Zaklopača

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Zaklopača (Serbian Cyrillic: Заклопача) is a suburban settlement of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Grocka.

Zaklopača is located in the central part of the municipality, 8 km west of the municipal seat of Grocka and 25 km east of Belgrade. It is located on the road connecting the road of Smederevski put to the north and the highway Belgrade-Niš to the south, with another branch of the road connecting Zaklopača directly to Grocka to the east.

Zaklopača is statistically classified a rural settlement (village). Its southern extension connects it urbanely with the village of Vrčin while the northern one, Strnjike, spreads along the Smederevski put. It had population of 2,197 in 1991 and 2,252 in 2002.

Economy is based on the agriculture. The most important is the fruit growing as Zaklopača is in the middle of the one of the most famous fruit producing areas of Serbia, with vast orchards (apples, plums, peaches, apricots, cherries, etc). The PKB agricultural company, with fruit plantations and huge refrigerators (PKB - Voćarske plantaže) is located nearby. Area surrounding Zaklopača is nicknamed 'Little California', because of its specific micro-climate conditions. Zaklopača has its own geographic areas, some of them are Podaćave, Lukino, Golo brdo, Grčki potok, Grab, Jabučije, Mostine, Lipovica, Lupoglav, Velika strana, Gavran, etc. Curiosity is that the micro-climate is diverse to such an extent that each of these areas have best conditions for different species of fruits.

First settlements in the area of present village are formed at the end of the XVIII century, on the northern border of Zaklopača. This area is known today as Staro Selo (Cyrillic: Старо село; English: Old Village).

[edit] Strnjike

Northern section of Zaklopača, extending along the Smederevski put road is called Strnjike. Located on the top of the hill above Zaklopača, it grows faster than the rest of the settlement, stretching in all four directions: south to the center of the settlement, east to Grocka, west to Boleč and north to the Danube coast. Being on the major road, apart from agriculture, some commercial facilities are developing.