Central Serbia

From Golubac we carried along the Danube to the Mesolithic ruins of Lepinski Vir. This is close to the site of a mesolithic fishing village and a very modern space age building has been erected to protect and display the ruins of the village and artifacts from the archaeological dig.

The museum shows a film made in the 1970’s during the original dig, which was very interesting and gave some real context to the remains. There were also some sculptures of fish-faced human idols which felt like modern art and were very impressive considering they were made 7000 years ago.

It was really hot after we finished looking round the museum so we decided to take a road up into the hills away from the Danube. The road was steep and although tarmacked, it was a patchwork of fixes, so much that you could barely see the original road in certain places, making it a slow and bumpy ride.

We drove up to 600m above sea level where things were a bit cooler and found a peaceful place to spend the night, a few hundred metres from an abandoned ski resort. The next morning we were treated with a visit from a small herd of beautiful wild horses.

We set off early that morning to the small town of Majdanpek and a visit to Rajko’s cave.

We arrived for opening time and were the only people there. The guy in the ticket office let us in and then left us to wander through the cave system at our leisure – a definite first! But it was great to be alone in the passages of this 1.5km long cave. There used to be a loop walk over two levels but flooding of the lower level means that you now have to retrace your steps.

After leaving the cave we headed down some narrow country lanes to park outside a nunnery which is the starting point to walk to the Vratna Gates, which are natural stone arches over a river in a canyon about a 20 minute walk from the nunnery.

The canyon around the arches was shaded and cool, a nice relief from the heat and I enjoyed having a cooling paddle in the river.

Having found a shady spot under a tree, right next to a small river, we decided to spend the night outside the nunnery and enjoyed taking dips in the chilly little river to cool down. We of course also visited the nunnery while we stayed there, which had a beautiful little church and were amused to see one of the nuns in full garb whizzing past us on an electric scooter with a big dog in tow.

The next day we came out of the hills next to the Danube and headed towards the South of Serbia, however we stopped off at the Roman ruins of Felix Romuliana, a UNESCO World Heritage site that originally housed a complex of palaces and temples covering an area of 10 acres. The complex was built by Emperor Galerius and completed in AD313 but they are very much in ruins now and despite being a UNESCO site there isn’t a great deal to see.

However we did bump into a lovely British couple here (Donna and Jon, aka the Roverlanders on social Media – @theroverlandersadventures on Instagram), travelling full-time in their converted 4×4 Land Rover Ambulance. Luckily, there is a cafe on-site, so we made ourselves comfortable and after chatting for quite some time we agreed to meet up in a couple of weeks when we were both heading for Montenegro.

Having waved goodbye to The Roverlanders, our stop for the night was the amazing fortified Manisija Monastery. Built in 1418, it became a refuge for artists and writers fleeing the Ottoman invasion.

This is also a UNESCO listed site and one that is definitely much more impressive but unfortunately photography is not allowed inside.

We spent the night a short walk from the monastery where we found yet another river to cool off in, although this one had quite a few nibbly little fish! One of the best things about the Balkans (especially in the summer heat), is that the rivers here are abundant and mostly very clean, so we have no qualms about taking a dip. I’m not sure we’d be so eager in the UK!

Close to the monastery is another cave, Resava. We had a private (no one else was there) guided tour around this very impressive cave. I wasn’t allowed to take photos with my camera (its was too professional-looking apparently) but we were allowed to take pictures with our phones. Of course it was only 10c inside so we had a lovely cool time but the tour only lasts an hour so it wasn’t long before we were kicked out into the heat once again.

Just down the road from the cave is a park with a pretty little waterfall on the Resava river, which made for a diverting 30 minute walk but unfortunately no swimming allowed!

From Manasija we continued heading South to visit the town of Nis, which is the third biggest city in Serbia. Our first stop here was the Red Cross concentration camp.

This is a well preserved Nazi Concentration camp and is named after the adjacent train station, the Red Cross. 30,000 Serbs, Romany and Jews were held here during the German Occupation of Serbia which lasted from 1941-1945.

Mass executions were not performed on site but there were still many deaths here. Informative displays tell the stories of the inmates and the atrocities committed to both them and the people of Nis. Some of the personal stories are very moving and it is definitely worth a visit.

Our next stop in Nis was the Cele Kula or Skull Tower. This was built after the Turks defeated the Serbs in the 1809 Battle of Cegar. Over 10,000 Turks were killed in the battle and the Turks, in an attempt to ensure there were no future acts of rebellion, beheaded and scalped almost 1,000 Serbians. The skulls of these dead Serbs were then embedded in the Tower of Skulls as warning to any future rebels.

However the Tower had the opposite effect and became a symbol to the Serbians of their proud resistance against invaders. Most of the skulls have since been removed from the tower but 58 still remain.

Not wanting to stay in the lowlands for the night we drove up into the Stara Planima Nature Park on the Bulgarian border to a high altitude lake, Zavojsko Jezero, to find another swim spot and a cool night.

It wasn’t quite what we expected with lots of locals already there and quite a lot of noise but it sufficed for one night!