Novi Sad, Serbia

Here are some photos from two nights spent in Novi Sad, Serbia. Novi Sad is the second largest city in Serbia and we read in a guide that it's also the cultural centre, or certainly was in the 19th century but perhaps rivals Belgrade now. In any case, there was no shortage of art spaces, interesting shops and great cafes & restaurants. We didn't seem to get many photos of the city itself but these pictures below hopefully give an idea of the nice time we had wandering about and being a bit fancier than usual because prices are so cheap here. Coffee is less than a euro and consistently good. Also Serbian food had been far more delicious and accommodating (for our fussy gluten free / vegetarian demands) than we expected. We stayed at a wonderful hostel called Hostel Podbara (for anyone finding themselves in Novi Sad looking for accommodation!) The lady there was so kind and gave us excellent advice on things to do, places to eat, etc. She also baked lovely chocolate cake.

Gusan restaurant ("the gander")

Vinoteka restaurant - highly recommended!

Matthew doodling, eating out (and pretending not to be scruffy wanderers who usually live in a tent), weird store mannequins, a dear quiet pony (you can't tell from the picture but this was in fairly central Novi Sad) and a cool old car. There are lots of cool old cars here, I don't think people drive them to be retro but simply because they have had their car for a really long time.

Street art on the left and the remains of a bombed bridge on the right. All three Danube crossings from Novi Sad were destroyed during the 1999 NATO bombing and have since been rebuilt, however I think these bridge pillars remain from a WW2 bombing. The evidence of war we are seeing in this part of the world is really heartbreaking. The fact that the NATO bombing here was controversial to say the least makes it even worse.