NOVI SAD, SERBIA

June 26-27
On Friday we headed to our first stop in Serbia, Novi Sad. It is best known for its Exit Festival, which is a large music festival that occurs in July. We were too early for the festival, but the city was fantastic. One of the main sights is the Baroque Fortress of Petrovaradin across the Danube. The fortress is full of underground galleries, maze of tunnels and also includes the City Museum and a Planetarium. There are also amazing views of Novi Sad from the Clock Tower.

The old town is small and is mainly focused around Zmaj Jovina and Dunavska streets, but we also found some great places to grab some food and drinks along the side streets which are worth exploring. Most of the buildings in Novi Sad are no more than 150 years old due to the Austrian and Hungarian armies attacking the city with cannon fire. Only 800 houses remained from the attack, many were later burned. It took 20 years to restore Novi Sad.

Novi Sad was later the headquarters of the Danube Banovina, the administrative area of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. During WWII it was under the Hungarian occupation where over 1250 citizens were murdered in the raids from 21-23 January 1942. Serbia was liberated on 23 October 1944. Later, on 24 March 1999, Novi Sad was bombed by the North Atlantic alliance. Bridges, oil refineries, electric power facilities and many other buildings were destroyed. Today it is a great, colorful, friendly city, well worth a visit

Dunavska street

Dunavska street

Dunavska street

Dunavska street

Cathedral of St. George the Great Martyr

The Clock Tower [below] is a very distinctive point along the fortress. Instead of the shorter hand showing the hour and the long hand showing the minutes it is the opposite. This was done so that the boats on the Danube and the guards could see the hour from afar.

Trg Slobode [Liberty Square] is the largest square in the city and was built in the 18^th century. The buildings surrounding the square are from the end of the 19^th and early 20^th century. A monument to Svetozar Miletic is situated in the center and was originally placed there in 1939, but it was hidden by the citizens when the occupier intended to remove it. In 1944 it was placed back in its original position.

The Town Hall in Trg Slobode is built in the Neo-Renaissance style and designed by George Molnar. The façade has both Ionic and Corinthian columns along with 16 Algerian figures.

Across the square is the Neogothic Catholic church “Name of Mary”. It was built in 1895 and has four alters and twenty stained glass paintings by Hungarian and Czech glass artists.

Liberty Square

City Hall behind Svetozar Miletic monument

Zmaj Jovina Street is one of the oldest streets in the city. It runs from Trg Slobode to the Bishop’s Palace [Vladicanski Dvor]. In front of the Bishop’s Palace is a monument of Jovan Jovanovic Zmaj, who was the most famous children’s poet. Vladicanski Dvor is the residential palace of the Serbian Orthodox Bishop of the Diocese of Backa. It was built in 1901 in the Serbian-Byzantine style by Vladimir Nikolic.

Bishop's Palace

Bishop's Palace

Bishop's Palace

Jovan Jovanovic Zmaj on Zmaj Jovina Street

Cost: The cost to visit Novi Sad is minimal. Our hotel, Guest Accommodations TAL Centar, was cheap [44 euro per night] and in a great location. Food and drinks are a great price, but don’t let that fool you as the quality is high. It is a great place to find some traditional and non-traditional food, mind you there is a lack of options in Vicenza so we probably craved it more than most. Currently 1 euro is about 120 Serbian Dinar. [1 USD = 110 Dinar]

Language: Serbian is the official language, but we had no issues speaking English to people. I came across a woman who did not speak English when I was in search of our hotel and she was still more than willing to help. 

Serbia in the EU: Serbia applied for full EU membership in December of 2009 and was confirmed as a candidate in March 2012. Accession talks began in 2014 and while our hotel accepted euro, the progress towards the EU has been slow. Some articles online state that it has to do with their relationships with Kosovo and Russia. It is estimated that they will officially join the EU around 2020.