Traveling to Arandjelovac During Pandemic Alone as a 16-Year-Old
In April 2021, I had a trip to Arandjelovac. I traveled by myself. Even though it wasn’t the first time I was traveling alone — since, in the past, I had joined several travel groups, without my parents — it was still different. This time, I was all by myself. Therefore, everything that was arranged by my parents in our prior trips had to be done by me, and this fact was worrying. For starters, I was a little stressed that I would miss the plane. In addition, I had no idea what I would do if something happened that I had no control over. With all these in mind, my whole plane trip was full of panic. I thought I would be relieved once the plane landed, but that was not the case. As I was at the exit gate, my eyes started looking for a placard that said Ms. İnce on it, hoping to find my taxi driver. I stressed out even more after my minutes-long, useless search for the driver. Then I turned on my mobile data to send an email to the person who arranged the ride for me. My taxi could not come on time because of the traffic. Within 10 minutes, somehow I managed to set up thousands of scenarios in my mind. After 15 minutes, my driver eventually arrived. He offered me water, a Munchmallow, and his favorite peppermint candy by Paracınka (See “Candy” and “Munchmallow”). They are “hard candies with cacao cream” (Peppermint). As you can guess, the Paracınka candies are a mixture of cacao and mint. Munchmallows are like Turkish Çokomel but have slight differences. I would recommend you to try Munchmallow and Peppermint.
Our road trip was 3-hour-long due to the traffic. During the ride we chatted, he pointed out some interesting places that we passed by and talked about Turkish-Serbian relationships. He said that he saw me as his daughter and that I could call him whenever I needed a ride. He was a great person. Luckily, I met other people like him.
This was my second time traveling to Serbia. When I was 8 years old my mother and I went to Novi Sad and made great memories. Of course, some of them still feel like yesterday even after all these years. For example, I will never forget the little cakes, the chocolate that had a banana shape, our KFC meal that we accidentally ordered spicy and could not eat…
The little cakes and the chocolate are MUST TRYs (See “Bananica” and “7 Days”). Even though this is not a Novi Sad trip article, I want to give advice for people who plan on traveling to Novi Sad. You will see great architecture where this photo was taken (See “Seven Years Old Öykü”). There is even a possibility that you might stumble upon a concert just like we did. Also, visit the Danube River. You can find a map from 9 years ago at the end of the article (“Novi Sad Map”).
Now, we can talk about my trip to Arandjelovac. It is not a big city, but it is very intimate. When I was walking down the street, there were people talking, laughing, and fulfilling their longings. Sidewalks were full of joy.
There were not many people who wore masks, though. Since it is a small city, the number of cases was not high at the time. They had already been vaccinated too.
I had some stomach problems because of the unfamiliar amount of oil that they put in all their dishes. Even though their cuisine is very similar to ours, the oil still upsets sensitive stomachs. If your stomach is like mine you should ask for diet food. Besides, if you try not to eat pork, or if it bothers your stomach, there are pork-free alternatives as well. Anyways, thankfully, at the hotel, there was a doctor. I visited her, and she listened to all my complaints. She prescribed me several medicines and even went to the pharmacy to get them for me. As I repeated several times, Arandjelovac is truly full of amazing people.
The city has many natural beauties as well. You can find mountains wherever you are and be surrounded by greens all the time. Also, there are many natural parks and my favorite is Park Bukovičke Banje. This park is what fascinated me the most in Arandjelovac. Below, I have added all the photographs that I took at the park. Take a look at them (See “ Collage 1” and “Collage 2”).
I am sure after looking at the photographs, you will be interested in the history of the park. If you want to get further information about Park Bukovičke Banje, visit the website.
Lastly, there is a museum in Arandjelovac named National Museum Aranđelovac which is a local history museum. I did not get the chance to see it due to my limited time in the city, yet it is still a favorable offer for the ones interested.
I hope you enjoyed your virtual trip to Arandjelovac, nonetheless, seeing everything the city offers in-person is highly recommended.
Work Cited
Bananica. krinos-1.azureedge.net/img/product/80924_1-B.jpg?fv=F52601FDE8147436B79E74537AF1A3DA-18919. Accessed 19 Aug. 2021.
CAKE BAR VANILLA. 7Days, www.7days.com/files/1/Products-International/Cake-bar/CAKE-BAR-VANILLA-COVERED.png. Accessed 19 Aug. 2021.
İnce, Safiye Öykü. Collage 2. 19 Aug. 2021.
— -. Novi Sad Map.
— -. Collage 1. 19 Aug. 2021.
İnce, Yurdanur. Seven Years Old Öykü.
MUNCHMALLOW. www.trytreats.com/explore/europe/munchmallow. Accessed 19 Aug. 2021.
“Park of Bukovička banja.” bukovickabanja, bukovickabanja.rs/tour-item/park-of-bukovicka-banja/?lang=en. Accessed 19 Aug. 2021.
Punjene bombone Pepermint sa kakaom 100g Paraćinka. Silbo, www.silbo.rs/proizvodi/konditori/bombone/1221/punjene-bombone-pepermint-sa-kakaom-100g-paracinka.html. Accessed 19 Aug. 2021.
