19th September. Slavonski Brod, Croatia to Nis, Serbia.
The night before I went out on my bike exploring Slavonski. I had used my SatNav to remember the location of the Guest Pansion where I was staying and just roamed... sure in the knowledge that I could get home safely. On my way back I stopped at a very local bar.. "Skorpian" a working class beer bar. I had a bottle of Croatian Pivo and relaxed. The locals spoke no English.. but were cool about a foreigner being amongst them. I got back to the guest house and felt guilty about asking for a meal, when the kitchen was closed and no-one was around..... after a translation phone call and some well constructed eating gestures... I was served noodle soup, chicken snitzel, a huge side salad and cake! very nice.
I woke early had good breakfast then chatted with another intrepid traveller. A lady probably 65-70 years old who was living in Switzerland. She had driven to the Bulgarian black sea coast and was on her way back. She was inspiring.
My journey from Slavonski to Nis (pronounced Nish) was uneventfull. Many toll booths.
The Serbian roads were by and large good. Temperatures topped out at 31C
The Serbian road tunnels are frequently unlit..... quite very scary.
A less well prepared and researched traveller would not have appreciated that Serbia uses the Cyrillic alphabet. Such a traveller would experience great difficulty imputting Cyrillic place names into their SatNav........ Such a traveller would also have failed to understand that many of the eastern europen countries retain their old currencies and that transactions are typically in those currencies..........
I arrived in Nis and guessed my way to the city centre. Nis is Serbia's 3rd largest city with a population of 300,00..... I guessed brilliantly and when I stopped to ask for directions I was on the 7th July street that I was searching for... At that moment a guy on a Vespa pulled up in front of me to say hello! He told me that he had seen the GB plates and wanted to say hi because his wife was English. He asked me to come for a drink in his pub. I was cautiously sceptical but none the less followed. Along the way to the bar, i was uncertain as to whether by "his pub" he meant his local or a bar he owned. I wondered if the guy was a tourist tout...... or genuine....The latter was true. "Vespa" is almost certainly the coolest bar in Nis, an immaculate and very very popular, glamorous bar in the heart of the city. It transpired that Deian (I am guessing spelling at this point) had worked in the UK for Whitbread as an area manager. Vespa had evolved out of a passion for Vespa scooters and a decade of working in the food and beverage industry in the UK. I had a slice of carrot cake and drank coke and chatted for an hour..... If you ever visit Nis go and have a drink in Vespa. Deian is a pioneering Serb and the bar is unmissable.
So we went back to Deian's house had a cup of Tesco tea with his wife Sharon from Worksop!
Sharon cooked spaghetti bolognaise and we sat and had a lovely meal. I left at gone 10pm.... Deian had phoned ahead to the appartment I had booked to let them know that I was still arriving. My appartment was very beautifull, a suite of rooms that was immaculate, tastefull and pristine. Serbia full of surprises.
Things I learnt about Nis.... It was the birthplace of Roman Emperor Constantin. The first Emperor to convert to Christianity. Constantin was made Emperor in York. Next year is the 1700th aniversary of The Milan Edict, Constantins work. This document gave Christians freedom from their former persecution and changed history....
Deian is to ride his Vespa from Nis to York via Rome and via the Vespa factory to mark the anniversary and to raise money for charity.
A remarkable day. Thanks Deian and Sharon. (Hey Sharon... sorry i wasn't the electrician.... lol)
The night before I went out on my bike exploring Slavonski. I had used my SatNav to remember the location of the Guest Pansion where I was staying and just roamed... sure in the knowledge that I could get home safely. On my way back I stopped at a very local bar.. "Skorpian" a working class beer bar. I had a bottle of Croatian Pivo and relaxed. The locals spoke no English.. but were cool about a foreigner being amongst them. I got back to the guest house and felt guilty about asking for a meal, when the kitchen was closed and no-one was around..... after a translation phone call and some well constructed eating gestures... I was served noodle soup, chicken snitzel, a huge side salad and cake! very nice.
I woke early had good breakfast then chatted with another intrepid traveller. A lady probably 65-70 years old who was living in Switzerland. She had driven to the Bulgarian black sea coast and was on her way back. She was inspiring.
My journey from Slavonski to Nis (pronounced Nish) was uneventfull. Many toll booths.
 |
| Croatian motorway... rush-hour.. 8.57am |
The Serbian roads were by and large good. Temperatures topped out at 31C
The Serbian road tunnels are frequently unlit..... quite very scary.
A less well prepared and researched traveller would not have appreciated that Serbia uses the Cyrillic alphabet. Such a traveller would experience great difficulty imputting Cyrillic place names into their SatNav........ Such a traveller would also have failed to understand that many of the eastern europen countries retain their old currencies and that transactions are typically in those currencies..........
I arrived in Nis and guessed my way to the city centre. Nis is Serbia's 3rd largest city with a population of 300,00..... I guessed brilliantly and when I stopped to ask for directions I was on the 7th July street that I was searching for... At that moment a guy on a Vespa pulled up in front of me to say hello! He told me that he had seen the GB plates and wanted to say hi because his wife was English. He asked me to come for a drink in his pub. I was cautiously sceptical but none the less followed. Along the way to the bar, i was uncertain as to whether by "his pub" he meant his local or a bar he owned. I wondered if the guy was a tourist tout...... or genuine....The latter was true. "Vespa" is almost certainly the coolest bar in Nis, an immaculate and very very popular, glamorous bar in the heart of the city. It transpired that Deian (I am guessing spelling at this point) had worked in the UK for Whitbread as an area manager. Vespa had evolved out of a passion for Vespa scooters and a decade of working in the food and beverage industry in the UK. I had a slice of carrot cake and drank coke and chatted for an hour..... If you ever visit Nis go and have a drink in Vespa. Deian is a pioneering Serb and the bar is unmissable.
So we went back to Deian's house had a cup of Tesco tea with his wife Sharon from Worksop!
Sharon cooked spaghetti bolognaise and we sat and had a lovely meal. I left at gone 10pm.... Deian had phoned ahead to the appartment I had booked to let them know that I was still arriving. My appartment was very beautifull, a suite of rooms that was immaculate, tastefull and pristine. Serbia full of surprises.
Things I learnt about Nis.... It was the birthplace of Roman Emperor Constantin. The first Emperor to convert to Christianity. Constantin was made Emperor in York. Next year is the 1700th aniversary of The Milan Edict, Constantins work. This document gave Christians freedom from their former persecution and changed history....
Deian is to ride his Vespa from Nis to York via Rome and via the Vespa factory to mark the anniversary and to raise money for charity.
A remarkable day. Thanks Deian and Sharon. (Hey Sharon... sorry i wasn't the electrician.... lol)
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