The experience with Serbian Private Torus has been great, perfect, totally recommendable. We were interested in a day trip to Timisoara from Belgrade and not finding it within the offered tours so we contacted directly with Serbian Private Tours through their website and Miljan attended us quickly and wonderfully, adapting one of their excursions to make the trip possible.
Absolutely everything went perfectly. Both the pre-trip information and the clarification of doubts. Our guide, Andrija, was great. Punctual and attentive, he gave us very interesting information about the history and life in Serbia and about the places we were passing through, both on the way there and on the way back. He also gave us a lot of information about Romania and Timisoara and even about other Balkan countries. It was a very enriching experience. Serbian Private Tours is a serious and close company, absolutely recommendable.
On our recent trip to Belgrade, we wanted to visit Timisoara, Romania, to get a taste of a neighboring culture, but unfortunately, our schedule didn't allow for more than a day trip. Serbian Private Tours to the rescue! I emailed with Miljan in the office to see if it would be a possibility to turn this transfer into a "day trip". Miljan responded immediately that we could, and also found out that the Gallery of Naive Art in Kovačica was indeed open, so that a stop there would also be a possibility.
This was our third outing with Andrija Vatović, and, as before, we were totally impressed. We learned so much about Serbian history from him - This is such a fascinating part of the world, and his explanations of that history really helped us understand it better. Thank you, Andrija!
We opted to stop in Kovačica on the way to visit a couple of local art galleries. I hoped it would be worthwhile... I needn't have worried! We stopped first at the Gallery of Naive Art (look it up!) and had opportunity to learn about this local art form. Who would have thought we would find a gallery like this in such a small town - it was wonderful! Beautiful, locally painted depictions of cultural themes.
From there, we walked over to visit the Nemček Art Home. WOW. Mr. Jan Nemček is a master violin maker, and even for those of us without a musical bone in our bodies, his workshop is AMAZING. He told us about his family love for music/violins, walked us through choosing the proper wood for a good instrument, and demonstrated the processes involved in building a violin by hand. He also is in demand to repair antique violins, and showed us various examples. it was absolutely fascinating! His family members also practice other local crafts ( pottery, egg decorating) that are for sale in an adjoining shop.
Of course, the original point of the trip was Timisoara - and that didn't disappoint, either! Miljan had arranged for a local guide in Timisoara to give us a Romania perspective (and I've forgotten his name!?! He also really knew his stuff.). We spent a few hours walking through the history of Timisoara, as seen through its various landmarks, and had a delightful late lunch in the main square before returning to Belgrade.
Absolutely loved this day touring the Serbian and Romanian countrysides. Hope to return one day!