Serbia Wins Our Rising Star Award!

From Novi Sad we didn't have to drive far to reach Fruska Gora National Park. First stop was the Tourist Info Centre to find out about walks and rides. The girl there was as useless as tits on a bull. She simply told us, "All tracks are blocked by fallen trees from the storm," and wasn't the least bit interested in helping us any more. You could almost see us rolling our eyes. How could all the tracks be blocked? We bought a walking map anyway.

The national parks here aren't exactly like ours. There are towns and villages in them, some small factories and there's plenty of small-scale logging. They still are areas of great natural beauty though.

We found our accommodation - an apartment in a high-rise apartment block in a small town (so weird). We loved the sign on the wall!

The town we stayed in was called Vrdnik. Why do Serbians dislike vowels so much, haha? John still had his cold so I did one of the walks shown on the map but it started on a footpath beside the road and ended up completely on the road! I found some other options on maps.me and took a much more scenic route back through farmland. A gorgeous dog joined me for a bit. Would you believe there were two fallen trees across the track! I retracted my eye-rolling......

I encouraged a slowly-recovering John to do a short walk with me, only I forgot to tell him it was steep until we were well up the track. The poor guy dragged himself up and we checked out a ruined fortress at the top.

I had read about a mysterious set of stone steps in the forest that led to nowhere. They were very atmospheric but a few bits of old concrete at the top made it obvious there was a building there at some stage.

Smoking is an ongoing issue for us in Serbia. So many people smoke here! You're not technically allowed to smoke indoors in public places but everyone does. This isn't usually too big a problem because we always eat outside, however we had two meals in a row inside as there were no outside tables left. At one, there weren't many people in the restaurant and surprisingly, nobody at the next table smoked while we were there. The next night, at our favourite restaurant, the only table left was inside but fortunately a large pedestal fan was going full blast and blew most of the smoke away from us.

We met an Aussie Serbian couple from Perth at dinner one night. They come here each summer to visit family. They love Australia, mainly because all their children and grandchildren are there, but it was interesting to hear their perspective on both countries.

Sticking to the national parks, our next destination was Tara NP. The drive here was spectacular. About an hour after we left Fruska Gora NP, the landscape around us became really stunning. The areas we drove through were quite rural so we still had crop after crop of sunflowers and corn, but in between were apples, cherries, plums and some crops we didn't recognise. The rolling green hills were dotted with villages and small farms were so beautiful.

Unlike rural Australia, most farmers here live in villages and drive out to their farms each day. It's very common to drive through a village and see tractors and agricultural equipment parked outside the houses.  Tractors often hold up traffic as they amble along the roads between their homes and the farms. In one area though, people seemed to live on their farms. Neat, whitewashed farmhouses had gorgeous timber slatted barns and numerous outbuildings. Some of the slatted barns had painted decorations on them.

Although most houses were modern Serbian style, there were still a few older farmhouses and buildings around.

I love the stooked haystacks. (Sorry for the reflections through the car window.)

Rolling, lush green hills gave gorgeous views and eagles flew overhead. Enormous piles of firewood were stacked up ready for the winter. It was absolutely wonderful.

We had a big drive this day but our main destination was half way. We have a Serbian friend in Australia and we arranged to catch up with his brother in the village our friend was born in! We arrived at the arranged time and his brother, Djele was waiting for us. Djele doesn't speak English but luckily he brought his friend Nick along - who lives in Melbourne and whose father used to have a farm near Ballarat!

Nick enjoys a beer....

They took us to a restaurant for lunch and we had an enormous meal! There was a large plate of mixed grilled meats and another one of local lamb. We had a salad each plus bread and very hot peppers. Even though we couldn't eat half of the meat we still got pancakes with local plum jam inside for desert. 

Djele called our wonderful friend Drago in Melbourne, and we had a great video call.

Djele wanted to give us some of his home-made rakija (a strong drink a lot like grappa) so we went to his small factory to get it. Even though we were really full from lunch we tried his home-made cherry juice and fresh apricots and plums. They were all wonderful! Much to our amazement, Djele gave John two litres of home-made rakija!

We had a really lovely time with Djele and Nick. They were lovely people and it was all a fantastic experience.

We finally dragged ourselves away and for the next couple of hours we drove through more of that stunning scenery. We even saw cows! It has been a big mystery to us where all the cows and other livestock are in both Serbia and Macedonia. The people are such big meat-eaters here yet the meat seems to miraculously appear from nowhere. For weeks we saw no livestock at all. Around here we saw a few very small herds. We certainly didn't see any commercial-sized herds. This remains an unsolved mystery for us!

The road then turned and ran alongside the Drina River which forms the border between Serbia and Bosnia Herzegovina. There were many holiday homes here - double story cottages usually made out of timber. They were perched on the banks of the river with views of the Bosnian hills sometimes only 40 metres away. In places the water was shallow and it would be easy to wade across to Bosnia.

We then turned away from the river and began to climb. As we switch-backed up the mountain into Tara National Park, the temperature dropped 10 degrees in 20 minutes or so. Those switchbacks kept both the driver and the navigator on their toes!

We found our cute accommodation - another timber cottage much like the others and it had a wonderful view. Our only disappointment was that it suffered from all three of the bedding problems that we sometimes encounter:
1. Small Sheet Syndrome - where the sheets are too small for the mattress and they don't tuck in. They ride up as soon as we lie on them.
2. No mattress protector. This is a problem when Small Sheet Syndrome leaves us lying on the mattress!
3. Tablecloth sheets - where the sheets are coarse and synthetic, like old fashioned tablecloths.

There were no spare sheets that we could be creative with so we didn't look forward to a great night's sleep. Maybe some of Djele's rakija would help! Actually it didn't help me at all and I had a terrible sleep but the next day we got extra sheets and, although they were no bigger, we were able to overlap them and get them to hold reasonably well. 

Our accommodation looked lovely. Typically for this region, both floors are rented out separately which can be a nuisance if you get a rowdy family on the other floor. Usually our biggest problem was that we would be sitting on the balcony and smoke from the other guests would waft around us, sending us inside.

Note the bare, unrendered building on the other side of us. So many places are like this. They buy the cheaper bricks that are supposed to be rendered over then they don't have the money to render them.

John gave the rakija a few nudges but there was no way he could get through two litres!

Next door were a farming family living in a small wooden hut. They had a few bullocks and cows that lived in a wooden shed. 

Each day the farmer would lead his cattle down to drink from the public water trough behind our house. Another lady took a small mob of sheep along the lane behind our house each day. One farmer spent an entire day raking and baling his hay while his wife and teenage daughter raked all the loose bits towards the baler! They did this from dawn until well after dusk. A house down the hill from us had sheep, so the rural feel was certainly still here, but most of the rest of the houses were holiday places. I estimated that about 80% of the houses in our village were less than five years old. Just how many of these houses do people need?

It became a real issue for us. What was obviously a rural village a short time ago was now turning into a small resort town. New roads were being built and construction was going on everywhere. Trucks roared up and down the one main road carrying endless loads of gravel and dirt in and out of the subdivision areas. Neither google maps nor maps.me could keep up with the road construction. There were so many roads that didn't show on our maps. We treasured those few farmers still holding out around us.

Despite our shock at the development, we had a good stay here. The views from our cabin were wonderful. Again, there didn't seem to be many walks that weren't on the roads so I just explored the village area. 

The older part of the village.

 A mix of old and new buildings.

More rural scenes in the village.

We loved our one local restaurant. We watched the Matildas lose the semi-finals here. There was a great mural on a wall. I met a guy on one of my walks who looked exactly like this guy, only a bit younger.

We did a number of drives and walks in the park as John still wasn't up to going up and down these mountains on his bike. There were some stunning viewpoints but the skies were quite hazy unfortunately.

We went past a modern house on one of our walks but the shed was wonderfully old and ramshackle.

To climb to the viewpoint we had to negotiate some tricky patches.

The views were great!

Check out the guy working on his new roof. No OH&S concerns here!

Most of the lakes here were created when rivers were dammed but they were so pretty. The guy on the right of this photo thought this was a perfect spot for fishing. I must say, I agree!

The whole area was beautiful and the mountains were stunning.

We met some Aussie/Serbs at one stage and they told us how their entire family of over 30 people, including kids and grandkids, all moved back to Serbia after 30 years in Australia. We could see the appeal. Serbia is so beautiful. They would have had extended family here plus their Aussie income would set them up very well here as Serbia is quite cheap to live and travel in. They were having a great time exploring just like we were.

On the way out of the mountains we visited a village called Drvengrad that had been built as a set for a movie called "Life is a Miracle". We got there early and there was barely anyone there. I'm not sure what we expected but there was very little info and nothing much happening so we just wandered around and looked at the cute buildings. It might mean more to us if we watch the movie!

We left our cooler climate haven and headed down from the mountains towards Novi Pazar, our last stop in Serbia. As we headed down, we began to notice lots of rubbish on the sides of the road. It barely stopped for kilometre after kilometre. Bags of rubbish accumulated around public skip bins.  It was such a shock after the rest of Serbia which had been quite clean. 

As we descended, the landscape changed and the lush greenery of the mountains was replaced with unattractive scrub and flatter land, although the agricultural lands were still beautifully abundant

We made it into Novi Pazar but the town was messy and unattractive. Unlike the rest of Serbia, this is largely a Muslim area and women were generally covered but most were just wearing long pants or dresses. There weren't as many of the whole black cover-ups that we were expecting. We did notice though that people tend to go out at night for cups of tea, not alcohol. The town had quite a relaxed feel to it.

There's a strong influence here remaining from the time of the Ottomans and we were looking forward to some Turkish food instead of the usual Serbian fare. We were recommended a place to eat and it took us a while to find it in the heat. We finally got there and found it was a burek shop. Burek are the delicious, but very common, pies that we've eaten way too many of right through the Balkan region. Oh well!

On the way back from a walk in the evening we saw this. I took the photo for you, dad. It's Boutique Mal! (Dad's name is Mal.)

Our little apartment on the main pedestrian street was a bargain and was a great place to spend the night, although the noise from the kids' amusement machines outside our room kept us awake for a bit. We deliberately planned to be here on a weekend so we could experience the nightlife but all we did was have dinner and go to sleep!

We would leave Serbia the next day. Apart from the messiness and general unattractiveness of the last 24 hours, we absolutely loved this country. It was beautiful, had lots of things to see and do and English was widely spoken. People were friendly and getting around wasn't difficult. The food was fairly standard across the country. The locals sure love their meat but good salads were available everywhere too.

Poor John spent most of Serbia recovering from his lurgy and only rode his bike once in the two weeks that we were here. He did lots of walking and driving though and still got to see a lot, just not in the way he was expecting. 

Our hot tip - Serbia will become the next big tourist destination. It's got everything going for it plus it's cheap. Croatia will be 'so yesterday'! (It's still amazing there though!) Having said that, Albania seems to be the rising star at the moment. That's on our radar for next year!

Cheers,

Heather and John

Serbia 1

We crossed the border into Serbia - it was a slow process but we got there. It was interesting to see the various number plates while we were waiting in the queues. They were from all the neighbouring countries and some further away like Germany, Austria and Italy.

We had a long drive but it was a good one as the roads were all small country roads which meant there wasn't a lot of traffic. The country was a lush green, just like the previous two countries have been.

Our first stop was a largish town where we hoped I could buy a sim card. We tried to find a car park but you had to pay to park and you could only pay by using your phone! Without a sim card it was a catch 22. 

Our final destination after a long day's drive was the small town of Donji Milanovac in Djerdap National Park. This park runs south of the Danube River in the east of the country. I've never seen the Danube before and it was huge! Mind you, it had been dammed downriver but I was still amazed at how wide it was. We found the town then followed google maps to our accommodation. It was a steep and tricky climb up in the car and there was very little room to park but we did it. John became very good at backing out the driveway and down the road with very little room to spare. We certainly couldn't turn around!

Our cabin was gorgeous with a fantastic view. 

"Mum" who came to collect the money and to show us around the cabin, spoke no English but using her phone to translate, we worked things out. In what we were to learn is very typical in Serbia, these cottages have two floors and are two separate rentals. Luckily we had nobody underneath us for the first couple of days as it's hard to sit outside and talk without the other people hearing you. It's also hard for us when other people smoke as the smoke inevitably drifts over us.

In also what we were to learn is typical for Serbia, the drains in the cottage stunk. We could shut the bathroom and keep the smells at bay that way, but the kitchen sink was in the same room as our bed and we couldn't get away from it.

We really liked this little town. It had a good restaurant where we ate every night and got on really well with one of the waiters. He actually had a twin brother working there and it was almost impossible to tell one from the other.

While we were eating dinner one night a procession walked past with priests at the front. It was a special saints day. I couldn't take photos though - it would have felt disrespectful.

But we were here for the walking and cycling. The national park was beautiful and was full of spectacular viewpoints. On our first day I dropped John off at another town and he rode home. He had a great ride, which was just as well because the next day he came down with a cold. And then it became a fever. The fever only lasted for 24 hours but the cold lingered for a couple of weeks and it turned out that this would be the only ride John would do in all of Serbia! Was it covid? We don't know. But I didn't catch it at all.

Once he got over the worst of it, John did a couple of shorter walks with me and we saw some incredible views over the Danube.

European forests are so lush and green!

On one of these walks we saw a snake! The snakes here are fairly dangerous but not generally as bad as Australian ones. The funny thing was that I saw the snake first and just gasped. I didn't think quick enough to say the word, "snake!" but John knew exactly what I meant. Not knowing where it was, self-preservation kicked in and he did what I call his "snake dance" - he jumps around in the air lifting his feet up trying to find where the bloody snake is! It's so funny to watch! I wish I could have filmed it. I should point out that John hates snakes!

We were recommended to take a boat ride on the Danube. It was great. We had an English speaking captain. "I'm the first female boat captain in Serbia!" she told us proudly. We set off in her 'ship' (Bee that's the word she used - it carried 4 people plus the captain!) 

The Danube forms the border between Serbia and Romania. First we went to the start of the "Iron Gates" the narrowest part of the Danube. Before it was dammed it was much narrower and this used to be a treacherous place to navigate by boat. Only one boat could pass at a time but, as the gorge is nearly two kilometres long, a ship entering the gorge couldn't see if another one was coming the other way. The Serbs devised a system where balloons were raised at stations along the river to indicate that a ship was approaching. It was quite clever. The balloons were eventually replaced by large orbs. The system became obsolete though when the river was dammed and the water level was raised by 23 metres. This made the gorge much wider and deeper and now multiple boats can navigate it at one time.

There are only a couple of signal stations left now. This one has been converted to a restaurant.

There were points of interest along the Romanian side - we entered a small cave (although not very far). Further along, a huge head was carved into a massive rock. Apparently, there was a ruler of the Dacians (an old civilization in Romania) in Roman times, who was much admired. His forces were overcome by the Romans and, rather than live in subjugation, he killed himself. He's still a hero today.

This Roman relic was hoisted 23 metres up the cliff one small step at a time to save it from being drowned under the water when the river was dammed. The kayakers in the photo were a group that were kayaking the whole length of the Danube. That's quite a feat!

Occasionally an enormously long barge would slowly cruise past carrying cargo up and down the river. We passed one and it was flying a Ukrainian flag. That cargo must have been so precious!

After the trip we ate lunch at the restaurant we had seen earlier that used to be a signal station. The signal orb was still there.

One morning at our cabin it rained! It didn't last long but it was refreshing while it happened.

Further along the Danube was the ancient settlement of Lepenski Vir. When  it was decided to dam the Danube in the 60's, archaeologists studied the area as it would all soon be under water. They found an incredible site - and ancient settlement that's from pre-historic times. It's believed that these people were in transition from hunter-gatherers to living in a settled community.

A lot of money had clearly gone into making this a destination of interest. The entire settlement was moved piece by piece to higher land to save it from being submerged under water and a huge, very flash glass cover protected it all. Even the walk to the site was paved and lined with information boards about the various plants in the area.

The homes of these ancient people were a very unusual shape. A nearby stone mountain top is a similar shape. Maybe they were copying it? Worshipping it? We'll never know.

The whole thing was a bit fake though. I'm sure the stones etc were real but when they were put in this artificial environment is just didn't seem right.

They made these cool carvings. It is thought that they represented their gods.

Further again along the Danube was the Golubac Fortress. Again, this had had extensive money poured into it. It had been entirely renovated and we had to pay according to which sections we wanted to see! Sadly, the bottom part of the fort was under water.

It was a striking looking fortress.

John was still unwell so he kept to the lower parts. That's him in the blue shirt walking back along the path from the cannon tower.

Like many fortresses, this one changed hands a number of times over the centuries as it was in a very strategic location.

Moving on, we drove past miles and miles of sunflower and corn crops. The sunflowers were probably a couple of weeks off lifting their heads in full colour. That must be amazing!

I grabbed this pic of a very cool mosque on the way.

We moved on to Novi Sad, a very likeable town. We stayed in a very different place here. On the hill beside the town is a huge old fort. Between the many walls of the fort is a massive building which is now a hotel. Our room looked very fancy but in reality it was a bit squishy and I felt that the hotel was living on past glories. 

Our fancy but jaded room.

Everything looked a little shabby and worn. On the weekend hundreds of locals came up here to look at the views and to eat at the outdoor restaurants. As they were wandering around they had to step over all the rubbish in front of the hotel which I realised was the fallen bits of plaster from the hotel walls!

The outside of our hotel. One of those windows is ours.

To get in and out of town we had to walk down and up a couple of hundred steps to get in and out of the fort.......

..... then through an area of historic buildings ......

......then across the Danube.......

......... then finally into the centre of town. Each part of the journey was fun so long as it wasn't in the heat of the day.

In the evenings people strolled along the extensive pedestrianised boulevards in the town centre and ate endless ice-creams. I counted 12 ice cream shops in a few blocks! Laneways ran off the streets and these were full of cool bars and cafes. We found a great Italian restaurant and ate there twice. It was a pleasant change from the usual meat, cheese and vegies of Serbian cuisine.

The streets were lined with gorgeous old buildings.

The Matildas were playing their quarter finals in Australia so we found an Irish pub that could broadcast the game for us at 9am. Neither of us are soccer fans but it was exciting to see them win, even if we only shared the excitement with the staff as nobody else was there. The place had been chockablock full the night before though.

On our last night we ate at a restaurant in the fort as John wasn't up to another hike into town. We saw a lovely sunset. The restaurant was known for its enormous vanilla slices so we had to try one!

To enter and leave the hotel by car, we had to drive through tunnels and over bridges over old moats. It was cool!

We're really enjoying Serbia so far. There is lots to see and it's not too hard to get around without knowing much Serbian language.

Til next time.

Heather and John