Idoli - Maljciki

Serbia asked 2,483 questions about EU entry bid | EurActiv

Serbia asked 2,483 questions about EU entry bid | EurActiv

Aleksandra Kovac - Ti

beetantone - vruce

Svi na pod - Carobni limun

SVI NA POD Iza nas

Many places and 3 countries - Part V - Romania - Timisoara

Timisoara was our first destination in Romania. This Middle-Ages city located in the Banat region has an incredibly interesting architecture. Even if a lot of students come to live in Timisoara I didn't have the impression that the city is a very dynamic one. It seems more like a quite, nice, relaxed atmosphere where Cipriano and me enjoyed nice walks and nice talks in the cafés of Timisoara.

Timisoara was during a long time in the hands of the Habsburgs and was consequently heavily influenced by Vienna which allowed to the city to bloom economically and socially. From this period date some of Timisoara's premiers such as the introduction of electrical street lighting and electrical trams.

At the end of 1918, while the Habsburg Empire was living its last days, the citizens of the Banat regiuon decided to unite with Romania.
From 1947 Timisoara, like the all country, came under the communists and it is in the 1970s and the 1980s that Romania is hit by a huge crisis. In that time, the country was led by the dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. But in 1989, the Revolution started in the Victoria Square of Timisoara.
After that date, this city benefited from international exposure and shows growth on foreign investments.

Today Romanians make up 85% of the total population; they were 10% in 1900 and 23% in 1930. And yet Hungarians, Germans, Serbians and Roma are active communities, having their own cultural institutions. We even past by a Serbian Orthodox church which surprised me.
 

 Libertatii Square

Libertatii Square (Liberation Square) was once the headquarters of the military administration. It was called "Parades Square" in the time when Timisoara's role of border city of the empire was overwhelming. The square has a lovely aspect, with some elegant baroque monuments, like the statue of St.Mary and St. Nepomuk, a masterpiece of Viennese artists, that you can see above.

 

At Victoria Square 

This square, contrary to the other squares such as Unirii Square and Libertatii Square evolved after 1910 on the grounds of the former fortress walls and water channels. It is much newer than the others, but is soon became the main square in Timisoara up to date.

Main Orthodox church at Victoria Square

This church is located in the southern end of Victoria Square and represents an interesting counterpart to the theater. It was built between 1936 and 1946. 

Victoria Sqaure is considered as a masterpiece of Eastern European urban architecture. Some of the most dramatic episodes of the Revolution in December 1989 against Ceausescu took place here. Some buildings remain till today poke marked by the bullets of the brutal repression forces, testifying for the dictator who dared to order fire against his own people.  

Austrian architecture influence - Unirii Square

Theater building at Victory Square

This building is interesting in the sens that it shows a rupture with the Austrian administration. In 1919, Timisoara undergoes Romanian administration and the façade of the Theater building is restyled.

Lupa Capitolina in the middle of Victoria Square (a guift from Rome's municipality)

Darko Rundek - Makedo

Many places and 3 countries - Part III - Gamzigrad (Felix Romuliana) and Zajecar

Felix Romuliana is one of the most brilliant example of Roman architecture. It is located 11 kilometers from Zajecar and was built by the Roman Emperor Galerius (293-311 AD). Unique archeological findings were discovered in the palace: a portrait of the emperor Galerius, mosaics with representations of the imperial hunt and the Dionysus on a feats, sculptures of Hercules and Jupiter. The palace was listed on UNESCO World culturla and Naural Heritage in 2007. 

It is for sure one of the most preserved representations of the Roman Empire, very often considered as surpassing other monuments of the period, in Trier, Milan, Thessaloniki, Istanbul and Nicomedia.

It is really impresive by its size and by the preservation  of the site. A MUST for people interested in archeology, history of that time...

Felix Romuliana - Gamzigrad

Part of the old Roman city, as it used to look like

  Central Square in Zajecar

Zajecar

Zajecar central square with the big Hotel Serbia dating from the communist times

Felix Romuliana - Gamzigrad

Žiga i Bandisti - Dolinom Se Šetala

Many places and 3 countries - Part II, Nis, Serbia

Nis is an interesting city. It is not as beautiful as other Serbian cities such as Novi Sad or Belgrade but is a very interesting place where centuries of history meet and which is a real crossroad to other cities and countries. Nis is located in Southern Serbia, 2 hours driving from Vranje and it is considered as the most important regional center of administration, culture, history, economy and universty in South East Serbia.

Nis is the birth place of the emperor Constantine the Great who supported Christianity. One of the most interesting things to see in Nis is the Mediana residence dating from the 4th century. This archeological Roman site, even if protecting amazing mosaics with sand (which doesn't allow to see it) is worthy to see and is a beautiful memorial of thousands years ago. The estate occupies 40 hectares and exhibits the remains of a granary, craft center, villas, thermae, and the remains of an ancient villa.

Another interesting monument in Nis is the Skull Tower. The guide told us the story of this tower which was appearently built after a battle called Cegar. The turks prepared the construction of the tower made of skulls. As the battle and the explosion resulted in twice more Turks dead than Serbians, the Pasha of Nis ordered that the heads of Serbs should be collected, skinned and built into this tower. The heads were stuffed with cotton and sent to Constantinople, as a warning to anyone rising against the Ottoman Empire. 

Roman site (Mediana Temple)

An old Mosque used as an art gallery

In the Kafana

Old Serbian songs in Kafana

In the main square

The hunter telling his unrealistic story - Bohemian quarter

Fruit Pizza at the fortress

Inside the Concentration Camp from II WW

                         The Concentration Camp                         

This concentration camp is one of the few fully preserved fascist camps in Europe. It provides authentic testimony of to the perils of Serbians, Romani, amd Jewish population, communists, partisans and supporters of the liberation movement, who were incarcerated here during the German occupation of Serbia between 1941 and 1945. One well-knowned story of this camp is the massive escape of the 12th February 1942 organised by the prisoners. Out of 150 inmates who attempted to flee, 108 managed to escape. After this successful escape, and another in December 1942, this camp became a real venue of death. Inside the main building, where the prisoners were kept, many pictures, objects, passports remain kept over there and it is possible to see messages left on the walls from the prisoners themselves, in case they would ever been searched by family or friends.

Serbia rushes to launch accession talks | EurActiv

Serbia rushes to launch accession talks | EurActiv

Balkan Beat Box "War Again"

Many places and 3 countries - Part I: Ohrid, Macedonia

                                                             Fija in action in the city center
 

                                                                          The fortress

                                                             Church of St John at Kaneo

I took my 3 weeks hollidays in September, when Cipriano came to visit me in Vranje. My initial idea was a bit too idealistic, as if I had forgotten the length of the Balkan trips by bus or train. In fact I had planned to make a tour of Serbia, Romania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro and Macedonia in less than 3 weeks, which could have been possible if we only wanted to spend one day in each place we wanted to visit. In the end we unfortunatly couldn't go neither to Bosnia nor to Montenegro.

A long week-end in Macedonia - Skopje and Ohrid

Ohrid is one of the places I've heard the most about during the summer. All my colleagues were constantly talking about how beautiful and nice Ohrid was. The truth is that it is in fact a beautiful place but, let's be honest, too perfect for tourists! I decided to keep this place for my vacation in September when that city wouldn't be so crowded and it was a good idea.
Once we arrived at the main bus station it was not hard to find taxi drivers waiting for you and appartment owners to offer the tourists a place to stay for more or less reasonable price.

In my case, I always tend to avoid taking a taxi. But that time was an exception and we accepted to be driven by a man who was shouting at potential customers just like the others. We were actually lucky because he was a honest taxi driver and moreover he was renting nice appartments for the tourists. I was quite sceptic about accepting to visit the appartment and I must confess I was scared of being cheated. Besides I knew that it shouldn't be difficult to find a room in a pension for less than 10 euros.
We were actually very surprised when we saw the nicely decorated and furnished little appartment for a very reasonable price. Our nice taxi driver succeeded in convincing us to accept his offer and stay there. The appartment was located 5 minutes walking from the center and 3 minutes from the walking zone by the river.

Ohrid is a perfect place for those who are looking for a nice and quite week-end under the sun, with beautiful nature, lake with clean and pure water, and an interesting past and history as it is visible by its monuments.
In order to know more about geography and history of Ohrid follow this link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohrid

                                                                   St. Panteleimon

Salvatore refugee camp (2nd part)- pictures

Uzice, Mokra Gora and the hitchhiking adventure!

                                                         A beautiful view from Mokra Gora

 

In Uzice

                                                                  House in Mokra Gora

                                                                 The Orthodox Church

                                                 Inside one of the houses, open to visitors

                                                  Guess who this is? No? Jonnhy Depp

Mokra Gora or one of the curiosities I wanted to discover for a long time! I still remember the first time I watched Black cat, White cat, the first Emir Kusturica's movy I have assisted to. Hilarious, original, funny and hors du commun. But where is this movy director from? oooh, from yugoslavia. Hmmm, but where exactly from Yugoslavia? (just a quick remark: there are still people thinking that Yugoslavia still exists as such in our marvellous developed Western European countries)... Anyway, a few years later I aknowledged that actually Emir Kusturica, born in Sarajevo in 1954 is from the country where I was going to live for more than half a year, the Republic of Serbia, part of the Former Yugoslavia . No way I could miss the village he contributed to develop and where he supported tourism.

Mokra Gora is one of the most touristic places I have visited in Serbia after Belgrade and Novi Sad. My friend Cristina and I decided to go on a new couchsurfing adventure in Uzice and to visit at the same time this wellknown village which had fed my curiousity during so many months. Mokra Gora, meaning Wet Mountain in English, is located a few kilometers far form Uzice in Western Serbia and is an atypical place to visit, with an atypical architecture style that you hardly can find anywhere else in the Balkans or even in the world (or it wouldn't have won a European Architecture Award from the Brussels Foundation for Architecture).

As someone wrote Between 1921 and 1974a little train gravitated through these mountains of West Serbia to link the Mokra Gora villages. This was also one of the main railway axes between Belgrade and Sarajevo. Thus it symbolised the connection between Serbia and Bosnia. But its particularity was the following: to overcome 300 meters difference in height between little stations Mokra Gora and Sargan the engineers had found out an ingenious system which was in realisation of not less than 22 tunnel on 15 kilometres distance on the rail in the form of figure eight, wherefrom the name "Sarganska Osmica" Thus, most foolish is that the station of Jatare became the only station in the world where, even if the train stopped at the fixed time every day, nobody bought a ticket an nobody came out of the train. One could challenge anybody by the question of wherefrom came the train and whereto it continued its way. In 1999 the inhabitants of this region cleared up the garbage on 10 kilometres long rails and the government decided to make a tourist circuit. You entered the carriages from the 1930 pulled by a steam engine. Along 15.5 km you breath the fresh air of the country in the wooden compartments or you go to an ancient minute wagon-restaurant. 

Emir Kusturica has arranged an ethno village here which is at the same time a cinema studio in the full nature. You may take a walk in a true village of a west Serbia such as it was in XIX century, with its houses of wood brought directly from the environment. The church, the library, the gallery of arts, the swimming pool and evidently a cinema theatre have been entirely integrated in the urbanisation and the architecture of the age. In the local "poslasticarnica" the Coca Cola has been substituted by the delicious "boza", sugared drink drunk in all pastry shops. 

During the same week-end we had the opportunity to walk around the city of Uzice. I wouldn't say that Uzice is such a special city to visit. One day is more than enough to see that place but I would say that the surroundings and the nature are amazing and deserve to be explored. Apart from Mokra Gora, there is Zlatibor mountain which is located not far from Uzice and which is one of the most well-known places for skying during the winter. It is very well preserved and arranged with all the necessary infrastructure to provide you with a nice skying time in Serbia.

I also remember we visited an enourmous cave digged into a big rocky mountain where used to live people hundreds of years ago. The temperature of  the cave is a huge contrast comparing to the outside. It is quite cold and can reach freezing temperatures during the winter. You can visit this cave with the explanations of a guide which I am not sure if he/she speaks English...

Before travelling to Uzice to meet our couchsurfing host, we had already been told that in Western Serbia it was quite popular to hitchike. Well, I must say it is VERY popular and easy to go anywhere in the neighbouring places. Even further... After having experienced hitch hike during the all week-end Cristina and me decided that we could go to Vranje (morethan 300 kilometers from Uzice) hitch hicking. It didn't take long for a truck to stop and take us to a next point where we did it again. I don't remember how many cars and trucks we've been in, but I can say that it was a lot. The interesting thing I noticed is one: only lonely men would stop (be it in their cars or in their trucks). No woman!!!

From the young Serbian student, to the Macedonian trucker and the Muslim husband cheating on his wife in Sarajevo, believe me that we had a very interesting trip... The only problem is that when we thought we would arrive faster to Vranje by hitch hiking than by bus, we were totally mistaken. In fact, our Macedonian driver decided he had to stop in a gas station where he had to wait for his friend for more than 1.30 hours. When we finally left again, a terrible car accident appeared in the middle of the road and we found ourselves blocked during another hour. We finally asked another driver (in a car that time) if he could take us to Vranje. And we were lucky because that driver was exactly going to Vranje. After 10 hours of trip from the center of Uzice we finally got home in Vranje and we couldn't believe it!!!