The ultimate journey across former yugoslavia and its spomeniks
May 05 ⇾ May 18
September 01 ⇾ September 14
In addition to our regular group departures to the Western Balkans, we also offer tour services for private travel parties and lone wolves alike. As a traveller-oriented boutique operator, tailored trips and bespoke adventures are our bread and butter. Get in touch for more info on our customised journeys to the Western Balkans!
DAY 1 TO DAY 2 - Belgrade
Meet-and-greet at Belgrade International Airport and transfer to our hotel of choice in central Belgrade, the starting point of our two-week odyssey across former Yugoslavia and its spomeniks*.
Two days entirely devoted to Belgrade, the former capital and largest city of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, a resilient metropolis of Socialist glory, brutalist forms, and Slavic heritage.
Yugo-era highlights of our stay in Belgrade will include: the touching atmospheres at Josip Broz Tito’s Mausoleum (House of Flowers), the gargantuan raw-concrete power of the Genex Tower, the Blade-Runner-style dystopian cityscapes in Novi Beograd (New Belgrade) and Konjarnik, the splendid memorials at the New Cemetery, the futuristic Yugoslavia Aviation Museum, the bombed-out Yugoslav Ministry of Defence, the Spomenik-complex at Jajinci Memorial Park, the elegant XIX-century buildings of the city centre, the colourful mosaics hidden inside the Hotel Moskva, and a vast plethora of SFRY-made modernist architectonic shapes.
Overnights in Belgrade.
DAY 3 - Partisan Republic of Užice
From Belgrade we’ll slowly travel towards the Montenegrin Riviera making a longish detour through the Yugoslav countryside.
First we’ll stop at Avala, a low Pannonian mountain, harbouring an incongruous mixture of national monuments and architectonic artefacts such as the exquisitely brutalist Avala Tower, the slightly cubist Spomenik to the Soviet War Veterans and sarcophagus-shaped art-nouveau Monument to the Unknown Hero.
Moving further south, we’ll visit the Kosmaj Spomenik, a giant asterisk-shaped concrete affair erected to commemorate the local partisan regiment, and then head for Kragujevac to pay our respects at the Interrupted Flight Spomenik, dedicated to the hundreds of women, elders and children murdered here by German soldiers.
After lunch we’ll stop at Čačak to visit the cathedral-shaped Spomenik of Struggle and Victory, built to homage the partisans fallen during the liberation of Čačak, and the Spomenik to the Courage, a 10-metre-tall stalagmite of poured concrete, steel frame and aluminium panels violently erupting from the soil as a powerful reminder to the heroic deeds of the Yugoslavs.
Last but not least we’ll tour one of the largest spomenik complexes in the country: the Kadinjača Spomenik, built to commemorates the fallen heroes of the Partisan Republic of Užice.
Overnight in Užice.
DAY 4 - REPUBLIKA SRPSKA
Today we’ll visit the old-world Serbian village of Mokra Gora with the nearby hamlet of Drvengrad, a real-life fairy tale founded by the legendary Yugoslav filmmaker Emir Kusturica, before entering Republika Srpska, a Serbian-dominated autonomous geopolitical entity within Bosnia.
Our first stop in Republika Srpska will be Višegrad, a lovely Balkan town famous for its Ottoman-era Mehmed Paša Sokolović Bridge, a UNESCO world heritage site which was popularized by Ivo Andrić in his novel The Bridge on the Drina.
In the late afternoon we’ll eventually reach Tjentište, home to the Spomenik to the Battle of Sutjeska in the Valley of Heroes, a massive wing-shaped poured-concrete-and-rebar memorial.
Overnight in Tjentište.
DAY 5 - Durmitor National Park
From Tjentište we’ll cross into Montenegro, a newly independent country famous for its breathtaking mountainscapes and paradisiac coastlines.
We’ll first head to the mountains and precisely into the Durmitor National Park, a natural area of stunning gorgeousness listed as UNESCO World Heritage Site since the early 80s: deep gorges, high rock cliffs, gentle green slopes, thick forests, crystal-clear water streams, and abandoned Yugo-era resorts!
We’ll spend the day in the park and base ourselves in the mountain town of Žabljak, close to the Tara Canyon and the impressive Đurđevića Bridge, a 1940 marvel of Yugoslav engineering.
Overnight in Durmitor National Park.
DAY 6 - Podgorica
Early wake-up call: from the mountains we’ll descend onto Nikšić, the second largest city of Montenegro, where we’ll admire the highly elaborated Stargate-shaped Spomenik to Fallen Fighters, which sits at the footsteps of the Trebjesa Hill overlooking the whole town, as well as the nearby fir-tree-shaped Sutjeska Spomenik.
From Nikšić we’ll travel further south towards Podgorica, the nitty-gritty Montenegrin capital, where we’ll spend the evening gorging ourselves on ćevapčići in an urban setting of concrete apartment blocks and socialist-era monuments.
Overnight in Podgorica.
DAY 7 - Montenegrin Coast
After a quick photo stop at the gravity-defying Golubovci Spomenik, we’ll travel further south towards the Montenegrin-Albanian border following the steep serpentine route P16, arguably one of the most scenic roads in former Yugoslavia with awe-striking vistas over Lake Skadar and the surrounding marshes.
Around lunch time we’ll reach the chaotic town of Ulcinj, where we’ll visit the Freedom Spomenik, which commemorates the fallen fighters and civilian victims from the city during the National Liberation War (aka WWII).
After a traditional Albanian lunch we’ll travel along the famed Montenegrin coast – to wit, postcard-like coves and gargantuan modernist hotels – and eventually reach the resort town of Budva for the night.
Overnight in Budva.
DAY 8 - MOSTAR
From Budva we’ll travel to the historical fortified town of Kotor, marvel at the large Memorial Park near Grahovo and then head back into Bosnia-Herzegovina.
After a short visit to the charming town of Trebinje, we’ll transfer to Mostar, the administrative center of Herzegovina and one of the most iconic cities of former Yugoslavia.
Mostar is situated on the Neretva River and was named after the bridge keepers (mostari) who in the medieval times guarded the old bridge over the river, a UNESCO World Heritage Site built by the Ottomans in the 16th century and rightfully considered an exemplary piece of Islamic architecture in the Balkans.
Overnight in Mostar.
DAY 9 TO DAY 10 - Sarajevo
We’ll depart Mostar towards Sarajevo, stopping en route in Konjic, one of Herzegovina’s oldest permanent settlements; stretching on both sides of the green-turquoise Neretva River, this pretty little town houses Tito’s forgotten nuclear bunker, hidden right in the mountain behind a seemingly ordinary house.
We'll then enjoy one-and-half days in Sarajevo touring both the classical sights and the off-beat-the-path attractions of the Jerusalem of the Balkans, an incredibly diverse and compelling metropolis of Habsburg grandeur, Ottoman heritage, Socialist shapes and post-modern chaos.
Highlights of our stay in town will include: the somber remnants of past glories at the Winter Olympic Park, the brutalist Radio-Television building, the massive Vraca Memorial Park, the modernist Central Railway Station, and the the rough-and-ready concrete neighbourhoods of Alipašino Polje, Novo Sarajevo and Istočno Sarajevo.
Overnights in Sarajevo.
DAY 11 - Banja Luka
From Sarajevo we’ll move north again and, after a lunch stop in the quintessentially Bosniak town of Travnik, we’ll eventually reach Banja Luka, the second largest city in the country and the de facto capital of Republika Srpska.
We’ll devote our afternoon to Banja Luka, touring both its old downtown and the Yugo-era modernist outskirts as well as paying a visit to the nearby Spomenik to the Fallen Krajina Soldiers.
Overnight in Banja Luka.
DAY 12 - Vukovar
From Banja Luka we’ll make a short detour west to Kozara (Bosnia-Herzegovina) and to Jasenovac (Croatia): the first houses a 33m-high concrete cylindrical monolith-Spomenik dedicated to the partisan fighters, fallen soldiers and civilians victims, who perished in the bloody Kozara Offensive in the spring of 1942; the latter is, instead, the site of the notorious Jasenovac Nazi Extermination Camp, whose victims are remembered by a splendid flower-shaped Spomenik built in 1966.
We’ll then move straight eastwards, enter the former Socialist Republic of Croatia, and head to Vukovar, theatre of one of the longest sieges and bloodiest battles fought during the Yugoslav Wars by the Serbian Autonomous Oblast of Eastern Slavonia on one side and Croatian nationalists on the other.
We’ll spend a few hours touring Vukovar, particularly focussing on socialist architectures (such as the cone-shaped Dudik Spomenik) and war scars (i.e. the notorious bullet-ridden water tower).
Overnight in Vukovar.
DAY 13 - Vojvodina
Transfer back to Belgrade via the elegant town of Novi Sad, capital of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, one of the most ethnically diverse regions in Europe, home to 25 different ethnic groups, including some truly obscure ones such as the Rusyns, the Bunjevci and the Gorani.
Novi Sad also houses some marvellous examples of early Yugoslav modernism, a rationalism-inspired architectonic movement that flourished during the interwar period, as well as a gloriously brutalist Institute of Philosophy.
After lunch we’ll then move onto Fruška Gora, a mountainous national park often labelled as the Jewel of Serbia due to its largely pristine landscapes, fresh air, crystal-clear water streams and thriving wildlife.
Within the premises of Fruška Gora National Park we’ll visit the awe-inspiring Sloboda Spomenik, a colossal obelisk-cum-memorial honouring the Yugoslav partizans, soldiers and citizens fallen during the National Liberation Struggle against nazi-fascism, and the Iriški Venac TV Tower, a brutalist concrete monster of Brobdingnagian proportions that was badly damaged during the 1999 bombing campaign.
Overnight in Belgrade.
DAY 14 - FAREWELL TO YUGOSLAVIA
After sharing a last Serbian meal together, we'll take care of your transfer to Belgrade International Airport.
Possible tour extensions to this itinerary include: Macedonia-Albania-Kosovo and/or Bulgaria-Romania.
End of the tour.
2995 €
Are you interested in only one segment of this trip?
Please contact us for individual quotes and further details.
INCLUSIONS
Double/twin-room accommodation (breakfast included), private transport in Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Croatia (car/minivan), all entrance fees, English-speaking guiding service, 24/7 on-site and remote assistance.
EXCLUSIONS
Single supplement, international flights, main meals (lunches and dinners), extra drinks, visa fees (if required), tips, travel insurance.
© Donald Niebyl | www.spomenikdatabase.org© Gianluca Pardelli | www.gianlucapardelli.comOur Yugo tours are offered in collaboration with Spomenik Database, a cultural project and visual database by Donald Niebyl, a biologist-by-day SFRY-researcher-by-night American author engaged in the mammoth task of documenting, indexing, promoting and preserving the architectonic, artistic and monumental legacy of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. We strongly suggest getting your own copy of Donald’s seminal publication Spomenik Monument Database (edited by FUEL Publishing) as a perfect introduction to the abstract concrete shapes we will discover together during our gallivanting around former Yugoslavia.
*What are Spomeniks?
The first thing to understand about the 'Spomeniks' is that they represent many different things to many different people... they are the legacy of a bygone era, they are witnesses to suffering, they are the embodied mythos of a generation, they are objects of anger, they are testaments to triumph, they are symbols of resentment, etc, etc, etc. In a direct physical sense, what are commonly referred to in English as 'spomenik' (the Serbo-Croatian/Slovenian word for 'monument') are a series of memorials built from the 1950s-1990s during Tito's Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, whose primary intent was to honor its people's resistance struggle during the People's Liberation Struggle (1941-1945) (aka WWII) against Axis occupation and oppression. They commemorate not only the crimes which occurred during the region's brutal occupation, but they additionally celebrate the 'Revolution' which defeated them, all lead by Tito's Partisan Army of rebel fighters. However, these monuments were, and still are, more than just the sum of their parts.