Cosmos Tour: Teasures of the Ballkans & Transylvania

My Cosmos tour of the Balkans and Transylvania left Budapest this morning to head to Belgrade, Serbia. Here is our route map: from Hungary, to Serbia, to Bulgaria, to Romania, ending back in Hungary.

The Balkans

The Balkan Peninsula, also called the Balkans, is a geographical region of Southeast Europe which includes, entirely, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Montenegro and, partly, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Romania, Slovenia, Serbia, and Turkey, though there is some disagreement as to which countries should be included in the term “The Balkans.”

Our Cosmos Tour Manager

Sandra was our great Cosmos Tour Manager. She took very good care of us and gave us much needed background information on the areas that we would be visiting.

Our Cosmos Bus Driver

Our always very well dressed Cosmos bus driver, Atila, who not only was a driver par excellence but also one with nerves of steel. Many of the roads we traveled on were two–lane highways with no passing lanes and with many curves limiting the  visibility of oncoming cars and trucks. Dare devil vehicles would pass other vehicles, re–entering their proper lanes only within feet in front of our bus. Not all drivers make it as witnessed by the numerous death wreaths along the highways.

Hungarian Countryside

Hungarian countryside going toward the border with Serbia.

Roszke-Horgos (Hungary-Serbia) Border

We had to go through an immigration check when leaving Hungary and then again when entering Serbia. Serbia is not part of the European Union, though this really didn’t make a difference as we had to do this when leaving Bulgaria and entering  Romania and then again when leaving Romania and re–entering Hungary, all three countries belonging to the European Union. At some border crossings, an immigration officer would come aboard and check our passports, sometimes they would collect our passports and check them off the bus, then return them to us, and sometimes we had to get off the bus with our passports and be individually checked. Photo: at the Hungarian border.

Roszke-Horgos (Hungary-Serbia) Border

Hungarian immigration officers.

Roszke-Horgos (Hungary-Serbia) Border

The Serbian border.

Serbia Countryside

Our first look at Serbia: very green fields and farm houses. In some areas of Serbia and also of Bulgaria, we saw flooded fields and this was before the devastating floods in early May. The ground here was already oversaturated before the new rains hit.

Could you tell that you had crossed the border into another country? Yes, the farm houses in Serbia were different from the ones in Hungary.

Serbia Countryside

More of the countryside.

Serbia Countryside

Farm houses.

Serbia Countryside

Oh so very very green. Not a sight we see in Southern California, so awe–inspiring to me.  Sandra told us that Dubai has started buying up farmland in Serbia so they will have their own food supply, as produce does not grow very well in their deserts.

Serbia Countryside

A housing development.

Serbia Countryside

Close–up.

Driving Through a Small Village in Serbia

Houses and stores.

Driving Through a Small Village in Serbia

I caught the gypsy wagon in this photo but only part of the horse. The gypsy wagons drive on the side of the raods.

Coming into Novi Sad

Coming into Novi Sad, the second largest city in Serbia. Belgrade, its capital, is the largest.

Coming into Novi Sad

A gypsy encampment outside the city.

Coming into Novi Sad

A gypsy woman sitting in front of the camp.

Novi Sad

Farther in the city.

Novi Sad

Heading toward the Danube on a tree–canopied street.

Novi Sad

Old Serbian women walking through the park.

Petrovaradin Fortress

We made a photo stop on the bank of the Danube across from the Petrovaradin Fortress. The fortress was built between 1692 and 1790.

Petrovaradin Fortress

Closer–up.

Petrovaradin Fortress

Closer–up. Note the clock tower in the photo.

Petrovaradin Fortress

The clock tower at the Petrovaradin Fortress. It is not 11:05, but actually 12:55. The short hand shows the minutes and the long hand shows the hours. This was done so that the sailors along the Danube could more easily see the hour hand of the clock.

Memorial to the Mass Execution of Serbs, Jews, and Gypsies in Novi Sad

Along the bank of the Danube, across from the Petrovaradin Fortress, is this statue which stands for the mass shooting of Serbs, Jews, and Gypsies by the Hungarian fascists in 1942.

Memorial to the Mass Execution of Serbs, Jews, and Gypsies in Novi Sad

The names of the victims are engraved on these plaques along the river.

Novi Sad Historic Area

We next walked around the Novi Sad historic area and ate lunch there. The most imposing building in the center is the Name of Mary Roman Catholic Church. Most Serbs are Orthodox Christians but this church is the historic center’s showpiece.

Novi Sad Historic Area

There were numerous beautiful old buildings in the historic center, here the old City Hall built in 1895. I put my photos of the historic center on a slide show. Go to

http://www.peggysphotos.com/novi–sad–historical–area/

(Slide Shows, Eastern Europe, Serbia, “Novi Sad Historic Area”).