Novi Sad Loves Its Outdoor Cafes

View from our fortress hotel

After we checked into the fortress hotel and unloaded our luggage in our room overlooking the River Danube,  we went to have a beverage with Zoran and Lillian on the terrace restaurant which commanded the view of the entire city below.

 It was a beautiful night view with the bridge all lit up in blue above the river.  We have had interesting conversations with Lillian and Zoran and this particular evening was more interesting because they were sharing with us the history of their native city, Novi Sad, Serbia.

A Side Street in Novi Sad

Novi Sad is the second largest city in Serbia, after its capital Belgrade. The population of Novi Sad is around 385,000 - 400,000, a good size city with many amenities. Our friends took us downtown which was only a 5 minute drive from Hotel Leopold.










 Lillian could hardly wait to show us all the places where she spent her childhood. She was a hardworking student and she took us to the library where she used to visit frequently and study. Stan and I were surprised to see 5 signs hanging outside the library entrance with 5 different languages.  ( In Canada, we are supposed to be a bilingual country but if you visit a library in Toronto, you would not find any bilingual signs there.)

Stan loves his beer and watches the Olympic Game Outside

We walked through the downtown streets, side streets and squares. Everywhere we went, there were outdoor cafes and restaurants with modern and comfortable patio furniture inviting passersby to sit down and enjoy a cup of coffee or something.

I have never seen so many outdoor cafes and patios. The squares and cafes were full of people and it was a week night at 11:30p.m! ( No wonder, Toronto is called Toronto the Good 'cause nothing happens after 6 p.m. on a work night! )

It was obvious that the citizens of Novi Sad loved being outdoors and loved meeting their friends in the city squares.

The Squares are filled with outdoors cafes in Novi Sad

There were many ice cream shops where we could order a small scoop of ice cream at 50 dinars ( 50 cents, Canadian. 1 Canadian dollar is about 100 dinars), and therefore allowing patrons to try the various flavours with numerous scoops.  Very good for the taste buds but not for my waistline!

Coffee Break at one of the Roof Top Cafes

It is great that we could visit a foreign country and  spend time with our friends and had them showed us around the interesting places and explained the history. As we sat and had our coffee, we talked about everything.

 I have known Lillian in the mid 1990’s and I remembered her going back to her home town to visit her family. For the past two days, we have learned a lot about Zoran's and her family and the city where they grew up and got married.

Lillian was sharing with us how she felt when she came back a year after NATO bombed her home city and that she was overwhelmed with sadness when she saw the three bombed bridges partially submerged in the Danube.

I could  hear and feel the pain in her voice.  One could not imagine the fear, the anxiety and the frustration one feels when you witness some horrible things happening to your own country folks while you could absolutely do nothing to help them.

Enjoying a Serbian dinner with our friends

Most of us in North America have never experienced what Zoran and Lillian had gone through - seeing your birthplace being bombed on CNN and worrying about your parents and relatives living in a war zone.

Serbians are strong and determined people and they are living a more peaceful life now. As they are trying to become a member of the EU, things will improve in the future.  It is showing signs of progress everywhere!

R.T. Novi Sad, Serbia
Aug. 9 -10, 2012