Day 41 - Day in Novi Sad

The apartment building was only a street from the river. Outside it was straight out of the gloomy shabbiness of the archetypal Cold War movie, a purely functional concrete structure on a dark narrow street, surrounded by other boxy, concrete structures. A redeeming feature of this street however, and many others in the city, were the trees that lined its kerb but made a dark street even more shaded. Inside though, the apartment was a total contrast: it was very sleek, modern and well appointed. I am going to take advantage of its comfort and spend a couple of days in Novi Sad meaning today I potentially had the whole day spread before me to do nothing. It was a sublime feeling after weeks of cycling almost every day and on the few days when I wasn’t cycling I would be preparing for the following day when I would be. I sat reading while waiting for my second lot of washing to finish, I sorted my kit and I chilled. And then a large part of the day was gone. 

When Beatriz returned in the late afternoon we wandered across the river to Petrovaradin fortress on the opposite bank. A fortress has stood on the bluff here, overlooking the Danube, for centuries but the current structure is mostly an eighteenth century rebuild. Interestingly the fortress clock tower, a Novi Sad landmark, has the small and large hands swapped, supposedly making it easier to see the hour from a greater distance. Afterwards we had dinner and then walked again to the old town to visit an art gallery showing a small display of Serbian surrealist artists.

The old town was a twenty minute walk away along a wide boulevard busy with cars and people and lined with more utilitarian architecture, some shabby while some of the bigger - I assume public - buildings have an element of elegant solidity. The old town itself is centred around a grand square with the town hall and the Name of Mary Church. Like most of the centre they are nineteenth century, the original city having been destroyed in an independence revolution against the Austrian Empire in 1848. There are a lot of bustling, pedestrianised side streets lined with bars and restaurants and a pedestrianised shopping street - with thankfully no recognisable names from elsewhere in Europe - that leads to the old Bishop's Palace. It has a very nice feel to it and we wandered around enjoying the ambience before rounding off the evening with a cocktail and desert in a busy bar.

Name of Mary Church

Bishop's Palace