This weekend I wanted to venture off to the town of Nis, which is about 2 hours south-east of Belgrade. I pitched my plans to Dad and he agree mildly enthusiastically - keep in mind he has been in Serbia three years and hasn't really seen much so making him be a 'tourist', isn't on the top of his propority list. We were home no longer than an hour on Friday night when he gets a phone call, knowing all too well what and who is on the other end of the line, I know whats coming. Sure enough after the 5 minute phone call he informs me that he is working in the morning. But to my luck he remembered the agreement of going to Nis and suggested that we both go into work and we can leave from there …. good enough for me (it took me much longer to agree to that than it did to type it). Saturday morning we get up early headed to work and it looked like it was going to be a great day weather wise so I wasn't to disgruntled about not getting to sleep in because apparently I haven't lost my teenage craving to sleep until noon whenever possible haha.
After working a little but knowing I couldn't really do a whole lot to help my dad complete his work I turn to web surfing. Now for anyone who is on a computer most of the time at work you know the frustration of not being able to access half of the websites you want because of the settings your employer has on the internet access. I know this is to prevent unprofessional use of the internet at work, but for the times you are not on the clock its a pain. But where there is a will to surf, the waves will come - this may involve news reading, 'map-questing', 'google-earthing' and weather checking but it passes the time. I continued to check out our Nis destination and everything seemed lined up for nice afternoon and evening - with the weather and events going on in the city.
Around noon we were on our way, windows down temperature getting warmer and the roads not too busy - I was pretty excited! Well not 30 minutes into the trip, all I see coming over the horizon, dark clouds. Ok no big deal, the weather is suppose to be nice it will pass. Well, as we get closer Dad and both come to conclusion that the clouds are not going anywhere fast. But we had made the two hour trek so we weren't turning around. I had my checklist of things to see so we were determined. Whether is was the rain, the lack of signs, or our mounting frustrating with both of those it took a while to find things. It ended up being an 'Afrain Lion Safari' version of european landmarks haha. We drove to one sight walked around took some pictures and got back in the car. I would read the information I had about each site in the car, prior to see it, that way we knew what we were looking at. Needless to say they don't have much information by the sights or people around to explain and unfortunately there isn't a lot of up keep of the sites either. Here is what we were able to find and my basic understanding of each:
1. Small town right outside of Nis - Niska Banja. Known for its hot mineral springs, first used by the romans. There was lots of spas - natural indoor swimming pools and outdoor springs. It was a rainy day so not many people were out walking but we walked through the parks a bit and you could see the clearly of the water and the different public washing stations that people use. Weird concept to understand until you see it, but I tried to get a picture of the steam that was coming of the one of the springs. And the view from the town outlook. Oh and there were signs that we later found out said that the water is radio active so it's really healthy in small does … yeah I'm sure your thinking the same thing I did haha.
2. This is Mediana, the remains of the birth place of Constantine the Great and where he lived off and on. This was one of the harder places to find. There was one sign that lead us to an field with a don't enter sign, so I did what must tourist do, 'pretend' not to know was going and we just went in. It is basically just a field of foundations of what is left - enough to make out what building it probably was but not a whole lot to see. There were piles of bricks you could tell they were sorting to possible build in the future. But took some pictures to say we did and continued on ….
3. One the many sites we had no idea what it was but wondered in. Our conclusion on this one, was a Serbian Orthodox private school for boys. As we walked further up this hill there was a brand new state of the art school facility, we quickly noticed it was not meant for tourist (gates, guards, etc.) so we walked back down. Where we noticed only groups of boys seemed to be entering the gate, having performed an religious gesture before entering, hence our conclusion.
4. Skull Tower (Céle Kula) is exactly what it sounds - and for me is another complex political story. But the short is, it was originally built by the Turks after 3,000 Serbain died in the first national uprising, to show thier defeat. It is now enclosed by a chapel and only a fraction of the skulls remain, as the Serbians took most of them for proper burials. It is now regarded as a representation of Serbian courage during the battle.
5. The Nis Fortress - regarded as one of the biggest and oldest existing Fortesses, there is tons of history behind it and dates back to being originally used by romans. You can see the various types of building which display different architecture. My Dad began to teach me how you can tell what time period they are from and what national possibility built them. This is where one of the festivals was suppose to be going on but the rain had put a hold on it. There was lots of remains of the fun they must have had the night before haha.
6. A army depot camp (Red Cross Camp) used by the German in WWII to hold people before they were sent for torture, execution or death camps. Bubanj Monument, the three giant fiest and wall, for the 10,000 Serbians that died in WWII. The river front monument for the 1999 NATO bombing victims.This list just keeps going … war is still so fresh to this city that is hard for someone like me to understand it and put into perspective but a visual of the effects that war has is always a powerful thing. It is unfortunate because this city is so rich in history and there is tons more to offer than just war memorial. But for now it is rebuilding nicely and is becoming an enjoyable tourist spot.
Sad to say for us we just hit some bad weather and were unable to enjoy their numerous markets, walking streets and the on-going festival of Nisomnia. So my perception may not tell the whole story, but I'm glad we went and saw what we could and if we get a chance to go back we will definitely be able to find things a lot more quickly :).
On the way home, about half way between Nis and Belgrade the sun was setting beautifully and it turned out they had great weather in Belgrade all day .... go figure.
"Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal." MK
Mich
