Day 14: Niš, Serbia

 
This morning we left Belgrade and we drove off to Niš, in the south-central part of Serbia.  The drive was interesting at best, as our bus broke down 20 km from Niš.  The motor of the bus failed and we had to wait for another bus to arrive that would take us into the city.

Finally after three hours of driving and around an hour of  we reached Niš.  First, we went to an archaeological site of an ancient Roman villa.  Niš is known for having been the land where Emperor Constantine, who was the first emperor to convert to Christianity and made it legal to practice Christianity throughout the Roman Empire.  Of course, Constantine is also known for converting the Greek colony of Byzantium into the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire.  The city would come to be known as Constantinople, and now is known as Istanbul.  Anyway, this complex is currently being excavated.  While the lecture on the history of the region and the role of the Roman Empire in Niš was interesting, it was disappointing to not be able to see any of the precious relics of the villa.  This was due to the fact that the relics were transferred to a museum in order to better protect them.  It was sad to hear that this archaeological site, which in my humble opinion seems incredibly important (as it deals with the birth city of one of the most famous Roman Emperors), is not funded by UNESCO or the EU, and does not receive too much money from the Serbian government.  This is a shame, as such sites should be protected and funded, as they then enrich the culture and history of the country and therefore attract more tourists.

After this visit, we went to a church which houses a block of human skulls.  It sounds incredibly bizarre, and in reality, it is.  When you walk into the church you see a 5 meter x 5 meter block full of human skulls.  The story behind it is that in the latter half of the 19th century, Serbs fought the Ottomans and were greatly outnumbered.  Although the Ottomans lost a great amount more of troops than the Serbs, they chose to grossly display their military might by placing the skulls of the fallen Serbs on a wall.  It is an extremely morbid site, but it is fascinating nevertheless.

I later took a walk through the city, strolling through a Turkish fort, and a pedestrian walkway full of cafes. 

On a curious note, we had a coffee at a communist themed cafe named "Broz Club" (after the Yugoslav leader).  Cardboard cut-outs of Che Guevara, Fidel Castro, Mao Zedong, Muammar Qaddafi and Josip Broz Tito adorned the outside terrace.

Anyway, today was a very tiring day.  I am extremely excited to visit Pristina, Kosovo tomorrow.  Hope to tell you some more tales from my journey soon!