Silver Lake (Serbia)

Infobox lake
lake_name = Silver Lake
image_lake = Silver Lake Sat.png caption_lake = Satellite photo of Silver Lake
image_bathymetry =
caption_bathymetry =
location =
coords = coord|44.76|N|21.45|E|type:waterbody|display=inline,title
type =
inflow = Danube
outflow = Danube
catchment =
basin_countries = Serbia
length = 14 km
width = 300 m
area = 4 km²
depth =
max-depth = 8 m
volume =
residence_time =
shore =
elevation = 70 m
islands =
cities = Veliko Gradište, Biskuplje, Kisiljevo

Silver Lake or Srebrno jezero (Serbian Cyrillic: Сребрно језеро) is an oxbow lake along the right Danube bank in the Braničevo region in eastern Serbia, near the town of Veliko Gradište. It is a popular tourist resort.

Geography

The lake itself is in the broad, low valley of the Danube, but the neighboring hills rise up from 282 meters on the north (Gorica hill) to 362 meters on the south (Lipovača hill), while the entire western part of the valley is enclosed by the elongated hill of Veliko brdo and it's highest peak of Anatema (324 m) . The mouth of the river Pek into the Danube, known by its inverse flow during the high water levels, is just south of the lake. Historical sites of the medieval city-fortresses of Ram and Golubac also also in the vicinity of the lake, so as the springs of "Hajdučka voda" (Hajduk's water).

Silver Lake is an arm of the Danube on its right bank. With the main river bed of the Danube it engulfes the marshy "ada" (river island) of Ostrovo. On both points which connect the lake to the Danube it was dammed and bridged in 1971 by the Veliko Gradište-Zatonje road which also crosses the island. Other settlements on the lake are Biskuplje and Kisiljevo.

Silver Lake has an irregular arch shape, it is 14 kilometers long, up to 300 meters wide and covers an area of 4 km². It is situated at the altitude of 70 meters and deep as much as 8 meters. The water is clear due to the lack of pollution and the natural philtration of the water through many sand dunes. The lake is abundant in fish, including white amur, carp, catfish, pike, perch and other freshwater whitefish.

Economy

The lake is a popular holiday and fishing destination for decades, but recently experienced visitor's boom, attracting tourists from all over Central Serbia, despite lack of major accommodations. The lake has one hotel ("Srebrno jezero"), several restaurant-boardinghouses, a weekend-settlement and the largest car camping park in Serbia.

As a result of lake's growing popularity, it has been since recently advertised as "Serbian sea", since Serbia is landlocked. A major plans for turning Silver Lake from the resort of the middle class into the more elite place were announced in July 2007. [Politika daily, July 28, 2007, p. 18] . In the next seven years it is planned to build three hotels, congressional halls, pools (both opened and covered), golf courses, cycling paths, shopping malls and marina. The tennis courts have been concstructed earlier this year.

References

* Atlas Srbije (2007), MONDE NEUF, Belgrade; ISBN 978-86-86809-05-6
*

External links

* [http://www.srebrnojezero.com Srebrno jezero official site]

See also

*List of lakes in Serbia