Five lazy days in Temerin and Novi Sad

We arrived to Novi Sad in the afternoon. For me the names of many ex-Yugoslavian cities are very familiar, mainly due to the tournaments mentioned in the chess books I have read in the toilet but also it is the second biggest city of Serbia, so it’s quite normal that I had a feeling about the city before I went there. People from Europe, like my travel mate Dorota, generally come to the city for the famous Exit Festival, a big festival of electronic music, however it was already over when we were there.Too bad since I like Portishead, well maybe next year. 

After eating the usual pljeskavica in the café of the bus station, we began to look for the hostel of Can. It was a shiny and warm day, small detached houses we passed by created the impression of a summer town rather than a busy city as we expected Novi Sad to be. After some 15-20 min of walk we arrived to the hostel, which didn’t seem so pretty from outside, but just when you enter through the big and ugly gate of the garden you’re face to face with the cutest hostel ever. The small garden and the hostel itself gives you immediately a homy feeling, unlike many hostels which are rather cold and distanced in atmosphere.  And indeed it was run by a family which lived there as well, as Can was putting his bags inside and taking his time for shower etc. I had the chance to talk to the girl of the family who was running the hostel for that time with her mother but her elder sister was supposed to come that day too in order to save her from the heavy workload.  Like many Serbians she was looking for a job too and her field of study was French, there are not many positions for French teachers in public schools and even if you get one it’s very poorly paid as she told me.  I should also not forget to mention tea and cakes offered by her to us, the cakes were very tasty. She gave us a city map too, and told us what to do and where to go while marking the sights on the map. It was exactly what we needed of course, so I think she deserves a thanks from us, so thank you the lovely girl of the family who runs Hostel Podbara!

We left the hostel immediately and since my bus to Temerin, a small town near Novi Sad, was at 7, we had hardly any time left. So without doing any sightseeing I took the bus. I had to get out at the bus stop closest to the street of my host ‘cause she was waiting for me there, so in order not to miss it I asked some people in the bus about the street. No one seemed to speak English but a middle-aged woman whose husband had worked in Germany before, tried to speak some German with me so I could finally talk with someone. She didn’t know the street either but by asking other people she found a guy for me who was going out at the same stop so thanks to her I got it right, when I get off I found Ivana waiting for me. (Or rather she found me while I was foolishly looking at the guy from the bus who was trying to show me the street.)

Although we met each other in Belgrade I think here it’s more appropriate to describe Ivana.  When we were walking from the bus stop to home, by looking at her walking style I could understand how confident a woman she is, it was as if she was walking in her room. Her self-esteem was admirable, maybe because of her political-administrative activities. As I found out in the bus she was quite known by the people of Temerin, the woman who helped me asked which family was my host and I told her the surname of Ivana and she immediately knew that it was her. When I asked about it Ivana explained that it should because of her candidateship some time ago, although in the end she decided not to run for it. No probably it’s not the political activities which made her self-confident and mature but the conditions imposed by the cruel and tragic thing called life, anyway here it’s not the place  for such things… But all I can say is that she has a longing for something, as maybe all the best people have to have in the desert of today,  a longing for a joyful childhood or simply to be loved, maybe just for a different world where human relations are warmer and more direct? Possibly all of them, but for me this was just another indicator for the fine quality of her personality. Whoever doesn’t have a problem with the world around him/her is either just stupid or a part of the problem him/herself. 

For the first night I met her friend Miroslav again, who came for a coffee and the fine Serbian snack called proja (a kind of corn bread) cooked by Ivana, although she was a little bit skeptical about its taste, it was good. From the first day I had seen her profile on CS I knew that she is a Turkey-lover but as I found out there at her home, she was much more than that. Indeed there were countless things from Turkey, even a newspaper brought from her last trip :)  By the way I have to say her home is really comfortable and big, the furniture and all the stuff seemed so warm and known to me. Her mother Radmila and her stepfather Imre came for a brief time as well; well it’s not very surprising since they live just next door. They both were extremely friendly although especially with Radmila Teyze we had some communication problems due to the language barrier. I have to say the good-heartedness of  Radmila, Imre and all the friends of Ivana I met during my stay there were just striking. What I like about traveling and particularly about couchsurfing is that they renew your belief in humanity, in all the values long forgotten in our civilized world.

After such a nice reception it was time to go to sleep on my comfortable couch in the living room.  As almost every night I had no problem with sleeping, but sometimes I had with waking up.

The next day began with a nice breakfast and Ivana accompanied me to the bus stop because I was to meet Can in Novi Sad and from there she went to her office. After not a particularly interesting bus ride I arrived to the terminal and went straight away to the famous park near Danube where my friend was waiting for me. Then we began to explore the city together, walked through the streets of Novi Sad, where we got the impression that Novi Sad is a much more European city than Belgrade in terms of architecture and style. One can compare it with Swiss cities, a river, a main square, streets with cafes and small shops. The city is enclosed by a friendlier atmosphere than Belgrade, perhaps just because of its smaller size. We have seen the synagogue tried to make it to the Dali exhibition but couldn’t, again tried to see some art museums but they were closed.  The Petrovaradin Castle was of course in the plan, so we crossed the bridge on Danube and have seen the castle there. Its name may sound familiar to people from Turkey because of Ottoman history. One of the last battles of Ottomans against Austrian-Hungarian forces before accepting a heavy defeat in Sremski Karlovici (or Karlofça in Turkish) in 1699 was fought there. We tried to imagine some details about how the war might have happened and then sat in one of the cafés inside the fortresses because of immediate WC need :) When the job was done it was time to go back downtown. Ivana wanted to have lentil soup with the red lentils she bought from Turkey so I had to buy some stuff for the soup and other meals I was thinking of cooking. Together with Can we shopped at a market and since he was to go to Belgrade for his plane and I had to bring the stuff home, we parted our ways.

One interesting thing however should be mentioned. We were sitting at a café in the center of Novi Sad to get some rest and a cold drink and chatting about different issues which I can’t remember exactly. However the waitress, a woman in her thirties, heard us speaking Turkish and asked us whether we’re from Turkey. She explained that she played several months in a Turkish volleyball team, Çukurova University, competing in the First League! Moreover she was into beach volley as well and represented Serbia in that branch! So by accident we met a national volleyball player, it seems like in Serbia everything is possible :) After she got retired at quite an early age for volleyball she is helping now her friend in the café. We chatted quite a while and I asked for her signature which she jokingly accepted. Later I went to the same café again but unfortunately she was going home when I arrived.

When I was returning home I realized that I should buy chicken bouillon for the rice so I went to a market in Temerin but just when I was to pay I realized that I had no cash and no matter how much I asked for paying with my credit card the cashier woman didn’t accept. She saw Turkey on my credit card and began to tell me “Şehrazat”, “Adnan” and some other characters from famous Turkish TV series. By then I was quite used to it but soon the other customers joined and we kind of played a game of naming characters all together, it was a funny atmosphere. The Turkish series are very popular in all the countries I have visited during my trip and as the Turkish man in Belgrade said, they helped in the improving relations between people living in Balkans, especially Serbs and people from my country. The most known and the first aired one is Thousand and One Nights (Binbir Gece), although Ezel, Yaprak Dökümü(Fall of Leaves or When Leaves Fall) and Aşk-ı Memnu (The Forbidden Love) are also shown; as we found out together with my friends in the hotel in Belgrade even a really really bad serie called Deli Yürek (Crazy Heart) too!

Unfortunately when I got home it was already late so I had to postpone the cooking stuff for the next day. The next was a day spent at home, reading the book “Too Loud A Solitude” by Hrabal, a Czech writer, a book which I got as a gift from my lovely Czech friends Monika and Jan, my first ever guests from CS who visited me this summer again; and cooking of course. The one thing which I was absolutely to cook, the lentil soup, I saved for the end so that Ivana could also see how it’s done. My memory is a little bit weak but either that morning or the morning before I met Ivana’s friend Zorica, a cool young woman, who was working in one of the many betting shops in Serbia.  She was a little bit shy to speak English but then, when she tried it was much better than most of the people.  Indeed the impression I got from Serbians are that they, especially younger ones, can speak English really well sometimes, but they think they can’t and that’s why they hesitate when it comes to speaking. So you should insist in order to get them speaking. The other sweet girl whom I met later on was Katarina, a bright graduate student and assistant with whom Ivana went to Marmaris for holiday. She is also a Turkey lover like my host and with her very foreign look, I’m sure Turkey loves her too :) One interesting remark by her is that with Serbian guys you have to wait for 6 months in order to get even in contact, whereas the Turkish guys just come and ask directly. If it is put this way of course it is something to be proud of but I don’t know whether it’s true or not :) Let’s say just for the guys in discos… She had some other good observations as well :)

So we had a dinner together with Radmila, Imre, Katarina, and Ivana and although the meals were somewhat mediocre in terms of quality (with frozen and chopped fresh beans it doesn’t really work), my “guests” were polite enough. The dinner was of course accompanied by Turkish rakı, which I brought with me. After the dinner we had a walk together with Ivana and Katarina to a small park in the center of Temerin, where Ivana’s office is. One of the many advantages of living and working in a small town; you don’t lose any time in traffic at all.

Anyway Radmila Teyze’s home-made pizza was better than my fresh beans. They kindly invited me to a lunch, to which Ivana also joined. Before the lunch however I could taste the rakija of Imre; the pride of every man living in Serbia :) It was a nice one as well; a dunjevacka, maybe the best I had during my trip, at least I could drink it. It felt like being at home thanks to them. I could really stay there forever :) They must have also felt the dangers of my growing addiction to comfort so after 2 days spent mainly at home, cooking, washing my clothes etc., Radmila and Imre took me to Sremski Karlovci; it was on their way to Fruska Gora. They showed to me the Tekije Church, a church which had been a tekije (tekke) of Mevlevis before; as a sign of multiculturalism and tolerance one can see the Islamic crescent as part of the crosses on top of the church. Maybe the only one in the world, beautiful isn’t it? It makes you think of all those bloody events happened during the previous century and also those still happening like in Egypt where Islamists kill Christians. A world without a religion or God would be the best of course but it remains as a utopia, so at least we can try to go back to the tolerant interpretations of religions adopted in the past, like people some time ago did in Karlovici?

One of the main attractions of Karlovci is the Peace Chapel, another sight linked with peace and tolerance. A sight which was visited by the president of Turkey a year ago; too bad that I didn’t get the same reception as he did; if we could apply a real meritocracy instead of the corrupt bureaucracy we have, I should be the one walking on the red carpet, don’t you think so? But I did not miss my chance to write my “love and peace” wishes in the guestbook. In the guestbook I have seen the writing of a group of Turkish tourists, who wrote sth. like: “We came here but there was no information in English so we didn’t understand anything but it was nice” in Turkish. So for the next visitors from my country I have written some very small information about the chapel which I will write here as well.

The importance of the chapel comes from the fact that it was there where the Treaty of Karlovci (Karlofça) was signed between the poor Ottomans on one side and Austrian-Hungarians, Serbs and a few more parties on the other, in 1699. The chapel was built afterwards in honor of the treaty, by the wish of Ottoman delegation, so the treaty could be signed in a tent too or maybe it was another building. The main story is that it had 4 doors, and the chapel has four doors too, for each of the four parties of the treaty so that they could enter exactly at the same time to the “hall”. Also it was during that treaty when the convention of round table was applied for the first time; seems like those people were quite obsessed :) After Serbia got its independence from Ottoman Empire they closed the door of Ottomans, symbolizing that they were gone forever. But they couldn’t guess what will happen 150 years later, a neo-Ottoman president from Turkey came and reopened the door, while renovating the chapel too, just kidding, in this case surprisingly it was a good act from our government.

After visiting the chapel, Imre and Radmila left me to the central square of Karlovci, where there is a famous fountain and some famous buildings around. I didn’t enter the buildings but of course didn’t miss my chance to drink water from the fountain. It is said whoever drinks water from the fountain will return to Karlovci. Actually it is just for girls but I don’t know whether it will also be true for me or not, but I think one day I will be there again. After eating the usual pljeskavica I decided to go back downtown. I was to meet first Ivana and then a girl from Couchsurfing, who replied to my message in the group of Novi Sad; since she directly sent an SMS to me I only knew her name, Sonja. So after meeting Ivana and accompanying her while she is having her meal we met Sonja together.

During the conversation we had in a pub while drinking apple cider, it also became clear that Sonja too was a Turkey-lover :) Some good luck on my part. When Ivana, after spending some time, went back home, I found out that she is a socialist too so what more can you expect :) Together we talked mainly about politics and the disintegration of Yugoslavia but let’s save them for my entry in the future. But thanks to Sonja I had a very nice chat and at least spent one night out in Novi Sad, drinking Jelen of course :) She was so kind to walk with me to the bus terminal in midnight. Thank you comrade!

When I got back home I found Ivana already sleeping, she didn’t answer my text message too. So since it was my mistake of going back late and I of course didn’t want to wake her up, she goes to her office in the morning, after spending some time outside sitting and looking at the sky, I went in and slept in between the doors of Radmila and Ivana. Ivana woke up at 5 and when she has seen my message she took me in, of course was angry at me because I didn’t wake her up by ringing the door. But when she woke me up I was already sleeping comfortably on floor so from my point of view there was no reason to complain :)

My last day in Novi Sad was Friday, the day when I finally got an answer from Dorota to my message. Two days ago, when my friend Murat made clear that he will not come to Serbia and instead go back to US early, I decided to search for a travelmate, although I have searched before my trip as well since I knew that such a thing might happen, so I checked the groups of Serbia, find a travelmate etc. on CS. The only message I could find was from a Polish girl called Dorota, so I sent her an SMS after briefly checking her profile. She answered me two days later, due to her credit being low, saying that she is in Montenegro, in a town called Bar. I had to leave that day anyway, but before her SMS I was thinking of going to Tara Mountain, where the famous director Kusturica has built some kind of a mountain village. So I changed my destination completely and went for the better option, travelling alone is also nice but can be quite boring too.

After saying goodbye to sweet Ivana I was on the road again. The bus was in the evening and it arrived to the city of Budva early in the morning, at 8 o’clock. From there I went straightaway to Bar with a small minibus where I was to meet Dorota and her previous travel buddy Eduardas, at the beach. By asking people I found my way to the beach and waited for them. Soon two people appeared in sight, a tall blonde guy and a blonde girl who wasn’t like the girl I saw on CS. Complete strangers meeting and immediately becoming like friends, that’s how the world should be, but by then I was an experienced Couchsurfer so I was already expecting it. What however exceeded my expectations is also what I will tell…in the future parts!