A mother told an Englishman that he will be eaten alive in Serbia: He came regardless, and Sinisa, Jovana, and Stefan prepared a lunch he will never forget (PHOTO)

The unusual group of three people from Sumadija are representing Serbia to foreigners and they get a desire to keep getting back. They go home in tears, they are buying properties in our country, they experience feelings they have forgotten for decades. Ljubisa, Jovana, and Stefan are organizing horseback riding tours in central Serbia, foreigners are sleeping and eating in Serbian houses, and they are going around churches and they learn about our history.

There is a real river paradise in Serbia, tucked away in the deep forest: When you step behind dense trees, there are spectacular waterfalls and canyons (PHOTO)

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– Nature lovers are coming, some chose Serbia for adventure, thinking that it might be dangerous to stay here. And then we destroy their stereotypes regarding people and we offer even more than they could have dreamed for – Ljubisa Simovic from Gornji Milanovac said, the oldest of three organizations, refusing to say that he is the leader of the group.

Horseback riding tours, or trails, usually last for one week, and our guests travel around 200-250 km while riding horses across central Serbia – by the lakes and rivers, over the hills and meadows, through forests.

– Often people who come to Serbia have some preconceptions and they are mistrustful although they have chosen to come themselves over the reliable agency that we cooperate with. However, we “break” everybody on the third day. We had a guest whose mother and fiancee told him as a joke back in London that he will be eaten alive in Serbia. He was mostly quiet on the first day here, and he started communicating on the second day. 

We already “broke” hi on the third day while I was cooking a meal of venison and mushrooms. Then he took a photo of the lunch and sent it to his mother and fiancee with the text – this on the table is not me, I am next to it – that is when he told us the entire story – Ljubisa laughs.

I also hosted a 74-year-old man from Scotland, an extremely wealthy man. He wasn’t too relaxed until one of the Serbian people riding came down from a horse and drank water from a spring.

– That man from Scotland told us that he experienced that when he was 14 years old and he thought that he will never experience that again. That was the thing that “broke” him. We have a German woman who has been on the trail for four years in a row. I remember a guest who started crying when he tried homemade bread, he said that he felt that taste the last time when he was a child. We didn’t have a single negative comment. The only complaint of the guests is that we feed them too much. They complain that they lose weight on trails in other countries, but they just gain weight in Serbia – Ljubisa said.

Foreigners are spending their nights in households that are doing rural tourism. That is why the guests are getting fat because they can’t refuse domestic tomato, eggs from a chicken that is walking around, chicken with skin that is sticking to your fingers, mushrooms picked in a nearby woods.

Jovana Miletic (24) is a guide in this group. She knows the route that she uses to take guests through it because she walked it herself, both on foot and on a horse.

– I have been riding for 11 years. I am showing Serbia to foreigners on trails in a way they have never seen. On the first day, I am taking guests by the lakes and plains, to meet the horses and the field. Then we are going to some harder parts. We are often eating in nature, we are drinking from springs, our guests are amazed by our clean forests, scents – Jovana said.

Stefan Bajkic (22) takes care of the horses, equipment, tourists, he helps in the clearing of the trails. He is currently on a trail with two girls from Switzerland. Lin is 27  and this is her first time in Serbia. She said that overjoyed with her selection. Denise explains that the internet “is to blame” for her arrival.

– When She saw the pictures of beautiful landscapes I decided to come here. People are so warm and hospitable. We didn’t know that there were so many hills here and that it is crowded with forests – Denise said.

A real party is thrown for the guests. Cautious Englishmen, Scottish, Germans, Swiss, move aside their tables, they start dancing, and they decorate accordions with hundreds of euros.

Wise Ljubisa is taking the foreigners to Mionica, the birthplace of Zivojin Misic, and he tells them about Kolubara battle and the Serbian soldier. He takes them to the Church of St. Dimitrie in Lazarevac where the monument was created for Serbian and Austro-Hungarian soldiers who died in Kolubara battle.

Then the trail becomes the meeting of Serbian people in a bit different way. Then the foreigner returns to his state, he checks Ljubisa’s story, and then he calls him to say that he is very sorry for his ancestors.

– And then the foreigners are becoming the best ambassadors of Serbia in the world, they are talking about the beauties of our country, and they change the stereotypes that are spread about us across Europe – Ljubisa said.

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(Telegraf.co.uk / Marija Raca)