From Golubac to Kraljevo

Too bad it is still raining today, the views on Romania across the river could be even nicer under the sun.

The next stage of the trip is Nis, with its very rich history.

 

Nis Fortress is located in the core of the city, on the bank of the Nisava river. It is one of the best preserved and most beautiful medieval fortresses in central Balkans. It was pulled down and restored a number of times, by the Romans, over the Byzantines, Slavs, Bulgarians, and Serbs. Its assumed its final shape in 1723, when the Turks built it, facing the end of their reign in this area.
The Fortress covers 22 hectares, its walls are 2,100 meters long, 8 meters high, and, on average, 3 meters wide.

My last visit before I leave the city will be for the Red Cross Camp, a Nazi concentration camp used between 1941 and 1944. It was constructed to be a transit camp, close to the railway, in order to send prisoners to the main camps across Europe. Out of the 30,000 persons who were "in transit", 12,000 were executed even before boarding the trains.
As the Germans began the executions in retaliation for the resistance movement activities, the prisoners of the camp plotted to escape. The escape was delayed several times, until February 12th, 1942. On that day, a Jew which delivered the food rations notified the prisoners that another massive execution would take place the next day at 4am. There could be no more delay.
The prisoners decided to attack the German guards in the evening, at the time of their usual walk. Since they could not storm the main gate, they ran to the barbed wire fences. Group after group hurled across the wires until a gap opened, through which a certain amount of them could pass. 42 prisoners died, 105 managed to escape.
It will be remembered as the first major break through a Nazi concentration camp in Europe.
In retaliation, from February 16th to 19th, more than 800 prisoners were executed.


Let's leave Nis and head to the Studenica Monastery. from the 12th century, one of the largest and richest of the country. The fortified walls encompass two churches: the Church of the Virgin, and the Church of the King, both of which were built using white marble. The monastery is best known for its collection of 13th- and 16th century Byzantine-style fresco paintings.

 

 

Lower Danube

The history of Smederevo starts in the 1st century BC, with the conquerings of the Roman Empire, when there existed a town called Vinceia. The modern city traces its roots back to the late Middle Ages when it was the capital (1430–39, and 1444–59) of the last independent Serbian state before the Ottoman conquest.

Serbia is incredibly rich in Roman archaeological sites, as the Danube was also a border of the Roman empire, during centuries. Actually, 18 of the Roman Emperors (which means 20% of the Roman Emperors) were born on the territory of what is now Serbia. You could spend weeks here, visiting all of the sites, but unfortunately I don't have enough time to do it, so let's concentrate on Viminacium. This military town was built in 86. It was destroyed in the 5th century by Attila and his Huns, and was preserved under farming land until recently. The site is so extended that you use your car to visit the main sites, following the guide who is driving in front of the convoy.

The first thing to see is the excavated part of the necropolis. As the town hosted up to 40,000 inhabitants, you can imagine how many graves were built around.

Another interesting attraction is a Roman mammoth. OK, may be not really Roman, as she lived about 1,000,000 years ago. They have found Vika's skeleton (plus bones of several other mammoths) at a depth of 27 meters. Back then in this area, the climate was warm, with lots of vegetation growing in such conditions, later to disappear with colder climate cycles, when the wooly mammoth appeared (yes, I am talking about Manny, here ;-).

Closed to the necropolis, the experts are using what they discovered to rebuild a full domus, similar to the rich houses which could be found in the town during the Roman occupation.

Here are the baths:

And the reconstructed amphitheater, used for concerts nowadays:

Sometimes, you have surprises on the road (not even mentioning the horse carts which are used a lot by the farmers).

And, of course, my GPS keeps on looking for clever shortcuts, because it is a lot funnier to use such a bridge instead of the main road which is 200 meters away...

When you reach Golubac, the Danube runs in a deep valley. In the picture below, the river flows at the center, with the fortress guarding the entry on the right side (Serbian border), while on the left of the picture, you can see Romania.

Vojvodina

Guess what? I am still in Serbia.
After a good night, I considered 2 options:
A - those holidays are doomed, things will get worse and worse
B - the worst is behind me, in 24 hours I have already faced more problems than the average in 3 weeks, which means that "the best is still to come", as sombody I know says on a daily basis.

My natural optimism led me to chose option B, so let's hit the road together to discover the northern part of Serbia, Vojvodina.

First, a quick look at Novi Sad, before I leave the city.

 

Then I am on my way to Sremski Karlovci, the former seat of Serbian Orthodox Church.

How many pigeons can a building host?

Just a few kilometers after that town, you enter the National Park of Fruska Gora, with its 16 monasteries (no, I didn't visit all of them, so a few ones...).

Here is Grgeteg:

 

And Beocin:

Back to Novi Sad, I settle down on the other side of the Danube River, in Petrovaradin, a small town topped by a spectacular fortress, now used mostly as art galleries and restaurants or hôtels.

Today, my GPS has decided to go crazy, and will keep on leading me to tiny villages, instead of heading to Subotica, as I requested.

But I eventually manage to reach the initial goal, with a one hour delay, after having visited unvoluntarily most of the region, and having entered the highway by an exit closed with cones (shhhhh...).

 

 

 

And you're not dreaming, yes, the sky is blue today!

Enough fooling around this morning, I head straight back to Petrovaradin, taking the highway from the beginning (and using an official entry this time...).