Novi Sad, Serbia

Two cities in two different countries in one day is testing my blogging skills, but here goes. Several hours after departing Vukovar, Croatia we reached Novi Sad, Serbia. This roughly translates to “New Garden” or “New Life”. It’s the second largest city in Serbia, about 280,000 citizens or so. While the 1999 war with NATO resulted in damage to some infrastructure such as bridges and oil depots, the city escaped most damage from the world wars and civil conflicts. The central old city, mostly 18th and 19th century architecture, is quite attractive.

The feature dominating any approach by river, however, is the Petrovaradin Fortress. This extensive fortification includes more than 10 miles of tunnels and interlocking batteries and strong points. It’s the second largest such fortress in Europe (after Sedan). Our bus tour drove around the structure.

The fortress and our docking location.

The old town is a ten minute walk from the docking site. It’s best to convey the sights with a few photos.

The lower left palace was the Serbian Orthodox bishop’s residence.

The Old Town Square is particularly attractive, surround by impressive buildings, some of which are now banks. I was surprised to find the church on the square was Roman Catholic and not Orthodox.

I try to get at least one wedding picture each trip. This time it was just a photo shoot. I told them they would make a nice couple anyway. 

This is the Name of Mary Roman Catholic Church.

We did duck into a Serbian Orthodox Church on our way back to the boat.

Sometimes the best views are while looking up.

That evening we set sail for our next stop, Belgrade, the capital of Serbia.