08/07/2018-10/07/2018
Usually when we decide to go to a country we rarely just visit one part of said country and so Serbia would certainly be no different. We took the 10am bus from Belgrade and headed north to the city of Novi Sad which would be our base for the next 3 days. Novi Sad is officially on the map these days due to the world famous, award winning EXIT music festival but we were not here for that despite its prestige, missing it by about 4 days which to be honest we weren't in the slightest bit bothered by. What was I expecting of Novi Sad? A city with more brutalist architecture with a turbulent past perhaps? Well, after our time there, a city with a restless history, most definitely with the 1999 NATO bombings but an exterior full of lackluster, most certainly not.
Getting off the bus we couldn't check into our AirBnb until 4 o'clock so we left our bags in the luggage hold at the bus stop and spent the next few hours wondering the streets. Our first stop was visiting probably the most iconic site of Novi Sad, the Petrovaradin Fortress which sits perched across the river Danube keeping a stern look on the city below and the venue of where the famous EXIT festival is held.
We then made our way to the main meeting point of the city, Libery Square where the catholic church and town hall are perched on either side. What struck us both about Novi Sad was how different it was to Belgrade being only over an hour away. It was cute, colourful and certainly relaxed with the cafe culture clearly the ruler where tables and chairs are wedged onto the sidewalks of the main pedestrian street, Zmaj Jovi, with people young and old enjoying their coffees while the world walks by.
The next day unfortunately the weather gods were not on our side with rain forecast but this did not dampen our spirits and if anything it was a welcome break from the Serbian sunshine so we took the 10:30 bus to the town of Subotica about an hour and a half away. On a side note, what I will say about the buses in Serbia is that although they are not what we would consider modern they will always leave on time, bringing Serbia up a notch in my admiration for it!
The town of Subotica is a city in the province of Vojvodina and is bursting with Art Nouveau halls and palaces with the main city hall and Reichi Palace naming just a few and definitely both must see's for their splendid architecture and colour.
We were planning on renting bikes and cycling out to the Palic late resort but because of the weather we decided to get the bus and maybe this was for the better. We met an adorable elderly man who, with little english managed to tell us that in his younger days he was a pilot and aid worker for Unicef representing Yugoslavia in Beirut and Cairo, even carrying his badges with him, something from his past he is obviously extremely proud of. It's just unfortunate that his English wasn't great or our Serbian for that matter, as I'm sure he had plenty of fascinating stories to share. Lake Palic is a charming old resort with again its fair share of Art Nouveau sites. On warm days I'm sure there is no better place to be in the town than swimming in the lake or strolling on the promenade.
On our final day we decided to head for a little bit of nature in the region known as Fruska Gora. This area is often referred to as the 'jewel of Serbia' due to its picturesque landscape and beautiful countryside. The bus dropped us off on the side of the road beside a closed shop and a restaurant, even the tourist information centre was closed. It seems Serbians don't do hiking or picnics during the weekdays! After some humming and hawing and fiddling around with our map we eventually found our starting point, a walk to the town of Paragovo. All throughout Fruska Gora, visitors will notice markings on the trees in the form of a heart which apparently represents ones love of nature. A marking I for one thought was humble and cute, Paul of course was indifferent!
So we presumed our nature walk would bring us into the town of Paragovo going by the trail map but instead it lead us to the side of a busy road. We could either continue on walking in the heat to eventually get to our destination or we could hitchhike. Paul stuck his thumb out and within 3 minutes a car had pulled over. He was heading in the direction we needed to go so without hesitation we hopped in. We have hitchhiked in a few different countries before you see- from Yosemite National Park Stateside where a family of Iranians picked us up to Croatia where a guy blaring out some house music dropped us back to our Airbnb, each encounter had been awesome and so this hitchhiker would not be turned down. Special shout out to Igor, an IT guy from Novi Sad who takes drives on his lunch from work to clear his head...can I just say, I hear ya brother!! He saved us from the burning heat and even dropped us off at the bus stop where we would go to the little town of Sremski Karlovci.
Sremski Kalovci is a town in the Fruska Gora region situated on the river Danube famous for its wine making. Charles and Camilla visited this town at one point so if it was good enough for the Royals it was good enough for us to pay a visit. I never say no to a good glass of wine so we paid a visit to a little winery called Prodrum Probus where we sampled 6 different types of wine, all delicious may I add and we learned a new Serbian word 'Ziveli' meaning cheers. The town itself is small with beautiful colours all around and is a charming place to spend a few hours.
That night we came back to Novi Sad, watched Belgium v France in the world cup in a little cafe on the pedestrian street where we people watched more so than watched the football, a past time on our travels we are becoming very used to!
Novi Sad and its surroundings are charming, colourful and full of life with plenty to offer from city scapes to nature escapes but for now its time for us to move West to Tara National Park.
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