. It might help a few of them to respect cyclists'  rights better in the future!  

We posted news, views, photos and videos on the following Tumblr site throughout the tour, from its start in Budapest on Tuesday 23 June to the grand finale in Belgrade on the evening of Saturday 27 June: http://danubebybike.tumblr.com/.  There is more about the tour on: http://danubebybike.eu/home.html and on the Embassy FlickR pages.

Posted at 15:51 29 June 2009 by Stephen Wordsworth  |  Comments[3]

A Little Way Down the Danube

On 25 February I went for a short drive today down to Smederevo, a city about an hour away down the Danube.  I had visited before, as a tourist - the town is most famous for its castle, which has a fantastic location right by the river.  It was built very quickly, in the first half of the 15th century, as Serbia's rulers tried to survive between Hungary and the Ottoman Empire.  It finally fell to the Turks in 1459, which marked the end of the medieval Serbian state. 

This time I wanted to find out more about the town from the official point of view - what the plans of the city's government are, what opportunities there might be for business and investment.  I had a good meeting with Mayor Umićević and his team, and learned a lot about their ideas for the development of education, industry and tourism.  I even learned that one small British company is based there - I hadn't been aware of them before, although I know now that they have been working there for some time. Some of the town's plans involve, or could involve, the UK - we agreed that I would look into what we could do.  It was a really good meeting - I hope we can build on that.

Posted at 19:49 28 February 2009 by Stephen Wordsworth  |  Comments[3]