BELA PALANKA, SERBIA (part 1) - subtitled

Bela Palanka is a town in the Pirot district, in the south of Serbia, between Sicevo gorge, Suva mountain and Svrljig mountain. The town is old over 2000 years. During the Kelt’s reign, it was called Remezijana. Then it was ruled by the Romans, than Turks… and all the conquerors left their mark. But, for the most part, Bela Palanka rests on remains from the Turks occupation.

These remains have survived to this day, slightly changing their original shape under the influence of the days that went by. One of them is Turkish Kale, which used to be Turkish town of a rectangular shape. The two longer sides were facing northeast and southwest, and the other two shorter southeast and northwest. There was one round tower on each corner, and one semi-circular tower in the middle of each canvas. Each tower was on two floors. The city had two entrances (gates), both on the long sides. The city was built mostly of stone. The Belopalanche Turkish city is today only in traces in such condition that, based on its existing remains, its former overall dimension or appearance cannot be seen.

Bela Palanka’s spring (“Vrelo”) represents the most beautiful part of the town. The composition of the massifs of the mountains Suva planina and Svrljig planina formed underground water reservoirs, from which occur the well known spring in the center of Bela Palanka, sorrounded by beautiful coniferous forest.

This beautifull park hosts one of the biggest manifestation in the town: “The Days of the Pie (Serbian: Banica)”, followed with numerious events, such as folklore troupes, singers, sale counters full of different type of goods. The manifestation has saling character. All exposed pies (sweet and savory) can be bought.

At the same time, on the other side of the river bank, the Fair of Old and Artistic Crafts is being helding.

More about the event find in this video:

In the park “Vrelo” you can also see the monument named “Girl on the Rock”. It is dedicated to the beautiful girl Bela who sacrifieced her life to preserve the honor. By the legend, during the Turkish rule of Serbia, one Turkish agha fell in love with her and he wanted to get married to her. Without her consent, her brother promised him to give him his sister’s hand.The wedding group came to take Bela with them, but when they reached this place, she asked them to stop as she wanted to drink some water from Vrelo. She got off the horse, throw into the water and drown herself. From that day the Turks named the town after her name – Ak Palanka (Bela – white - Palanka).

The Church of the Ascension of Christ is located in the central part of Bela Palanka. It was built between 1909 and 1910 on the approval of the Minister of Education of the Kingdom of Serbia. It had its original appearance until 2010, when the whole facade was built and restored. The process of fresco decoration is still ongoing. The Parish home rebuilt was completed in 2010 as well.

The Turkish Bridge is located in front of the water mill, both from the Turkish period. The owner was Afis Using. After the liberation from the Turks, the mill became the property of the Zlatanovic family from Bela Palanka. Today there are 22 owners of the mill, and they are changing as owners in every 2 week. Tourists can visit the mill and see how it used to grind the grain and get the flour for the bread.

Other attractions in Bela Palanka visited by Road Trip Family are presented here:

You may visit Bela Palanaka Tourist Organisation Facebook page as well:

All above description and filmed material are only our expressions and personal experience for fun purposes only. For more detailed and precise information, please contact the owner.

Video is translated on several languages. Use the option CC (Captions) to activate it. Here's the tutorial:

Visited on the 10.08.2019.

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