Saturday 9^th June 2018

We left Belgrade last night and headed for Novi Sad, our chosen camp was Coffee Kamp 75 kms away and we didn’t mind driving this late or in the heat as we figured with the windows open we would be better off than sitting in a hot van at the RV Centre, the air con isn’t doing much good at the moment either, when we arrived at the camp it was about 9 .10 pm, there were electronic gates with an instruction to call a number, We tried and an automated voice in Serbian spoke to us, we considered parking outside the gates but I didn’t want the owner charging us €20 at 7.am when he opened up so we moved on, finally nearer to Novi Sad I spotted a huge store next to the river much like a Costco and there were delivery lorries parked up, we drove down to it and decided it was ok for an overnighter, it was late and we just needed to go to bed, this morning we called ahead to Farma 47, luckily Dave’s phone worked this time, the lady spoke good English and told us her husband would be there to open the gate.

On arrival we were greeted to the sight of a lovely orchard and the owner explained that the trees were quince, he showed us into a homely undercover area and took us into the campers’ kitchen which was huge, cooker, sink, microwave, draught beer on tap! Just write down what you’ve had in his little book, Dave is impressed, we try it and it’s lovely and cold too! Oh, dear this could get dangerous!

Farma 47, help yourself to draft beer

We have a little chat to the guy using google translate and his bit of English, I tell him we are going into Novi Sad this evening as it’s cooled down and he arranges a taxi for us at 4pm and to bring us back at 9 pm, he calls his wife for her to translate it to us, he says €10 each way but she doesn’t agree, it’s approx. 12 kms, oh well we will wait and see what happens. Taxi arrives on the dot at 4pm and when he drops us at the theatre square he says that it’s €10 as agreed with Farma 47 man!

We wait outside the National Theatre for a free walking tour of the city, meeting up with our guide Jovana and a guy called Nishant from Malmo in Sweden who is also taking the tour, it was a lovely evening spent walking around the city and hearing the stories of Novi Sad, the city is small and calm with a youthful vibe mostly because it’s children’s festival week, held in June & December and there are little ones everywhere, music is playing and there is laughter everywhere. It feels homely, Jovana was a good guide not rushing and allowing us all to chat too, it’s nice like that when the group is small, there are some beautiful buildings of pastel colours, little alleyways with cafes and restaurants and cool courtyards.

Childrens festival Novi Sad

The children’s festival is named Zmaj after Serbia’s most famous poet and writer Jovan Jovanovic Zmaj (1833-1904) although a physician by profession he is best known for his children’s poetry, and today his nursey rhymes are sang all over Serbia. There is a statue to commemorate Zmaj in Novi Sad centre outside the Bishops Palace.

Bishops Palace and Zmaj statue, the childrens poet

street art

makes a drab corner interesting
The tour ended at a statue on the Danube overlooking the fortress high up on the hill in the old town, the statue was to commemorate the 1,250 sent to their deaths under a fascist Hungarian occupation in 1942, several hundred citizens were shot and many interred in concentration camps, many evicted from the town and made to cross the frozen river, they never made it across falling through to an icy death.
Jovana told us about the clock, on the tower of the hill, it has it’s fingers the wrong way around, big hand for hours and small hand for minutes. This was to help the fishermen and sailors on the river to see the hour from a great distance.
Jovana had recommended several eating places and one of them Dave could not resist, chips and cheese in the Irish Pub! Jovana says there is a lovely courtyard and to ask for the local home-made chips and not the Nachos.

[caption id="attachment_2171" align="aligncenter" width="450"] mmmm, needs no explanation!

We had time to spare for our 9 pm taxi so we strolled around leisurely, we sat and had a glass of red wine and it came chilled, I’m not complaining anything cool in this weather is ok with me.

The next day was spent blogging and chilling out, the farm has goats and sheep, and a few came to visit Dave whilst he was working, they ate all the plants in the pot too until they were herded away by the gardener, Dave enjoyed a draught beer or too!

We have arranged to meet Jeanne and Tai again tomorrow in Novi Sad, they’ve decided to come here for a visit as it’s not far from Belgrade before heading Southwards on their adventure.

Later that evening the lady comes to collect the rent, she will not be here tomorrow, and we can make our own way out, whilst she’s chatting she tells us they do not have mosquitos here but we know they have lots of flies, normally I hate flies but these are preferable to the bitey mozzies!

Goodnight,

Cathy