Zdravo to Serbia

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As we drive to our next border crossing there is always a little anxiety, but the reality is that there have never been an issue (long that may continue) There is a little conversation about the dog and its size, we are asked to step out of the van and the border guard peers in and we point at Poppy's travel crate, he can’t really see her but seems to have expedited some form of diligence.... and with that we are in!

As we head to our first park up for the night by a small lake I feel my tensions rise, we have obviously arrived in a very impoverished area and are back to the land of rubbish. I google ‘Serbia and recycling' to find out that they currently only recycle between 5-8% of their waste, and as we drive there are very few areas not strewn with it. The other thing are the stray dogs, I take a deep breath and know that whilst Northern Europe is easy to travel in the further east you come the more of an experience you gain from leaving those more travelled areas.

Anyway the lakeside is very pretty some effort has been made to make this an attractive area and with some swans and a few holiday homes on the far side it makes a good rest stop. The following day we head back to Sid for a phone SIM and some bread. It has a busy centre but as you filter back you are into the poorer ends of town, much like Croatia, tractors are very old, very small and are beavering through the streets and onto fields. We attract attention wherever we go and I always wave enthusiastically so as to leave a positive impression.

Our planned itinerary although rather brief is to head north and travel east through the Fruska Gora National Park to visit some of its monasteries and then follow the Danube as it heads to Bulgaria. Fruska Gora was some 90 million years ago an island and it sits high and proud above the plains of Vojvodina this WAS home to an impressive 35 Orthodox monasteries hidden away in its valleys, with just 16 still standing today. The monasteries were built by the Brankovic family so as to continue the old state governing traditions. Of course due to various conquests, war and desolation many are no longer standing but those that are all give a very different experience!

Our first at Kuvezdin feels like we are intruding into a secret world. There is a little shop and the attendant tries his Serbian on us, none the wiser we move on. I know from another traveller that skirts and head coverings are required and at the entrance a basket of skirts is available to use, I opt for a floral number and we proceed. There is no real tourism about these places, no charge, no information but we head into the church and the chap from the shop is now praying first to a large collection of images to the left of the alter and now to the right. We stand quietly admiring the frescos both on the ceiling and the alter wall, all the time, one of the postulants (Monk in the making) is sweeping the floor. After the shop attendant leaves I ask if he speaks English and he says a little, and he explains which of course is now obvious the left area is The Virgin Mary and the right is the main man himself...I try a joke about “women always being right?!?!” to no avail, turns out he is here on reflection and considering a life of devotion.

We head to next of the three we will be visiting for the night at Krusedol to be met by our first car park stray dog, he runs enthusiastically to the van and as we park up and I step out of the van his tail is wagging. He’s not thin looks in good condition and has got this tourist thing sorted as each and every car that arrives is welcomed the same way, he even get s a tummy tickle from some visitors. That night and morning he shares some of Poppys kibble as he isn't going go to sleep hungry on our watch. Kruzedol is a far busier and larger affair, the interior sanctum is beautiful and the church again is bedecked with beautiful frescoes and here as well as the Monks Nuns are seen moving around its courtyards.

The following day we head North to The Danube and Novi Sad and Petrovardin Fortress high above the city itself. My guide book tells me Novi Sad is more attractive than Belgrade and we manage to park the van very close to the fortress which has an impressive view across the city. We wander its inner walls with a lot of other Serbians enjoying the fine weather and long views of the Danube. Aside from the main and very new bridge across the river we notice other bridge remnants and it is only later we find out that they are the result of the Kosovo war of 1999 which saw Nato bomb Novi Sad, what was Yugoslavia’s 2nd largest city.

We head away from the city and our second lake overnight stop, its next to a farm and the farm dogs welcome us with loud barks. We are deciding whether we will be okay to sleep here when the farmer appears with what we assume is a welcome, we try google translate to no avail but a hand shake and a what we think translates as a ‘its okay to stay’ we settle down for the night.

We make a large jump through Belgrade on the Motorway and back again to the Danube where we experience some of the worst roads of the trip. It appears to us that instead of doing small stretches and then completing them the preferred option is to remove all remnants of the old road and replace small sections at a time with two teams working from each end. The going is slow but gives us the opportunities to enjoy the river views.

After a long day driving we make our way up a fairly small road to find a huge car park at the Tumane Monestry, there is easily enough spaces for 50 odd coaches and new paths and buildings are going in at a good rate. We establish ourselves for the evening ready for our visit in the morning. We awake early with the chiming of the bells but before visiting the monastery we make our way up through some beautiful woods to The Hermitage’s cave where bizarely they have built a house virtually on top of it! Some steps take you into the cave and here as is the practice candles and messages are left. It turns out that this monastery is the endowment of Serbian hero Milos Obilic who inadvertently, while hunting in the woods injured the holy hermit, his penance was to build this monastery although he never saw it completed, as he lost his life on the Kosovo fields. As we return back down, the first what we conclude will be many coaches starts to arrive, I join the throng at the entrance to the church to hear one of The Monks giving service, I stand and enjoy it for a while, but it’s time to move on.

We again rejoin the main road and its varying road surfaces and the van on occasions jumps with such a jolt each time a surface comes to an abrupt end. We enjoy some spectacular views along the Danube as it heads into a narrow gorge area and the road heads up high to drop over to the other side and our last night on this spectacular river which winds itself on and into Bulgaria.

We are up early for our last day in Serbia and we are going to try and visit The “Red Cross” concentration camp at Nis it was primarily a holding camp for the captured Serbs, Jews and Romanians, before they were transported onto larger camps in Poland. It saw some 35,000 captured and some 10,000 executed up on Bubanj Hills where now a memorial stands. It was of course incredible to read some of the accounts of those who were held here.

It has was a moving end to our visit to Serbia, a visit that has tested our resolve but has rewarded us unequivocally.

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