Serbia

• INTRO SERBIA

• IMPRESSIONS OF SERBIA

• THE TRAVEL IN SERBIA

• PHOTOS OF SERBIA

INTRO SERBIA

Kind of travel:
Me and my wife Elisa with our 4 yo daughter INES and 6 mo ENEA in an independent travel

When:
5th -17 Aug'17

Do I need a visa:
Since 2010 you can enter Serbia just with a EU ID. If you drive your car don’t forget the original insurance certificate called ‘ Green Card’


How I moved:
We drove from out hometown in Italy using our own car

Freezing or baking:
Be aware that August can be hot and humid, and in fact we were sweltering till we reached the mountain resort of Zlatibor with a pleasant 25C temperature.

Where I slept:
Small hotels or apartments. Usually hotels are a kind of run down and a triple room is ranging 50€, while apartments can be very big and cheaper (35€/night). Beograd is obviously more expensive than the rest of the country. We booked every accommodation on the way, so full booked even in August is not a risk

What I liked:
The unexpected highlight of the trip has been the stunning view of the Uvac canyon, but also the lively and young Belgrade should not be missed. From a more general point of view it was a pleasure to travel in a so cheap and uncrowded country


What I disliked:
In August it can be hot like a furnace, highlights are few and spread around the country so visiting takes time, that’s why most of the people pick up just Belgrade and Novi Sad


How much daily:
Serbia is cheap: accommodation for 3 people hotel 50€/night and apartment (big one) 30€/night. Dinner for 3 people 30-40€. Belgrade is definitely more expensive than the rest of the country.

IMPRESSIONS OF SERBIA
Serbia can hardly be a standalone travel destination, given the few and sparse highlights, but it can be an extremely interesting part of a wider tour around the Balcans, given the fact the country provides the point of view of those who have been labelled by the european public opinions as the 'bad side' in the 1995-99 Balcan war.
If the Balcan history is not your thing, just visiting the young and lively Belgrade together with Novi Sad is definitely worth. However watch out that Serbia is much more complex of what it might seem just visitig the northern cities and if you want to feel it don't miss the Muslim city of Novi Pazar: you'll hardly believe they are both in the same country.

TRAVEL IN SERBIA

TRAVEL

Serbia is relatively nearby italy that’s why we decided to drive there instead of flying
The first days haven’t been easy at all! First of all it was hot like hell; yes I know this is how August might be, but plus 40C were well above the average even in the middle of the summer. Then at the border we got blocked since missing the original hard copy of the insurance certificate (Carte Verde). “It wasn’t 100% my fault, since given I’ve an online insurances they do not send any paper document unless you require. I had quite a discussion with the guard, while all the cars behind horning, at the end we managed it bribing the guy! Since this wasn’t enough, Right in the same moment I was looking for the money, the car battery let us down and we found ourselves stuck in an anonymous border town ( Mali Zvnornik) on late saturday afternoon with all the garage already closed. Guess what? we had to wait till Monday to look for a new battery. It has been only the third day that our travel geared up!
Driving southward to Zlatibor along the Drina valley it turned out the nicest leg of the whole trip. It’s quite a wild area, out of any beaten track (is there any in Serbia?) where we enjoyed the blueberries bought in one of the many stalls along the way. Here you’ll find the house on the Drina river (XXX), whose picture has become quite popular on the travel guides.
Zlatibor is the main touristic site for Serbian (and not only) both in winter and in summer; you will be surprised on how lively is the town, but still (at least in summer) far from being crowded. The center is characterised by a small pond around which it’s plenty of food stalls, restaurants, family entertainments , a stage for the concerts,... it’s not the place you would expect to find in such a wild area of the country, but we enjoyed a lot. Here it’s easy to get an accommodation: just pick up one of the several woman standing aside the road waving a sign; our place was a fantastic wooden apartment full furnitured for 30€/ day 5min from the city lake. In the area we spent 2 days: the first trekking to the highest peak of the area (1400m) called Tornik , while the second riding the narrow gauge Saragan Eight railway. The latest despite being just a touristic train I feel to recommend; it’s most scenic part of what it was the Beograd- Sarajevo railway, where thanks to a ‘eight like shape’ in few km’s the railway climbs 300m uphill. It’s a back and forth trip that takes around 3 hours and if you want a seat you should buy the ticket some days before, while standing passengers should find the ticket on the spot,as we did.
Once back on the road, on the way to Novi Pazar we diverted to visit the stunning Uvac Canyon. You can get there both by boat through the river or by car enjoying it from one of the viewpoints. If you chose the latter solution , as we did, be sure you plug the right coordinate on the GPS (Input in google map “Vintage Point Uvats”: 43.362708, 19.958520) since it’s quite tricky to get there, passing through bumpy gravel roads. By far the Uvac canyon has been the most unexpected highlight of the travel.
In 2h from the canyon you can easily reach the most exotic town of Serbia: Novi Pazar. The town it’s really another world compared to the rest of the country; border with Kosovo is just 30km nearby and you can really feel the ottoman atmosphere. In most of the restaurant alcohol is not served, many women wear a veil and the minarets characterised the landscape.
Driving from Novi Pazar to Belgrade took a good part of the day (8h!) given the fact it’s most through the countryside crossing small villages. We had a stopover in one of the most popular monastery of Serbia called ‘Studenica Monastery’. Painting are definitely charming but all I remember is I was sweltering due to the hotness!
Beograd is worth to spend even 2 full days, since it’s a very lively town with several highlights. Above all the city citadel with the Kalemegdan Park overviewing the Sava- Danube confluence. Then don’t miss a dinner or lunch in Skadarlija, that ‘s a short but charming pedestrian street plenty of colourful restaurants called the Montmartre of Belgrade. The last but not the least are the Ruins from Belgrade bombing dating 1999; they have been left u restored on purpose to remember what happened less than 20 years ago. It’s quite impressive to see the wounds of the part considered ‘the bad guy’ by most of the public opinion.
On the way back we visited the Croatian town of Vukovar that during the war was on the ‘other side of the barricade’. In fact the town is the symbol of the Croatian resistance against the Serbian invasion. You can still see so many wounds and places of the war, including the basement of the hospital used as shelter and the Ovcara Memorial Center where almost 1000 people have been slaughtered. Be aware it can be ‘shocking’, but unfortunately it’s part of the history and we must be aware about it.