Sunday, October 19, 2008

Evening mist over Vršac

The name of town of Vršac (VUR-shots) is derived from the Slavic word vrh (hard to pronounce, but it's something like "vurh"), meaning "summit." The town, about an hour's drive from Belgrade, lies on the bed of the former Pannonian Sea, today known as the Pannonian Plain in Central Europe Ottoman Turks destroyed the town in the 16th century, but it was soon rebuilt. In 1594, Serbs from the region started a large uprising against Ottoman rule, and Vršac region was center of this uprising. Later this area fell under the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and of now is part of Serbia. The town lies at the foot of part of the Pannonian Mountains, and is known for its good wine.

22 comments:

Suz Broughton said...

Breathtaking!
I am enjoying learning about Belgrade from your blog.

Webradio said...

Nice photo, and thank You for the lesson of historye and geography...

What sort of wine is it ???

Pat said...

Predominantly white, dry and some sweet!

Unknown said...

Beautiful view! The mist makes it even better!

MuseSwings said...

Beautiful view of a beautiful city! Thank you for sharing the history! What happended to the sea?

Jill said...

What a beautiful, misty photo. Just stunning. And I love the history lessons, too.

Virginia said...

Oh Bibi,
This is my second favorite to date, I think. I like so many I can't choose. just magical.

PS I do still love the lovely photo of your husband that you shared with us. It's my favorite because I know how much it means to you too.

Pat said...

Thanks, folks, for your comments. Museswings, the sea existed during the Pliocene era, which ran from 5.332 million to 1.806 million years before the present, and has dried up long since!

vero said...

I like very much this photo...

Marie Reed said...

I love when you explain the words!

Anonymous said...

Hey Bibi,

What a fantastic photo! I really shoud visit Vrsac one day soon. It looks lovely.

Richard Lawry said...

I love the vantage point of this picture and the mist makes it a very interesting shot. Thanks for your informative blog. I love learning about history and places I've never been.

Anonymous said...

Hello Bibi,
thanks for beautiful pictures (and not just that) of my country. I was born in Vršac (Banat region) but moved to Belgrade in early days. However I always like to go there to see the town and the former sea :-) covered now with fields of corn, sunflowers and vineyards. I remember of one great funny song named "Pannonian sailor" by famous cantautor Đorđe Balašević:

"I`looking at Banat, Srem and Bačka from Fruška mountain,
I`m looking with storm in my soul,
There was a sea sometime, as books say,
Waiting for me and dried up,

I`m born seaman as Magellan,
Or better as admiral Cook,
In the plain on the fields,
I`m losing elan,
On the sunny wheat-field aground sea-wolf,

My sea is gone and I don`t know what to do,
My father says that the Danube is not bad itself,
My sea is gone, but I live in hope that maybe we`ll meet somewhere, yet,

My life is bitter as tonic,
My sorrow without end and bottom,
Fortunately there`s moon - lighthouse,
Leading me through the blue waters of dream,

Oh why this happened to me, this is a story for tears and laugh,
some saylor may lose a ship, but to lose the sea is exclusive bad luck"

I hope you all understood the leading thought. It`s rather self-ironic then pathetic, because it`s the only "sea" that Serbia (and Hungaria) has :-)

Ivana

Pat said...

Ivana, thanks for your lovely message! Are you now in Belgrade or elsewhere? If you are out of the country, I'd be happy to take some photos for you, if you let me know what you want. Djordje Balasevic still holds concerts, usually at New Year's. Write to me if you wish at the email link under my profile.

soulbrush said...

is it mist or smog? very beautiful anyway.

Belgrade Daily Photo said...

Nice hazy photo.

Re your comment at my blog: When you see double, you see the original +1. So I imagine when you see quadruple, it's the original + 3, no?

Pat said...

Hello, Soulbrush! It's mist. Very little pollution in Vrsac---small town, and it lies on an open plain.

Jane Hards Photography said...

It is a dreamy mystical cityscape. I do find the origin of words and language fascinating.

Anonymous said...

Thank you Bibi for the kind offer. For now Belgrade is my hometown, but I wouldn`t swear it would be in the next years (sometimes I say in self-irony that I`ve changed four countries without moving my hometown, for all the reasons in last two decades). If the life opens some new and distant roads for me, I would gladly take the advantage to see the places through your lenses because you do a great job.

Btw, did you know that Fruška Gora has not the highest peak in Vojvodina (Duchy), but Vršački Breg (Vršac hill), so it might be the biggest island in dried sea
:-), nowdays known as paragliding harbour (in the town there`s also sport airport).

And something else, the famous nick for the people from Vojvodina – “Lala” (tulip) is actually first given to folks from Banat – according to one legend the empress Maria Theresia use to give the medals, for won battles, to the military troups from the Black-Yellow empire (Austrian-Hungarian) and once when she reached the company from Banat, she was left out of medals so she took her brooch off her dress – brooch was in the shape of tulip, and orned their commander with that...all after that is histoy :-).

Ivana

Pat said...

Thanks for the info. I had heard about Lala, but not about Vršački Breg/Fruška Gora. Maybe our paths will cross downtown somewhere!

Tash said...

Wow - what a great view of the town and the plain. I'm so glad you climed up on the "vrh" (such a simple word to say - :) - as are 'vrt', 'Krk', 'prst' ...)
My dad had trouble pronouncing my son's name with two vowels together. The church towers are interesting & I went to Wikipedia (I hope the info is correct) got info on them. Interesting architecture for the Orthodox church. Thanks for stopping by PVDP & glad you are enjoying the NYC pics.

Becky said...

Lovely capture! I do love this. Frame it and sell it, for it could bring a lot of money! You have a lovely eye, and wonderful way of sharing history, stories, and facts.

SPRING FASHION

 This is a post that would be better in color, but maybe not. These colors were soooo pale.