Negotin, Serbia - Wine has been cultivated in the border region between Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania for hundreds of years. But 50 years of Communism and 15 years of civil strife have turned this part of eastern Serbia into a tourism and culinary desert. However, that is about to change thanks to what locals hope will be an influx of wine connoisseurs and tourists cycling along the nearby Danube Way or visiting archaeological sites.
Germany's International Cooperation Enterprise for Sustainable Development (GTZ) specialises in providing technical cooperation and sustainable development the world over.
In 2006, it helped establish a vintners' association in Negotin and provided development aid.
The association now has about 20 members who are trying to rediscover what it means to grow grape varieties that are almost forgotten in the region, according to Zoran Stevanovic, the association's president.
Over the past five or six years, Stevanovic has refurbished the wine making facilities in the village of Rogljevo.
The vintners grow grapes on relatively small plots of land ranging in size from two to four hectares.
"We had to start right from the beginning again," recalls Stevanovic. The area's road network was in a miserable state of repair just like many of the family-owned wine making operations.
During former Yugoslavia's Communist era, making wine for sale was against the law. Vintners could only produce wine for their own consumption.
They also had to sell their grapes at rock bottom prices to the local cooperative. It was a loss making venture and slowly the region's vineyards began to rot.
That has since changed and Stevanovic makes about 15,000 litres of wine every year which he sells to Serbian customers.
Rogljevo has a number of wine cellars which have largely fallen into disrepair. But their owners are now slowly trying to repair the old wine shops in the hope of attracting visitors.
There are 330 homes in the village of Rajac and just as many wine shops which are called "pimnice" in Serbian. Most pimnice were built in the 19th century and have for the most part been refurbished by their owners.
"Rajac is dominated by wine making," according to Peter Paunovic, a local wine guide. "Even pregnant women and breast feeding mothers drink wine. We experience our first intoxicated moment when we are infants."
Paunovic says most people drink a litre of wine a day on average. According to local lore, the ratio of wine to water in the morning is 2:1 and by the afternoon when everyone is working in the fields the ratio has reversed.
Rajac's wine shops are not only storing and selling wine, some of them have been converted into accommodation for tourists.
The town's overgrown cemetery hides a number of grand headstones that cannot be found elsewhere.
Although their colours have long since faded, they testify to the region's former wealth.
Rajac's finest hour came in the 19th century when the insect pest phylloxera destroyed most of the vines in western Europe.
Three million litres of wine were exported annually westwards. French, Spanish and Italian palates, which were used to fine wines, could apparently find no fault with wine from Serbia.
But the good times are long bygone and now the Rajac region is struggling to regain its former glory.
The many hotels and pensions that have sprung up in the region are one way of doing that but foreign visitors are few in number despite the beautiful Danube valley.
The mighty Danube stretches for about 100 kilometres through a narrow 200 metre wide valley in this part of Serbia.
In places, the river is up to 90 metres deep. But during the summer months when the water is shallow in the mouth of the valley at the town of Prahovo, the Danube reveals a more disturbing side to itself - the remains of German gunboats from World War II that were destroyed and sunk while retreating from enemy forces.
The wrecks pose a threat to every vessel travelling from Passau in Germany to the Danube's delta.
Further south are the remains of the ancient archaeological site of Gamzigrad close to the town of Zajecar.
This late Roman imperial palace is largely untouched and is waiting to be excavated - however, as is so often the case, there's no money to pay for the work.
Internet:www.serbia.travel, www.toon.org.yu und http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1253.
