Bjelovar – The Empress, gypsy tents and the hidden treasure

Since recently, Bjelovar has been offering three new tourist attractions. The first is the `Bjelovar Sunday with the Empress`, during which you can enjoy the company of the Empress Maria Theresa and the Bjelovar hussars and during a carriage ride, find out about the history of Bjelovar from a tour guide. The Empress’ Sunday starts with a shot from a cannon, and the event is supplemented by costumed musicians who perform classical music pieces. For this occasion the organizers have prepared a sweet delicacy – the Bjelovar Royal round cakes.

`The journey of the gypsy tents` has been envisioned as a parade of horse carriages which remind of `gypsy tents`. The parade travels off road and through the fields wherever possible, from destination to destination, one, two or three days depending on the program. Tourists can ride in the carriages, and those who want can follow the parade on horseback. In certain places, there are small fairs organized with offers of domestic products like cheese, honey, cakes, wine and schnapps, with music and hospitality. For their journey, the tourists receive styled gypsy clothes and have organized games and small workshops connected to the traditional crafts and activities of the gypsies.

Participants of the journey, actively participate in the program, e.g. in setting up tents, lighting fires, grooming cattle, feeding horses and preparing their own meals.

`The hidden treasure of the Veds` is the name of the day long walking tour. Bjelovar`s third tourist offer is based on stories and legends, and starts from the ethno house in ethno park in Veliko Trojstvo, where participants can hear an interesting story from a Bilogora woman about `danji’, which is an old traditional expression for ghosts and apparitions.

Participants of the tour then get a map with a secretly marked location of the hidden treasure. Walking the forests of Bilogora, along with all the interesting sites they will come across fake hidden treasure a few times. They will find trinkets and magic potions with new maps as to continue their journey. In the end, when they find the real treasure, they will be welcomed by a small ceremony and a specially prepared lunch with an unusual recipe, which they will partly have to prepare by themselves. There are also various games constructed for participants and also introductions to some simple, traditional, ethno music instruments.

The Tourist Board of Bjelovar-Bilogora County
www.tzbbz.hr