Next stop was dinner with a new friend here… delicious food, wonderful service, and stunning views…

…and bonus – no steps!!!  (although I wanted to explore more of the fortress and that, of course, came with steps and no handrails – but for something this old, that is to be expected).

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Hotel Leopold I is an elegant hotel at the fortress in Novi Sad that was built primarily during the 1700s.

I waited in the lobby for a friend before we had dinner and then went to the theatre.  This is one of the few remaining truly stunning historic hotels in Novi Sad.

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In the centre of Novi Sad is an old decommisioned tram-car that has been turned into a cafe – although unfortunately yet again soooo many people smoking inside, and high steps with no handrails, meant that I had to sit outside… but it was a lovely day so all was well…

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I was early for a meeting with my lawyer re my residency and business permits here, so decided to have lunch at Macchiato Kuca – a beautiful place that has both restaurant and 4-star accommodation.

Well, that was the plan…

Unfortunately, like the rest of Serbia, most places have large steps – and many do not have hand rails – so due to my mobility challenges, I was unable to enter the restaurant – but it looks pretty online – and here are a few photos at least taken from the smoking area (soooooooooo many Serbians smoke like chimneys) – oh, and although they, like other restaurants, have a ‘smoking area’, people still smoke in the restaurants and cafes everywhere here.

Oh, and speaking of stairs etc – the place where I had to go to collect my residence permit…  I needed to walk up five storeys – elevators are a rarity here, although since my apartment is on the 17th floor, thankfully my apartment building has two of them.

Btw, it looks old, but was only built in 1995.

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Novi Sad in Serbia has a motto:  “Don’t try to understand.  Feel.”  That is a very appropriate motto because there is simply no understanding this completely illogical and often frustrating yet lovely place… (Serbia, that is – not just Novi Sad).

…but… for better or worse, this is now (for the time being) – ‘home’.

After living out of (many, many, many) suitcases for the past seven years, I decided to at least have a ‘home base’, and for a lot of reasons, that is currently Serbia!

In another post I may share more information on why, but one of the reason was that Serbia has one of the lowest income taxes in the world.  Anyway, that’s all for another time.

I have not posted anything for literally months and months, so in these posts, I am basically just going to bring you up to date on where I’ve been (not many places) and what I’ve done (not much) since moving here – let’s just say that this has been the most ‘interesting’ (read into that what you will) relocation I’ve ever done…

So the following few posts to bring you up to date will be mostly photos with just a little information for context.

Anyway, here goes…

Farewell UK, hello Serbia!

Who says airline food is dreadful..?

It was amazing to see this article in the in-flight magazine.  Here I was, moving to a new I’ve never before even visited – and to a city I didn’t even know existed before I started this relocation journey – and here it was featured in the magazine.

While it sounds idyllic, one of the 200+ year old trees was felled just before I arrived to make way for some new high-rise building.

While there were some local individuals who objected, in general, from what I have experienced, Serbians on the whole do not care about history – nor nature.  The amount of rubbish scattered all over the place when I have been exploring away from the city is disgusting.  The scenery is beautiful – the trash everywhere, not so much.  Anyway…

I stayed the first couple of nights in a hotel until I could collect the keys for my apartment…

I finally picked up the keys to my beautiful apartment – below are views from each of the three different perspectives from the balconies of my apartment…

This is the Danube River at my doorstep…

My first home-cooked meal in aaaaages…  (tomato, chicken, baby spinach, garlic, onion – yum)

There are a lot of Danube River cruises that pass by – and the Novi Sad dock is also visible below and to the right of my apartment…

This was the moon – it was soooooooo bright!

Welcome to parking in Serbia…

There’s always something interesting happening on the river – in this case, me thinks he was lost?  (and stranded there for about a week!)

So, welcome to Serbia..!