Brush with authorities when leaving Niš, and on to Kruševac

We packed the car in Niš but before getting into the fray of traffic we paused to map out our directions on the phone, but Google maps was not responding. We were puzzled and hoped once we got into a different neighborhood the map would show up again. I was a little concerned that our phone plan might have expired but I thought we signed up for three weeks and it had only been two. We took what we thought might have been a wrong turn so we pulled over into an empty parking lot to try to assess our situation. It was clear we had no more cell service. Within less than 2 minutes of pulling into the lot 2 security or military cars raced in with their lights flashing and 2  men with guns and camo clothing came to our car. Neither of them spoke English. I pointed to my phone and map and a forward direction and said, ‘Krucevac?’. A third car and guy arrived. They were all talking on their comm devices. Meanwhile a guy appeared out of a nearby shed with a German shepherd dog on a short leash. Finally the newest arrival came to our window and I said again we were trying to find the way to Krusevac. In broken English he told us where to turn. They waited for us to leave before they drove off. 

I have NO idea why that unmarked parking lot was apparently a sensitive area. On the map it does look to be some sort of facility with a couple dozen buildings. Perhaps it is a military place? But there were no warning signs nor protective barbed wire fences around. In any case, we are curious what the place was, and grateful they did not use unwarranted power to intimidate us. I’m sure our Croatian license plates were part of why they were initially suspicious of us.

We found the correct route but we were  still without a working phone map. Luckily I had taken screen shots in advance of the location of our apartment. As we drove along I had the brilliant idea that maybe the convenience stores that most rest areas on the toll highway have might be able to add minutes to our phone cards. Sure enough when we stopped and I asked the young clerk if she could add minutes to our cards she said yes. Our interaction was all in Serbian, always satisfying for us when we can accomplish this. Before driving off I activated my card and Google Maps showed up. We made it to our place with no further problems.

Our house is on the hill that overlooks the city of about 60,000. The house is probably newer than it seems, maybe 50-60 years, but that’s just a guess. I knew when I booked it that this place wasn’t the best (one person said the host was outstanding, another said the place was great, but numerous people rated it poorly for cleanliness) but it looked good enough for two nights. 

Our host (another Dragan, but 180 degrees opposite in personalityof our last host named Dragan!),was waiting for us in the shade of his broad porch. He spoke no English and did not smile or show affect of any kind. He is probably in his early 50’s and he walks with a cane. He seems like he might be suffering from some sort of condition that hinders his speech, and maybe his thinking. Or he might have been drunk. 

The stairs up to our apartment were dirty and various random tools and clothes and supplies were piled on the landing. Our apartment was large and included three bedrooms, 2 baths, and a moderate size living/dining/kitchen, but the room was stuffed with furniture-10 chairs (I counted), 2 bulky old couches, a large dark multi- piece display case, a coffee table and an eating table. The carpet felt under my bare feet like outdoor carpet. It wasn’t a dusty house but all knobs and handles felt kind of sticky or greasy and the walls were all dirty. The display case had numerous bottles of alcohol in it and there were a dozen empty beer bottles under the sink. There was a glass bowl with scores of beer bottle caps. At least there were lots of windows and a long balcony although the outside chairs were very dirty. Out of the 10 beds to choose from in the three bedrooms we found one that looked to have clean sheets. The sheets didn’t smell dirty but there were odd flecks and bits of …of I’m not sure what- sawdust? Bugs? Twig bits? In any case, when bed time came I chose to sleep on top of the spread.

We took a nice long walk up a steep hill and into a wood and found a very small new church built in the old style. Then we walked along the top of the ridge where there were some new large homes as well as moderately sized and smaller older homes. We saw lots of Audis and BMW’s up there. Eventually we came to a huge treeless lot where a very large church is under constructions, not as big as St Sava’s in Belgrade but impressive. There is a small new chapel with attractive frescoes but one in particular was puzzling. A modern looking man, who looks to us like a mafia guy, is painted into the scene. We wondered who he is.

There is a park next to the church where a dozen or more miniature models of monasteries are displayed. It was fun wandering around, reading the signs in Cyrillic, and taking pictures. From there we walked back down the hill and stopped at a market. Back home we rehydrated (it was 94 that day!) then headed back out to a restaurant about a 15 minute walk away. The menu was entirely in Cyrillic which Jim can’t read, so I typed the unknown words into my phone to see what our options were. We made good choices- ‘white meat’ (pork) and ćevapi (yummy grilled spiced sausage-like things), a huge ‘vitaminska’ salad, and of course homemade bread. Total cost was about $15, cheaper than in the larger towns where we had been paying $20 or so. We kept hearing exotic bird songs at the outdoor restaurant. My Merlin bird i.d. app did not recognize the sounds. Finally I noticed there were 4 small bird cages hanging from the rafters, each with one bird inside. I could not see them clearly but they sounded like birds I imagine would be found in a jungle somewhere.

Back home we both had headaches, probably in part from dehydration. I suggested that since our apartment only cost about $27/night that maybe we could leave a day early and find a different place in a town closer to our next destination. Jim agreed that might be preferable to staying there another night. So I found a place in Vrnjačka Banja .

I slept poorly again, third short night in a row. In the morning I sent a note to our host saying our plans had changed and we would be leaving early. He simply wrote back, ‘ok’. 

It has been very rare for us to stay in a place that was dirty or overall unpleasant. This place could be nice if someone would give it a good cleaning. We both wonder what the host’s story is and why he doesn’t take better care of it. We were glad to leave. But if we return to Serbia we would like to stay again in Kruševac as we liked the feel and look of the town and there is much more to see. 

Next- to Bajina Bašta, one of our favorite towns in western Serbia….

photos- view from our dirty apartment, little church in the woods, big church under construction, mini monasteries, inside small church by the mini monasteries including the modern looking guy in one of the frescoes, bird cage hanging from restaurant eaves, typical market.