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25th July 2014
We decided to see more of Serbia than just Belgrade. We felt like we had seen all the sites here and after the lack of sleep we decided to grab an early bus out. Reading the Lonely Planet Nis on the way to Kosovo so we decided to head there. 2 Hours later we had arrived. We had a hostel in our heads where we wanted to stay, but didn't have a clue where it was so decided to put our bags on and set off down some random streets. Randomly after 10minutes of walking. Hostel Sponsor appeared right in front of us. It was a quiet hostel, a converted apartment. The double private room was the same price as the dorm so we took advantage. Bags down.... I had found a winner.
As it was only midday we decided to split our tour of the area with today and tomorrow, but forst it was time for food as as soon as we left the hostel I spotted the golden arches...I gave Stevie a pleadimg look and when she gave the go ahead I was as happy as a pig in mud! We headed to the Nis fortress. It wasnt as fancy as the other fortess's that we have explored, but it was large. Inside now housed a nice park with archaeological sites. On the other side of the Fortress was an old Nazi Concentration camp. So we headed there. Unfortunetly it closed at 4:00pm so we decided to head back to the Monument of Liberators and walk around the town.
That evening we did a classic and went to the Cinema as it was in English and the sub-titles in Serbian. We did think it was a result however we saw Planet of the Apes so most of the story was the Apes doing sign language so we needed to read the sub-titles, we really didnt think that one all the way through. Hoping to see the other sites tomorrow.
26th July 2014
We didn't have to walk far to see the sites so we had a bit of a lay-in. Our first stop was to head to the ironically named Red Cross Nazi concentration camp. We took the short cut throught the fortress and ended up in the moat. Luckily after a while there was a bank we could climb up.
The Camp was really interesting. It was a mixed camp for Jews, Educated people and opposition. The camp as made famous when 105 prisoners escaped. However the Nazi's retaliated and shot 800 prisoners. One sad scene was just before the germans lost the war and the camp closed the remaing Nazi's lined up the remaining prisoners and shot them. you can see the bullet wholes etc in the wall.
Our guide was really good. Stevie loved him. We asked him to guide us to the next location. He made us say it several times in Serbian so it sunk in. I forgot it straight away. Stevie remembered and was told she would make a great Serbian.
We managed to find the bus really quickily and headed to Cele Kula (Skull Tower) This was a little disturbing, but all the other tourists loved it. So what happen after the Turks killed loads of Serbians to warn them away they scalped over 900 Serbians and used the skulls as bricks and built this skull tower. Today the Serbs see it as a positive and a sign of there resistance.
The ticket we brought also gave us assess to Medijana, ruins of a house that was used by several Roman emperors. However when we got there it was closed.
We found out that the Bus to Kosovo was only leaving at 6pm tomorrow instead of 9.30am as it was a Sunday. We had no more things to see here so cancelled our room for the night and get the 6pm bus to Gracanica, just outside Pristina as the bus doesn't go direct there.
We headed out for late lunch before heading to the bus station.
The bus was a small van, that picked up more people than it could carry along the way. I was a little worried about my backpack as the driver even loaded passangers into the boot.
The Joureny was pretty much uneventful until we got about 7km from the border. Maybe because of the political issue or the end of Ramadam, but there was a traffic jam for about 7km. Luckily buses and cargo lorries could go straight to the front. However this caused drama for some people who purposely blocked the road with there cars or bodies. More people would gather around and the whole thing would explode into foreign shouting. If only they could listen to English logic. We managed to leave as the police arrived.
An hour later we were at Gracanica, we jumped in a taxi only 5 euros to the center of Pristina and checked in to our hostel by 11pm. It was quite a smooth transition. especially this late at night and arriving with half a plan.
Tired and hungry we grabbed a kebab and headed to bed......
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