Bye bye Serbia

So I met up with Mikica for one last coffee in Belgrade. She invited me to visit her relatives for a big BBQ (she just came back from have a spit-roasted pig with her family) next time I came back, offered me the use of her beachside appartment in Montenegro and anything else she could think of. I was sorry to say goodbye but anyway she insisted on driving me to the airport the following morning. She arrived on time as ever and as I drove out to the airport I felt sure I will be back in Serbia and before long. Ziveli Serbia!

- Dave

Lake Paliċ and back to Belgrade

This morning started with an early visit to the much-hyped Lake Paliċ. Apparently it is very popular and a lot of money is spent on promoting it as a destination. On first glance it was hard to see why. It was a lake with a promenade full of cafes, a few boats and bikes that could be rented and a few kitschy building. On closer inspection… well, there was not much more really. I guess it’s probably a nice place for a relaxing half-day, a place to take the kids and swim in the lake but I felt a bit disappointed though Snežana, our guide of choice had warned me. Then it was time for the bus back to Belgrade, where, on arrival, I had to fill in a list of all the places I had been, on which night, in which hotel, etc etc. A little paranoid, the authorities, I think. Anyway tomorrow is my last full day here, so a couple of meetings, check a couple more hotels, buy a souvenir perhaps and then back to the UK on Monday morning. I will be sad to leave and I will mostly miss the great Serbian people and the very warm welcome I received throughout this lovely country.

- Dave

Further North: Sremski Karlovici and Subotica

This morning started early with a cab ride to the small town of SremskiKarlovici about 10km from Novi Sad. Travelling without Mikica was testing my basic Serbian to the extreme but I had a decent conversation with the taxi driver via hand signals and my basic Serbian. He seemed to have a high opinion of Irish people as so many seem to have here. A coupleof days ago in Belgrade we met an old man who spoke only basic English but on learning that we were Irish wanted to give us a litre bottle of plum brandy! We still had more than half a bottle left from Mirko so we politely declined. Anyway I digress. When I arrived the town was still sleeping so I wandered around and took in the lovely central square, unusually for Serbia named after a Romantic poet, Branko Radecevic, who was a son of the town.

After a coffee in the square I wandered around a little more, caught a taxi back to Novi Sad and then a bus to Subotica, a town near the border with Hungary. The Hungarian influence is even stronger here and many signs are displayed in both Serbian and Hungarian. The architecture is also more in the Hungarian style with bright colours and dashing patterns. The town hall is a riot of styles and one of the museums looks positively Gaudi-esque. The food too is heavily influenced by Hungary with menus heavy on Paprika and Goulash ubiquitously available. The Synagogue is pretty impressive too though fairly run down. Tired after a long day I spent the evening watching Sopranos on Fox Crime!

- Dave

Up North: Novi Sad

After a couple of relaxing days in Belgrade I said goodbye to Andy who headed back home and I hit the road again, this time by public transport. After an hour’s bus ride North, I arrived in Novi Sad, the capital of the Northern semi-autonomous province of Vojvodina. This province is quite different from the rest of Serbia - in population, history and geography. The bus ride passed along a rod-straight road through the great Pannonian Plain, vast flatlands, that contrasted starkly with the windy mountainous terrain of the rest of Serbia.

The region looks more to the North and West whereas the rest of Serbia looks East and has stronger historical ties with Hungary as opposed to Turkey and the difference was immediately obvious when I arrived into Novi Sad with its refined cultured central square and its mixed population of Serbian, Hungarian, Croat and Roma. I spent the day wandering the streets, absorbing the lively atmosphere with its abundance of street-side cafes and pedestrianised streets. After an excellent dinner and some tasty local wine I had an early night to get ready for the early start the following day.

- Dave

All along the Danube

After a later start than previous days (no prizes for guessing why!) we drove west along the Danube to Tekija where we had hoped to hire a boat to take us further up the Danube where it is at its narrowest and flanked by enormous cliffs. Unfortunately it was very windy and not safe to do so which was a real shame as I had been really looking forward to that. We found some lovely homestays on offer in Tekija though and the owners were quite disappointed with us for not accepting their generous offers of wine and plum brandy. “Not today!”

We drove along the banks of the Danube and the road climbed high above the river giving fantastic views along the river and across it to Romania. It was a shame to have missed the boat trip but the views from the river bank certainly compensated. We drove to Golubac Fortress, a medieval fairy-tale fortress with 9 towers. The fortress is quite stunning and in pretty good shape despite being overgrown and obviously not too well taken care of in recent times.

Then we drove on to Silver Lake, a small Serbian Resort where the Danube forms a pool that is excellent for swimming. We stopped here for the night and took advantage of the pool to take a swim in deliciously pleasant water, before having a beer on the banks. This morning we drove to Viminacium, an ancient Roman site where we were hoping to see the largest fossil of a Mammoth ever found in Europe (just a few months ago). Unfortunately our contact was out of town and the site itself locked. It is due to be opened to the public in about a month but it wasn’t to be today. From there we drove back to Belgrade where we said goodbye to and swapped contact details with Mikica, our fantastic driver, fixer and company for the last nine days. She will be missed. Now a couple of days of admin, meetings etc. before I head up to the North to check out Vojvodina.
- Dave

Wine cellars of Rajac

We left Niš early in the morning and arrived at the stunning old wine cellar village of Rajaċka Pimnice around 11am. This is not a real village as the real village is about 1km away but here is where the people from the village have their wine cellars. At 11 not many of the cellars but one friendly ruddy-faced farmer invited us in for some wine. It was surprisingly excellent and we agreed to buy a bottle. He gave us a few more glasses and advised us to check the old cemetery which he said was unique in the world.

We wandered up to the cemetery and it was indeed unlike anything I had seen before with strange unnamed gravestone with elaborate patterns. We came back into the village and the cellars were opening up, and so we sampled some more wine.

Then we had some excellent lunch, and visited a couple more cellars... you are probably getting the picture here. A couple of the cellar owners were quite focussed on making the sale but most just wanted drinking company. We even ended up inside a barrel at one point!

We left Rajac a couple of hours later a little tipsy to say the least. Fortunately we weren’t driving and our driver had been very sensible and stuck to coffee. We drove on to Kladavo, a village on the Danube where we found a simple hotel for the night.
- Dave

Devil's Town and the Skull Fortress

We left Prolom Banja and drove South to Dvarjos Varos a.k.a. Devil’s town. This place is made up of bizarre steep red stone peaks. It was truly stunning and local legends about the place abound. They say that an old man who was at war for many years came back and unknowingly was to marry his sister. God watched from above and unwilling to let this unholy marriage proceed turned all who came to celebrate it into stone peaks. The peaks look quite like Cappadoccia in Turkey but these ones are not unmoving and the peaks are destroyed and reformed on an ongoing basis. The top of one peak bore an uncanny resemblance to the devil’s face. Spooky!

From there we drove to Niš where we stopped for the night. The highlight of Niš was undoubtedly the skull tower, a tower erected after the Turks lost over 10,000 men due to the self-sacrifice of a Serbian leader and unwittingly about 3,000 of his men. Seeing they were to be overpowered he shot into their arms supply and took out all and sundry. In response the Turks built the skull tower made from 4 walls each containing eleven rows of seven skulls of Serbs killed, and the infamous leader’s skull on top. Many of the skulls are no longer there as Serbs took them to be buried but I think the message must have been pretty clear!
Dave

Islam, communism and baths!

So we picked up Andy from the bus station and myself, Mikica and Andy went for a mixed grill dinner in a place recommended by some locals - very tasty. As Novi Pazar is mainly a Muslim town there were few places serving alcohol but being Irish we found one and had a few night caps before calling it a night.

Then yesterday morning we made an early start and after checking out a few more hotels in Novi Pazar including the communist-era Hotel Vrbak, described by the guide book as “almost exquisitely ugly”. It was certainly a sight to behold with weird spiral pillars, hexagonal shapes and a restaurant that sprawls across the river. From there we drove to ther lovely St. Peter’s church dating from the 9th Century. An old lady came and opened the church for us with a an enormous key that must date from that period too. The inside was beautiful with some fantastically preserved and very beautiful wall paintings. The graveyard surrounding the church was also very picturesque.

After that we drove to Sopocani monastery, a UNESCO-heritage site with incredible frescoes, all the more incredible because the church went more than 200 years without a roof. This was to be the last monastery for a while, and after a lunch of roast lamb and cabbage we started heading east. We drove to Kapaonik, a ski resort in winter but perfect for forest walking in the summer, with thick pine forests. Myself and Andy went for a walk through the forest and managed to find a lovely viewpoint after climbing up some rocks. Then we drove on to Pomlom Banja, a spa town with water that supposedly cures all forms of intestinal problems. We had dinner and then met our hosts for the night, a Serbian family. The rooms are immaculately clean, very comfortable and our hosts were very friendly, an ideal place for our groups to stay I think.
- Dave

Stunning Monasteries: From Kalenic to Studenica

Yesterday Mikica came to pick me up at 8 and after saying goodbye to my very generous and accommodating hosts we hit the road. Myself and Mikica hit it off immediately. She is in her late fifties and is a real larger-than-life character, who is my driver, my problem-solver, my story-teller and now my friend. Our first stop was Topola where we visited the royal mausoleum and saw beautiful replicas of frescoes from monasteries throughout Serbia. In the crypt are buried many important characters from Serbia’s history and from the centre there is true panoramic sound. Whistle and the sound bounces back at you from every direction, it was quite something.

From Topola we drove through beautiful rolling green hills to the lovely picture-postcard village of Boraċ, and found its “hidden church”. The church is nestled between cliffs and its front is hidden by 100 year old lime trees. You don’t see it until you are almost at the door. The church itself is very small, dating from the 14th Century and has some good frescoes though many have been lost.

From Borac we drove on to Ljubostinja which Mikica had visited 40 years previously but not since. From there we drove to Kruševac where we arrived earlier than planned so Mikica looked up a friend of hers from her school days, and after driving around for half an hour, asking and looking we gave up. As we were heading tour hotel, she asked one last person and we were in luck. An hour later we were drinking beer and eating cold cuts with her friend and her family. I learned more about 57-year old, pint-sized Mikica: her year driving prisoners between Kosovo and Serbia during the war, her trips to Africa and Asia, her guitar playing and singing skills, her legendary shooting skills, her experience of having lost 5 babies, as well as her obvious charm and ease. I was made very welcome by the whole family and fed till I could eat no more. Later I went out with the younger half of the family to discover the bars of Kruševac and got their views on Serbia, Tito, Milosovic and anything else I could think of. But mostly we drank beer!

Today we drove to Kalenic monastery in the morning, driving along narrow windy roads through sun-baked fruit-growing country. The scenery was beautiful and the only traffic was an occasional tractor. The guide book described it as the least inaccessible monastery in all of Serbia, which I don’t doubt but getting there was half the fun. The monastery itself is spectacular from the outside and almost as impressive from inside with a particularly stunning fresco depicting a Serbian wedding where Christ seems to be talking to the Virgin mother about the wine while the groom is preparing to prick his bride’s finger for the mixing of the blood, a Serbian tradition that stopped not long ago.

After Kalenic we drove to the UNESCO heritage monastery of Studenica, stopping on the way in a hidden away perfectly preserved restaurant dating from the 1830s that served fantastic fish soup and even better fresh river fish. We checked into our immaculately kept rooms in the monastery guest house and wandered through the monastery grounds. Mass had just started so we caught some of the service and the soothing chants that echoed around the beautiful Church of our Lady, a white marble structure with elaborately sculptured leaves, figures and mythical creatures. The whole monastery radiated serenity, and on that note it’s time for an early night finally!

- Dave

Ravanica and Manasija

Today started with Rakija, a homemade plum brandy that is traditionally taken first thing the morning. It tasted pretty good but I didn’t really buy into the first thing in the morning thing. After a quick breakfast we drove out to visit two monasteries, Ravanica and Manasija. Ravanica, founded in the 14th century Prince Lazar today houses his remains though they took a round about route having been originally buried here his remains were moved to Hungary, then Belgrade before doing a monastery tour in 1987 before finally coming back to Ravanica. The monastery is surrounded by forests and pastures and encircled by a huge fortress wall. The main church is beautiful but unfortunately little remains of the original frescoes having mostly been destroyed by the Turks.

Manasija looks more like a Byzantine castle than a monastery due to its very heavy fortifications. Built by Lazar’s son Stefan, its construction is widely regarded as the final act of Serbian’s golden age before they were dominated by the Turks for almost five hundred years. When we arrived there was a gypsy wedding starting which added a lot of colour and spice to the visit. At both monasteries there were no other tourists around, In the gift shop afterwards I thought I heard an Irish voice and looked around and there were just three nuns so I assumed my mind was playing tricks on me. Then I heard it again so I asked one of the nuns if she was Irish and indeed she was from Dublin and had been at the monastery for a couple of years. Is there anywhere you don’t find Irish people?!

I ended up spending most of the evening drinking beer in the village café with Mirko. His English isn’t great and my Serbian very basic but somehow it worked, mostly through speaking the language of beer however. Tomorrow my driver Mikica arrives and we will head South.

- Dave

Belgrade and Smederevo

Yesterday I slept in a little before heading out to meet a Belgrade-based tour operator. The meeting lasted about an hour and they added a few details and suggestions to my proposed itinerary. They also came across well and seemed to know the country and the places on my route quite well. We agreed to meet again when I come back to Belgrade to discuss the route for future tours. After that I had the afternoon free, so I wandered through the streets of Belgrade at leisure. The vibe of the city was both bustling and easy going. And everyone was in the street it seemed. The cafes were full of locals eating ice-cream or drinking beer or coffee. After a while I too stopped and started to read a book about Serbia I had picked up in my local library. The story followed eight very different Serbian characters – from independent journalists to rural farmers, theatre directors to priests - through the difficult years of 1999 to 2004 and explored their changing circumstances and opinions. It made compelling reading and fleshed out some more details about the important characters in Serbia’s recent history through the fall of Milosovic. I ate some dinner in a friendly local restaurant and it was time for bed. A thoroughly relaxing and enjoyable day, all in all.

This morning I met up with Snezana and we headed out to her boyfriend’s country home near to Semederevo. After an hour’s bus ride we arrived in the town where we were met by her boyfriend, Mirko and drove to his home in a small village. After a very hearty lunch of fried fish, mashed potatoes with vegetables and a salad we headed off to Mirko’s cousin’s field where we picked some excellent peaches. The fields abound with fruit – peaches, apples, plums, sour cherries and there is more than enough to go around. We also tasted some delicious pears from Mirko’s own garden. When Snezana is not around to translate myself and Mirko make ourselves understood though him speaking Serbian (which I have been learning for a couple of months), my English (which he understands better that he can speak) and some pantomime but on the whole it works quite well.

Later we headed into Smederevo to see its impressive and well-preserved medieval fort overlooking the Danube. After the fort we wandered around the town after the heat had died down and it too was a hub of activity with lots of children running around, playing football, basketball or driving little carts. We sat outside one of the town’s busy cafes and drank a dark Serbian beer. We came back to the village a little later and chatted about Serbian history and Snezana filled me in more on Milosovic and how most people found it hard to admit they had made a mistake in electing him. However she still felt as did many Serbs that the country needed a strong leader because: “If you take two Serbs you will have three opinions”! We had a cheese-filled pastry for dinner and drank some more beer and coffee.

Tomorrow morning we will drive together to see the first two monasteries on my trip, so I am quite looking forward to that.

- Dave

Serbia: First impressions

Ok so day 2 in Belgrade and it’s been a bit hectic as these research trips always turn out to be. Arrived into Belgrade airport, took a bus to the city centre, found my hotel, showered and came down to meet Snezana, our local guide. We headed out for coffee in a nearby park, Tasmajdan Park with a huge and impressive Serbian Orthodox church beside a smaller Russian Orthodox one. We chatted about Serbia and possible itineraries and I felt sure the impression of competence and enthusiasm I had gotten from our email correspondence was not misplaced.

After about an hour and a half we started off on a walking tour through the city. Snezana explained a lot about the history of Serbia, the important characters in shaping that history and its relations in the modern world; “Russia is our big brother, but not one we really trust”.
We walked through the city, past the parliament, various stone mason constructions and the very pleasant Kalemagdan Park overlooking the Danube before exploring its impressive fort at sunset. Eventually, as it was getting late, we went for dinner in a local Serbian restaurant serving typical meat dishes which were very tasty if not the healthiest… veal strips wrapped in bacon was my particular favourite. We said goodnight and I headed back to my hotel for a well-earned sleep.

This morning Snezana and our driver for the day, Milano, picked me up. We stopped of to have a typical Serbian pastry called burek for breakfast - filled with mince meat or cheese. Very tasty but a bit heavy for the morning. We headed out to Zemun, now a suburb of Belgrade, originally a town nearby. Its charm was its crumbling grandeur, its easy-going pace of life and its location on the Danube.

From there we visited the enormous St Sava’s church, a beautiful construction started before World War II and whose exterior was finished only 2 years ago. A grandiose project, the World’s largest Orthodox church, it is being constructed from the finest materials from Greece, Italy, Brazil, Libya and India. The main dome weighs over 15,000 tonnes (think 15,000 cars) and took 29 days to hoist into place using lasers, specially designed computer software and some heavy-duty lifting equipment! Work is ongoing on the inside and is expected to be completed in about five years’ time.

From St. Sava’s we headed out to Tito’s grave and memorial. Tito ruled Yugoslavia from 1953 to his death in 1980 and is a larger than life character, who while brutally suppressive, and vicious with his enemies remains loved by a majority of Serbians. Snezana explained: “Tito gave us a good life. In return we did not ask questions. If you have a good life only a fool asks questions”. A tradition during his time was to give him an Olympic-style torch for his birthday. Soon he was getting them more frequently and ever more elaborate ones. His estate even continued to receive them many years after he was dead. It is estimated that his estate has some 27,000 torches. He remains much loved and Serbians felt much pride in their country’s importance during the Tito years. Snezana put it like this: “When I go to bed I dream that when I wake up Tito will still be alive, everything will be as it was before and I will be young again”. She felt sure many people felt the same thing.

- Dave