Our third and final day in Serbia is in the country’s second city, Novi Sad. It is quite small, around ¼ million inhabitants, and it is certainly easy to walk around.
We start by visiting the artisan market, just a few minutes walk from the moorings of our boat, it is rich with fruits and vegetables piled high. There are sections for meat and dairy too, but these are quite colourless by comparison.
We are invited to try a dough-ball which is a local speciality, smothered in either cheese, sauce or jam. I nibble a little but given how I hate doughnuts it’s not going to be a success for me, others think they are wonderful.
As we walk we learn a little about the city. It is extremely new compared to Belgrade – indeed it’s not hard to work out Novi means New. Novi Sad was only founded in 1694, in response to the much older fortress right across the river from us at Petrovaradin, which we hope to visit this afternoon. We walk the oldest street (Danube street) and enter the town square where some beautiful buildings and several churches are dotted around.
As well as these elegant creations, we walk past the carbuncle which is the Serbian National Theatre, a relatively modern building by comparison which dates back to 1981. Next we arrive at the old Synagogue, which is not in use as there is no longer a need for it. However it does have a second life as a music venue, and we are treated to a lovely performance of Jewish music from various genres, three traditional including the wedding rouser Hava Nagila, If I were a Rich Man, and Schindler’s list, all beautifully performed by the trio.
From here we commence our walk back, passing the Marriage Square, the Art Deco city hall, and central gardens. It is a lovely little town, and once again we are delighted with our first visit to Serbia.
I manage a little bit of work during lunch, at Aquavit as usual. We are finding it easy to get a table during the day as it’s way to hot for most people, the forward section has no shade at all, so few people will sit there. We have potato salad appetiser, tuna Niçoise salad starter, penne all’arrabbiata main and cassis bavarois / latte macchiato ice cream for pudding – we need some calories to get us through the afternoon.
Right after lunch we head out walking downstream to the first bridge, white with a double arch, and cross over to the Petrovaradin side of the river. I admit this was not planned, I got my bridges mixed up, but the destination is correct, I just added a mile to the journey, and anyway I really wanted to use that bridge!
Then we head upstream to the fortress, but unfortunately it’s like trying to visit Worthy Farm on a certain weekend, it’s not going to happen without a wristband. Every year the EXIT festival is held here, it is the country’s best, and some would say the continents, having won the European Festival award twice in the last few years. So we’re not going there today, unfortunate but we have been to many fortresses over the years, as we pass through the lower town looks lovely.
We continue our walk heading upstream, past a collection of small hotels and not-so-small holiday homes to the third bridge. We scramble to get to the causeway and the cross over to the party beach we’ve been hearing for a while in the distance.
Now it’s upstream again, to bring us back home in just over six miles. A lovely afternoon stroll which takes us, past the WWII memorial. We have time to spend an hour on the sundeck, our first relaxation this holiday.
We dress for dinner, then secure our usual table forward in Aquavit, and enjoy pre-dinner drinkies (champagne and Kir Royal) for an hour. At 19:15 service starts, although we are last to receive our starters as I’ve requested a main as a starter, a logistical challenge for the tiny galley. My mushroom is wonderful and well worth the wait.
We enjoy Winter Salad and Stuffed Portobello Mushroom; Riesling BraIsed Chicken and Pike Perch with creamed peas; Croatian Cherry Cake and New York Cheesecake. Although we keep having reservations about some small matters regarding food service, dinner is excellent.
We don’t leave our moorings until 23:00, so we sit in the rocking chairs and read / write / watch the world walk by.
