Novi Sad, Serbia - My Third and Final Former-Yugoslav Adventure

This past week has been crazy, so I just finally got time to sit down and write this article. Novi Sad was a really great weekend, but this post is going to be quick so I can start my Paris post, sorry Laslo.

Two weekends ago 6 of us went to visit Szilvia and Laslo's hometown of Novi Sad, Serbia for the long weekend. Cora, Daniel, Paola (from ECHEM, originally from Spain), and I went in Paola's car. Szilvia drove with Roland (Paola's Austrian friend). We drove through Hungary and into Serbia, arriving late on Thursday. We stayed in Szilvia and Laslo's uncle's old apartment which was packed with food, including beer in the fridge, hot supper in the oven, and the inescapable schnapps in the cupboard. Their uncle had cooked us a huge quiche-like dinner filled with eggs and cheese with a flaky crust on top, it was really good.

Friday we went to the Petrovaradin Fortress across the Danube from Novi Sad. There has been a fortified settlement at that location since before 3000BC, but the majority of the fortress that we saw was built by Austria-Hungary about 300 years ago to protect Novi Sad from the Turks.
The clocktower at the fortress, the symbol of Novi Sad, was under renovation, hence the missing arms. The long arm on the clock is actually the hour hand, as it is the only one visible from Novi Sad, and apparently the locals weren't too concerned with the exact time, so that's all they needed.
From the fortress you can see the three bridges across the Danube which have been rebuilt after being bombed by NATO in 1999, along with the oil refinery, electrical, communications, and drinking water infrastructures, as well as some residential areas...
The fortress has now been converted into a museum, a 5 star hotel, a 1000 star hostel ("because it has pieces of the roof missing, so you see the stars through the holes in the ceiling" - Laslo), and an artisan community. The artist's houses have galleries on the ground floor and apartments on the upper floors. The fact that the fortress is always filled with artists has resulted in a lot of cool outdoor artwork.
A bit cold and damp from the fortress we went to meet Szilvia and Laslo's parents. Unfortunately they speak German, Hungarian, Serbian, Croatian, and Macedonian, but no English. Their father could speak some "Tarzan English" as they call it, and my poor German and Laslo and Szilvia's translations got me through the rest. They had prepared a delicious Hungarian paprikash, which we ate with noodles, wine, and of course, schnapps. After dinner we watched some Spanish 'Telenovela' soap operas with Cyrillic subtitles with their mom, random but a lot of fun. Most Serbian media is left in the original language with Cyrillic Serbian subtitles, to which Szilvia credits her knowledge of English.
That night we went to the city centre, which was really nice, like a small Vienna. In the central plaza there was an exhibit of painted cows where we found some now worthless old Yugoslav money on the street. I found a 50,000,000,000 Florin bill (uncontrolled inflation) and Cora found a 100,000,000 Florin bill.
Before going out we stopped at a Palačinka (Crêpe, č=ch) restaurant. We got delicious dessert versions, mine was a banana split, filled with ice creme and topped with bananas and (sweetened!) whipped creme. They were delicious, huge, and cheap. Even cheaper considering that Laslo paid, thanks again! In case you don't recognise them yet (which you should by now) the photo below is of Laslo and Szilvia.

That night we went to Szilvia's favourite bar, a tiny hole-in-the-wall club with faux-fur walls and a disco ball. The music was great, so Paola, Daniel, Szilvia, and I stayed until 3am or so, and were the last ones to leave. I taught them my full range of expert dance moves, including: the fisherman, the sprinkler, the grocery cart, the lawnmower, the standard car, and many more. I'm sure I tarnished the name of Canadian dancing in Serbia for many generations to come.

The view from the apartment:

The five of us crammed into Szilvia's little car to tour a bit before going to their Grandma's for a BBQ dinner.
The control for the windshield wipers was broken so Cora had to run out and squeegee the windows as fast as she could at red lights and stop signs.

Daniel, Paola, and I crammed in the back seat.

Their Grandma's house had a big kitchen building in the backyard, perfect for huge family barbeques. The photo below is of Szilvia and Laslo with their dad, grandma, and two cousins who speak better English than I do. Their dad cooked a whole pot of burgers, sausages, porkchops and bacon, with skewers of vegetables for Roland (who's a vegetarian).
Szilvia was singing along to the radio when her grandmother said, in sweet-old-lady Hungarian, "why, you still sing so badly..." and when Cora joined in (and neighbourhood dogs started to howl) she said "now the other one has started, God save us!". After dinner we decided to go skating with Laslo, and I shattered the stereotype that all Canadians are good at hockey.
The next morning we had a big breakfast, and were joined by their cousin, a friend, and the DJ from the faux-fur-covered bar who had burned us all CDs.
We left at 1:00 to beat the rush at the border as everyone returned from the long weekend. Reaching the Serbian border we stopped behind a sea of cars. Moving at a rate of 1 car every 5 min we crawled to the border. An hour later when we reached the border we saw why things were moving so slowly, from the other side of the border in no-mans-land there were cars as far as you could see heading towards Hungary. Stuck in the line with no escape we began the crawl forward as the sun began to set. After 2 hours and a minor altercation where we saw what happens when you mix a girl with a French temper and an American mouth with a frustrated Serbian man, we arrived at the border. In order to speed up the crossing Szilvia, Daniel, and I walked through the non-EU border while the cars went through the EU border. They were checking the cars very thoroughly, but they somehow missed the 2L of home-made schnapps in Roland's back seat (which he received from his long-lost relatives who he visited that weekend after tracking them down through birth certificates to a small city near Novi Sad).

Four and a half hours after we left Novi Sad, we were 1 hour away, but officially in Hungary. The rest of the ride went quickly, and we were back in Vienna by 10:30.

As it's taken me this long to finish this post, the Paris one might be a long time coming, although I guess I should finish it before I leave for Stockholm on Thursday.

Things are going great in Vienna, it's nice to have a relaxing weekend, and this morning it snowed for the first time. As of today I have been in Europe 6 months! I can't wait to see everyone at Christmas, which is just a few weeks away. However between now and then I have Stockholm, my German class, and the Christmas markets to keep me distracted. Once I return from Stockholm I will start writing posts about daily life in Vienna again, with lots of photos of the city decorated for Christmas.