The Rest of the Day... Novi Sad, Serbia!
Strategically located overlooking the Danube, this Baroque style clocktower has large black and white dials on all four sides. Pilots navigating the river used this as a frame of reference to determine how far they’d traveled or how far they had left to go. Interesting fact… though it looks as if this photo was taken at 3:00, it is actually 12:15. The pilots traveling down the Danube were more interested in the hour than minutes so the hour hand was the longer of the two. Continuing our stroll, I had to take a shot of the fall colored vines crawling up the wall… and on the right, the entry to a cafe inside the fortress. Coffee with a view!
Looking over the walls of the fortress and across the River Danube, it is easy to pick out the iconic buildings of Novi Sad. Grassy areas, benches and a beaming sun, made this the perfect day to visit this location!
From a slightly closer perspective, it is possible to see something interesting. Within very close proximity are several churches: Serbian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Catholic, Greek Catholic, Protestant, a synagogue and a mosque…. all beautiful. My “one a day” selfie again was a fail… I blocked the clock! It’s too much stress to only have one click. Ha! … one last view of the Danube from above. The clouds were awesome, the river mighty! Every time I see it, my mind wanders with the desire of starting at the head of the river and following it to the end… through ten countries!
Perched on a hill in the middle of a rural neighborhood, sits the Catholic Chapel of Our Lady of Peace. Originally designed with four entrances, one on each side, it now stands with the east side walled up. We were told this is because the round room held a round table… a place where negotiations between four countries were held (bad memory can’t remember the countries!). The negotiator for each country enters through one of the doors. Three countries united and basically ousted one… then boarded up the wall. Undoubtedly, I’ve completely butchered this intriguing historical event… sorry!
Entering the pedestrian area of Novi Sad was impressive. Clean, colorful buildings… it almost felt like we were walking into a movie set! Cobbled streets added to the fairy tale feel. This very clean city exudes character. Greeting us to town was the statue of Jasa Tomic… in researching the significance of this personality, I found quite a character with a colorful past! A politician, publicist and journalist. He spent seven years in jail after murdering a liberal political rival. Seems that did nothing to hamper his popularity! Tomic eventually became the president of the Serb National Council in Novi Sad.
These two photos actually cause me physical pain… the angles are wrong but that’s what I ended up with so that’s what I’m sharing. One gets the feeling of stepping back in time… just love this place!
In the heart of the city centre, we stood before this beautiful church. The spire was especially interesting and unique.
Standing in the middle of the square, a flock of birds took off from one of the buildings… they flew round and round in a circular motion. Just added to the incredible feeling of Novi Sad.
Yep, more crooked photos… click on the pic to open it up so you don’t have to feel the pain of seeing them side by side! The birds flew for a couple of minutes! Pretty fun to watch…
Another interesting statue in Novi Sad is that of Jovan Jovanovic. Though he worked as a doctor, he is best know for his writings. Our friend, Mihajlo, told us he learned nursery rhymes written by Jovan, as do his children. The story I found entertaining is one about him publishing a newspaper that he named 3Maj… opposition leaders did not approve any talk of the May 3rd liberation and therefore told him he could not name his publication “3Maj”. He used a play on words… he explained that his newspaper was called “Dragon”, which is spelled the same way… in the end, he got to honor the liberation in his own way.
Such a great little restaurant! Lazin Salas, was recommended to us by our friend Mihajlo. Decorated in a colorful and flowery fashion, the food was fantastic. Seasoned to perfection, my meat plate filled me up!
We met and invited a very nice guy from San Francisco (small world). He had only eaten at a bakery near to his accommodations so this was a treat… lunch for all four with waters and wine… $30USD.
On our way back to the car, we passed by a market. Interesting booths, more than just fresh fruit and veggies! Need a mop? :-)
The art on this wall was like an optical illusion. The artist did a great job! And ahhh… the smell of popcorn! If only I hadn’t just eaten, I would have had a bag. Cute booth though!
A synagogue, a dome and a display of restored antitank cannons… this is how we ended out our day in Novi Sad. The Jewish district is very pretty with tree lined streets. The Synagogue is surrounded by apartments but apparently, it used to have wide open area in front allowing one to take a wide photo of the building. What a great day! This might explain why I was so tired last night…
