Fruška Gora National Park

This national park is located on a lone, low mountain of the same name, situated in the southwest of the Pannonian plain, not far from the city of Novi Sad. As our oldest national park, it was established in 1960. with its protected area, stretching on 25.525 hectares. Main characteristic of the park lies in its numerous rare, endangered and thus protected plants and animals, the abundance of green pastures and fertile soil, especially vineyards and orchards, which are mostly located in the lower parts of the mountain. In higher parts, Fruška Gora is rich in thick forests, mainly those of oak, hornbeam, beech and other deciduous trees.  Forest covers around 90% of the park.

Vineyards of Fruška Gora

Steppe, that stretches over the brim of the national park, is almost completely destroyed and turned into arable land. Nevertheless, in some parts there are still preserved fragments of steppe and they represent home to many relict plants, such as yellow pheasant's eye, greater pasque flower, fern leaf peony and many more. Rich flora of this mountain includes also around 400 different species of mushrooms. Fauna consists mostly of birds (200+ species) and mammals (60 species). Some of the most endangered animals are eastern imperial eagle, european ground squirrel, lesser mole-rat and various bats. 

eastern imperial eagle                      pheasant's eyes                     greater pasque flower             european ground squirrel

Other natural aspects worth mentioning are lakes and caves. There are several artificial lakes on Fruška Gora, of which the most attractive are Ledinačko and Bešenovsko lake. Caves are few, with Grgurevačka cave being the most popular one.

Ledinačko lake

Since it's a low mountain (539 m), Fruška Gora is not so much popular in winter. This national park is most visited during spring and summer, and its numerous resorts and viewpoints attract large number of visitors in that time of the year. Most famous resorts are Letenka and Stražilovo, and probably the best view out there provides magnificent viewpoint Iriški venac. Some of the interesting towns nearby, that tourists can also visit are Sremski Karlovci, already mentioned, Novi Sad as well as Stari Slankamen.

Letenka

Iriški venac

Cultural and historical side of the national park is rich as much as its natural one. Fruška Gora is often reffered to as 'serbian Athos' or 'holy mountain', because of many old monasteries situated there (out of 35, 16 of them were preserved to this day), built between 15th and 18th century and famous for their unique architecture, libraries and frescos. 

Some of the most mentioned monasteries among these are Krušedol, Hopovo, Grgeteg, Jazak, Vrdnik-Ravanica... These monasteries had major role in preservation of the tradition of serbian people during the Ottoman occupation. That makes them an important part of our cultural heritage and there are many organized one-day field trips to Fruška Gora, for those interested in visiting and learning more about them.

Grgeteg monastery

There are also numerous archaeological sites, that date back from neolith, copper, bronze and roman period. Due to the complexity of mountain's geological structure and mentioned archaeological sites (on which mostly plant and animal fossils are found), Fruška Gora is a true mirror of our geological past and that was one of the main reasons why it was put under protection in the first place.

For more information visit: http://www.npfruskagora.co.rs/eng.html