“Serbia 🇷🇸 ~Drive Day from Vrnjacka to Nis”
We made it to Nis, finally! Nis is actually pronounced “Nish;” you know, the “h” is invisible. 😂
Due to our late arrival, today, we will spend the day, exploring the medieval sites, tomorrow. Maybe we will get lucky with some breaks in the weather! Either way, we are quite excited about Nis!
It is one of the oldest cities in Europe and in the Balkans, and because of its geopolitical status it has been considered a gateway between the East and the West. Niš is the third largest city in Serbia, and the administrative center of the Nišava District in southern Serbia.
During its long and rich history, Niš was conquered by Romans, Bulgarians, Ottomans and more. It was the birthplace of Constantine the Great, the first Christian Emperor and the founder of Constantinople, and Constantius III and Justin I.
After several centuries under the Byzantines, Niš finally became a pillar of Serbian culture. Considering its great strategic and geopolitical status, in the 12th century it was a capital city of Serbia during the reign of Stefan Nemanja. Once again, in WWI Niš became the capital and a host for Serbian Government and National Assembly in war years.
Niš was, as the most of Serbian territory nowadays, under the Turks for five centuries. It was liberated by the Serbian Army in 1878 during the Serbian–Ottoman War (1876–78). Today, Niš is an important industrial, administrative and cultural center of Serbia.
In addition, Niš is the only city except for Belgrade which has an international airport named Constantine the Great Airport.
Niš was settled in pre-Roman times, but hit its peak during the years of the empire. Besides Constantine the Great being born here; AD 280–337, two other Roman emperors, Constantius III and Justin I were as well.
Turkish rule lasted from 1386 until 1877, despite several Serb revolts; Ćele Kula (Tower of Skulls) and Niš Fortress are reminders of Ottoman dominion. Niš also suffered during WWII; the Nazis built one of Serbia’s most notorious concentration camps here.
Incidentally, I uploaded this Serbia map, brightens coming to Serbia. Kosovo is recognized with its own borders.
Something interesting about opening maps online; since Serbia does not recognize Kosovo as a separate country, the borders for Kosovo do not echoey. Pristine (shown on the map) is the capital of Kosovo. In addition. Serbia will not allow anybody to cross into Serbia via Kosovo.
It is looking like we will be having stormy weather for the next three days. Its not ideal weather to driving in, or exploring in, but we always make the best of every situation. We really can’t complain, since the last time we experience this kind of rain, was six months ago in Istanbul, turkey. We have truly had very good weather for a long time. Rain doesn’t bother me, much, as I was born and raised in Oregon USA; the Pacific Northwest. I definitely know rain! Clouds actually can make some dramatic photos, but when its raining, it is most difficult to keep our lenses clear of rain drops.
Two long driving days in a row has given us a chance to see much of these Serbian foreign lands. Today we covered Goc Mountain bet well. We are quite challenged by some of the areas we are trying to find, as today; for example, the signage was all Serbian, with no English. Yesterday, we had English. Since we had to cross another mountain range, losing 3G becomes a big problem as well, since we have to guess which fork to take in the road. Sometimes we get it right, but it took us about 4.5 hours to arrive in Nis, though we were only 1.5 hours from Nis, when we left our hotel this morning. Its not like we were lost, but more, like driving blind, because we know its a 50-50 chance, when the 3G pops back in, we could be way off course, right on, or close. As a result of our wonderings, we do find interesting things to check out. By the “crow flies” the distances in the last couple of days is not so far, but we are also driving a lot of hard mountain miles on narrow roads, so it is slow going; add the rain, and its even slower going.
As far as Eastern Europe goes, you will find Serbia and Romania to be the least European “feeling” of all European states. Its a different vibe, and more old-world, and unchanged for or by tourism. This, we like, but as mentioned, getting around is more challenging. If you come to Serbia from your home country, be sure and bring a map; order one on Amazon or something. Hopefully this will make it easier, then we have experience it. Normally, we would be stopping at tourists centers to get maps, but the ones we have seen have all been closed, due to the virus. We do have more time, and not on vacation, per se with limited time, so this part is good. We also have t been in the USA for a couple of years. We couldn’t possibly carry maps for all the places we go; just not feasible to carry anything extra. We will be checking out a few things while this far south and east, so it could mean a few longer days of feeling our way through the routes. Once we make it North, I have a feeling it will get easier, as that region is more visited by tourists.
In this lesser traveled area of Serbia, the end of the day gets challenging, too, when it comes to finding hotels. First of all it is rare one sees the word “hotel.” We look for Xotn, instead. Hostels are in English, but they are closed. We see “Sose,” which we think is related to apartments/ maybe for rent? Yes, we have translate, but when we us it, most of the time it does not work; where it has always worked, before. In the end, we are paying more for hotels, then we thought we would in Serbia. It was actually cheaper in Montenegro. We roll with it, and of course we appreciate a nice stay, like where we are in Nis, tonight; Tami Residence.
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Hello and Welcome to our Travel Blog Website, We enjoy writing about our experiences and taking photos of our adventuring along the way. Our names are: Daryl and Pen, but Daryl calls me “Bunny.” We met, quite randomly, whilst both… Read More