RADON, RAKIA AND REVELRY - Pirot, Niška Banya and Niš, Southern Serbia

......the previous blog saw us finishing up our month in Bulgaria, and our thoughts about the country........

Shady canal path, Pirot 

We couldn't have imagined being welcomed back into Serbia in a more Serbian manner. The accommodation we had chosen in Pirot was owned by a sociable fellow in a pork pie hat by the name of Dragan (this seems to be one of the most common names in Serbia). Although his English skills were on par with our Serbian, he greeted us warmly and ushered us through a courtyard into his sunny backyard full of fruit trees, and sat us down. For the next few hours he made us strong Serbian coffee, gave us homemade rakia and beer, and called his friend who lived in Australia, but happened to be visiting to come over for a fantastic chat. It was a wonderful few hours. Once our room was ready, both men insisted on showing us the wee apartment, making sure we knew where the spare bin bags were, how the shower worked, which switches powered which lights, both talking over each other in Serbian and English- it was really funny, they were like a comedy duo. Finally they said cheerio and we ventured out to buy our immediately needed supplies- fruit and salad, eggs, bread, cereal, pavlaka (our favourite, a mix between sour cream and yogurt) and of course, rakia! This was another thing we had greatly missed being away from Serbia. The friendly booze seller at the market suggested the kajsija, or apricot, which we agreed with and were more than happy with the smooth taste. 

Chilling out with Dragan in Pirot

Pirot was that kind of place, friendly, laid back and relaxing, and we immediately felt comfortable, and happy to go with the flow and chill out after our busy time in Bulgaria. We looked forward to having spare time for cooking, washing clothes and generally catching up on normal life tasks. 

We enjoyed the absolutely fantastic market area around where we were staying. Pijaca, in Serbian, these bazars are the great highlight of travelling in Serbia, and we had sorely missed them in other countries. Amazing for simply wandering and looking, we loved the range of fresh and local produce- nothing imported or out of season. Only big, colourful, juicy looking fruit and veg, as well as the periphery outlets. These included bakeries, dairy shops, fish, butcher's and cured meats shops and BBQ meat sellers (bit of a theme going on here!). Add to that the cleaning supplies and electronics shops, cafes and ice creameries all in the adjoining market area, and there was hardly a need for the supermarket. After a few days, some sellers even recognized us and said hello. 

Pirot central market

There weren't a huge amounts of tourist sites to visit around Pirot, but instead we slowly wandered around the town over our week's visit, getting a feel for the place. Many locals rode bicycles around, which gave a lovely old fashioned feeling to the place.

Old buildings along the canal, Pirot

The renovated fortress was quite beautiful, but brought more to mind someone's luxury house, and certainly not a defensive structure- especially considering it was on a flat piece of land directly at the base of the town's biggest hill! Waiting with some Serbian tourists for the late opening gates to be unlocked, Rich spied a man walking leisurely down the path towards us, and said "That's the caretaker". I asked how he knew, and he replied, "Because he looks as though he couldn't give a shit"! He was correct. 

Pirot fortress entrance

Steep stairwell, Pirot fortress

Pirot fortress on a glorious day

Moat around Pirot fortress

The highlight of Pirot's wanderings had to be the delightful canal running through the centre of the town. Extremely (and rather strangely) well maintained, the clear water ran between lush mown grassy banks, and on either side quiet, shady cobblestoned paths lead to various parts of town. Locals used this space, enjoying fishing, walking, sunbathing and swimming. Some fair sized fish could be seen in the crystal clear water. 

Beautiful walk along Pirot's canal

Well maintained and well used, Pirot canal

A dazzling sunny morning was spent at the local pool, a rather grand affair, complete with humungous swimming pool, sunbeds and umbrellas, restaurant, and best of all 80's music pumping out from speakers. Serbs really love 80's music. Being school holidays, the place was quite full for a week day, and the summery atmosphere was brilliant. Unfortunately after a couple of hours, threatening dark clouds started to appear and get closer. When the life guards cleared the pool, we knew it was time to take shelter under the bleachers, where we were caught for about an hour in an absolutely torrential thunder and lightning storm. The air was cool afterwards and we left having thoroughly enjoyed taking some sun on our bodies. 

After a few days, we felt the need for a longer walk, and spied a lookout marked on our map. It turned out to be yet another beautiful walk up a hill through dense woodland. Serbia may not have as many forests as Bulgaria, but what they do have are just as appealing, although it has to be said, there is usually rubbish on the paths in Serbia. Ascending from the town, things became quiet and rural almost immediately, with only a few little houses on large blocks without electricity. A couple of landowners tried to speak with us and give us plums as we passed. Our lack of Serbian is so frustrating sometimes. At the top, we were rewarded with a magnificent view over Pirot and beyond. Losing the path on the way down, a large man and his dog walked with us for a short time to show us the tiny path leading steeply back down into Pirot. 

Bees and haystacks, Pirot

Wonderful location for a new house, Pirot

Views from our Pirot forest walk

Loving the forest around Pirot

Old shack along the path, Pirot

Made it to the top, Pirot

Late afternoons/evenings were spent in Dragan's garden, sometimes just the two of us, sometimes with Dragan or a friend, agreeably relaxed and drinking some Slovenian beers. Dragan generously insisted on buying us dinner a few times, rather embarrassingly, but we couldn't refuse his hospitality. This consisted of huge pieces of juicy BBQ meat, which of course we loved. 

Overall, Pirot was a good, slow first stop into Serbia. 

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With the train line in southern Serbia being defunct, we were forced to take a bus to our next destination- Niška Banya. It ended up being fantastic as the road followed the old train line through some stunning scenery. Almost straight away we entered a wide valley, with green wooded areas and tiny villages with red roofed cottages dotted high up on the hillsides. Later, the bus passed through a dramatic, deep gorge, following the river. It reminded us of journeys in the valleys of Tajikistan, but greener. Lastly was open rolling landscape with vineyards, before we were unceremoniously dumped by the side of the highway- we had expected to be dropped into the village centre. As we were standing around looking confused, a little local bus appeared out of nowhere, picked us up and took us the final few kilometres. 

Niška Banya was a lovely surprise. All we knew of it was that it was one of a few Serbian spa centres, and not having visited any before we were keen to see what the village had to offer. As soon as we stepped off the bus we were enamoured with the pretty place. A huge park and treatment centre took place in the centre, surrounded by many massive ancient walnut and shade trees. Decrepit, once grand buildings surrounded the park, and little streets led off to charming areas of houses and gardens. One of which was our guesthouse, probably the best apartment we have ever had in Serbia. The family's welcome was warm and thorough, and the apartment had everything we could possibly have wanted, and more. Everything was perfect and the kitchen was amazing- even having a toaster, an extreme rarity in the Balkans!

Niška Baya was all about brisk walks around the parks and town. Various mineral streams with different properties sprung up around the place and flowed out through numerous fountains, taps, ponds and culvets, all with people lying around in them enjoying taking in the hot water, high in radioactive Radon. The village is famous for this water and it's healing properties, apparently especially therapeutic for recovery after operations. Many walking wounded with crutches or bandages could be seen limping about and the busy clinic building itself looked like it hadn't been changed in decades. Most popular was sitting in the central park with one's feet dangling in the water (Sal gave that a go). Kids also loved playing in the fountains in the pond and many older people simply lay submerged in a pool with the water swirling around them.

Funky old water fountain, Niska Banya, Serbia

Radon Hotel, named after the curative waters

Faded grandeur in Niška Banya

Odd building in Niška Banya, Serbia

Our big walk was up to the viewpoint at the top of the closest hill to see where the paragliders took off. The wind was particularly fierce that morning and it was terrifying to imagine launching oneself off the edge up there. We enjoyed the peaceful walk through the always pleasing combination of beech and oak forest. The colour and early morning sun shining through the trees was glorious. Coming down, our legs were aching from the steepness, but we felt good to start the day off with some exercise. 

Huffing and puffing up the Niška Banya hill

Much needed rest on a rock, Niška Banya

Niška Banya was so small it only had a couple of little general shops, a tiny tourist market and a couple of ice-cream sellers, so in a way we were looking forward to moving on to a larger town with more facilities. On our departure, our hosts gave us a bottle of homemade rakia and a bag of plums. Could a gift be more wonderfully Serbian?! 

Farwell present from kind apartment owners, Niška Banya, Serbia

Just too comfy, Niška Banya apartment

The third largest city in Serbia, Niš, was just down the road from Niška Banya, and having visited most of the sights of Niš on our 2020 visit, this time we simply hoped for a stopover few days of relaxing and catching up before heading to Belgrade. We fondly remembered the city from our first months of travelling around the Balkans when everything was new and exciting. It's still interesting now, but after spending so much time in small towns and nature for the last six weeks, the city and it's noise and overwhelming amount of shops wasn't exactly inspiring for us. If nothing else, it was a good warm up for Belgrade!

Modest memorial to those Niš residents who died during the NATO bombing

Niš fort

Scary things happening at that memorial! Niš

Lovely mansion turned into apartments, Niš

Our great accommodation find was a superb and old fashioned example of a retro Serbian flat, right in Niš centre. The décor looked as though it had been unchanged in style for a long time, although the upkeep and cleanliness were perfect. The kind hostess finished her fag in the kitchen and showed us around the huge space. It's very rare we have a separate bedroom, kitchen, balcony, bathroom and loungeroom!

Sal loved these retro taps, Niš apartment

Our time in Niš was spent visiting the fabulous fresh market, the weekend flea market, and hitting the many op shops (second hand shops to you non-Aussies). A few early morning walks along the river and around the fort area rounded out our excursions. 

Trying to find the railway station, we became lost in an interesting estate full of factories and one random train engine. We couldn't decide whether the industrial buildings had been abandoned or were still in use, it was quite difficult to guess! Either way, they had a decrepit and funky feel, and we were waylaid there for quite some time.

Ruin of an industrial past, Niš

Random train engine dumped in Niš industrial area

Not sure if this factory was abandoned?

Thankfully, trains were running out of Niš- after our last few bus trips, we were happy to get back on the Serbian railway for the trip to Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. Although the bus trip would have only taken us two and a half hours, our train obsession saw us more than happy to take in the scenery for six hours on the tracks. 

Awesome, and smelly, Niš railway ticketing office

We spent the month of August at our favourite hostel, the Sun Hostel in Belgrade. As during past visits we enjoyed taking a break from our travels, and simply hanging out with old and new friends, chatting for hours at a time, drinking rakia, eating awesome Serbian food, and generally relishing in the intense socialising. We ventured out into the summer heat a few times to further afield suburbs in the city, but generally we were more than happy to focus on the company of our mates in the hostel environment. Some planning was also involved for the next part of our trip, to Serbia and Herzegovina. 

Fantastic trip to the hairdressers with good friends, Belgrade

Cool New Belgrade apartment block with "TV" windows

Can't get enough of Balkan food! Belgrade

One of many fascinating displays of Tito related memorabilia, Yugo Museum, Belgrade

Young boy soldier, Yugoslavia Museum grounds, Belgrade

Fountain drops, Belgrade

......next up, some fantastic new destinations in Bosnia and Herzegovina......