Novi Sad: Liberty Square and Town Centre

Crkva imena Marijinog, Novi Sad

Following our charming walk through the streets of Novi Sad, we entered Trg Slobode (Liberty Square) from the west.  The first thing you notice on entering Trg Slobode from any direction is the beautiful Roman Catholic Parish Church of St Mary’s Name (Crkva imena Marijinog). It was built in the neo-gothic style between 1893 and 1895 on the site of what was previously the cathedral.

Svetozar Miletić, Trg Slobode, Novi Sad

In the centre of Trg Slobode is a statue of the famous Serbian leader and mayor of Novi Sad Svetozar Miletić.  You can see that Exit Festival had arrived in town as Mr Miletić is in fact holding a beer bottle in that photo!

Erste Bank, Trg Slobode, Novi Sad

Trg Slobode is full of fine examples of neoclassical and Baroque renaissance architecture (and I’m slowly learning to recognise these styles).  Maja wanted me to take a photo of this building because of the majestic little armoured knight you can see at the top there.  I don’t know the name of this building (Serbian friends – help!) but I have seen it described as the Erste Bank or Iron Man Building.

Novi Sad City Hall

The first time I saw the Novi Sad City Hall, it literally took my breath away.  It was built in 1895 by architect György Molnár and is in the neo-Baroque style.  Did you know that Novi Sad is twinned with Norwich in England?

Crkva imena Marijinog with flags of Serbia, Vojvodina and Novi Sad

I love this shot! It shows the Name of Mary Church with the flags of Serbia, Vojvodina and Novi Sad.  Novi Sad is the capital of Vojvodina province and Serbia’s second largest city.

Street signs in Cyrillic and English, Novi Sad

One of the numerous things that I fell in love with in Serbia was Cyrillic so I delighted in taking photos of the streets signs in English and Cyrillic.   In the past two weeks, I have taught myself Cyrillic and am ever so proud of myself!

Map of Novi Sad in Trg Slobode, Novi Sad

Speaking of Cyrillic, you can see at the top of this map of Novi Sad that the city’s name is Нови Сад in Cyrillic.

Statue of Jovan Jovanović Zmaj and Saborna Crkva, Novi Sad

Jovan Jovanović Zmaj was a very important Serbian poet.  That is the Serbian Orthodox Cathedral of Saint George in the background there, known locally as Saborna Crkva.

Corner of Ulica Gimnazijska and Ulica Dunavska, Novi Sad

What I love most about the photo above is not only is it typical of one of the side streets in the city centre but the ever-present graffiti is typical too!  Ulica Gimnazijska translates as Gymnasium Street and Ulica Dunavska means Danube Street.

 
Ulica Dunavska, Novi Sad

I wonder if you can lives in any of these little buildings?  That sounds like an absolute dream to me – living in Novi Sad city centre just off Trg Slobode.

It was beautiful to walk through such a lovely park and cool down after walking through the streets and city centre of Novi Sad.  It is such an incredibly beautiful city and I would love to return one day.  In fact, I am hoping that “one day” will be next summer.

Wordless Wednesday ~ 39: Lamp Post

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For the senses

It is not only teak and electronics that have been replaced, mounted and installed on this boat lately, finally we have also had the time to take care of the interior and at last it starts to feel like the boat is a real home and not only a boat. New cushions have arrived for both cabins and the saloon, new delicate pillows and sleeping sheets for different temperatures, wonderful designer cookware which brings harmony into our petite galley, some discreet pieces of art on the walls, scented candles to add an aromatic fragrance in the night time hours and a few, robust plants. (Any tips on how to keep the plants long lasting on a boat and through stormy weathers are most welcome!)

I might have gotten rid of a lot of stuff/clothes/shoes for this tour we have ahead of us, but one thing I can't see myself living without neither on land or on water, is a peaceful home where lights, scents, tones and design are in perfect harmony with one another and I must say that we're so slowly getting there, in the boat as well. /Taru

34 days to go.

It is very stressful around here on s/v Caos this week. We have the last parts of our teak to refit and also the toerails. Added to that we are now in the process of organizing for the last missing parts to be ordered before we leave to Sweden in the end of this week, so that everything is here when we come back - to avoid delays for our departure on the 31st of October. Finally the windvane is ordered and a big Thank You goes out to Stellan Knöös at Sailomat for giving us such a generous discount, can't wait to have it installed and tried out! Other things ordered this week are the bathing platform, the water maker from Katadyn, new portholes, new parts to the windshield, new cushions to the v-berth and a lot of other missing parts.

So what happened with the boat exchange? The truth was that, as we decided for going around the world just for a few months ago, we never really had the perfect time to try out how this boat would fit us both and during the summer we realized what we realized - that we would like to have it bigger. It might have sounded like a crazy idea to realize that two months before heading out, but there was no time earlier and we had to give it a try. Others might plan for their circumnavigation for years and years and they might have been perfectly in the know of what boat they'll use, we are the more impulsive ones: Go around the world? Hell yes! What boat? We'll figure it out later! As happy Hallberg Rassy owners we are though, we were always and are still convinced, that HR is the brand we want. We believe that for a journey like this, we'll need a boat which is strong, safe, well made and reliable - and that is exactly what the Hallberg Rassy's are.

We've been visiting a lot of beautiful boats these last weeks and found a couple of very interesting ones for sale in our neighborhoods. One Hallberg Rassy 38 and one 39, and we decided to go for any of them IF we got our boat sold in time. This is where we still are, many people have showed their interest but none of them could be able to fulfill the deal this year (which we can understand), so we'll have to wait. Now we know more or less what we want, but the timings must also be right. We are not in a hurry to make the exchange, and will not lower the price on our boat just to get it sold. The day we get it all perfectly matched, will be the day we'll exchange to the next boat. Until then, Caos is the one taking us around the world, and we are perfectly happy with that. Especially now when she is getting close to perfection!

Next on the agenda: Figure out which brand to invest in for a full set of new sails.

/Taru

A weekend of shopping

Tip of the week came from the wonderful Dreamkeeper crew aka Gar and Nicole, who're in town for some weeks for a stop in Barcelona before they head further West on their last leg of their 4 year long circumnavigation. Besides of tons of other invaluable sailing-around-the-world-tips, they explained for us the convenience of having a printer/scanner/photo printer onboard for all administrative paper work in harbors etc so yesterday we went out for some printer shopping. Shopping has by the way been our main task this weekend. IKEA shopping, tea shopping, electronic shopping, computer shopping and some provision shopping has filled our days and if we thought the boat was over weight before, it is nothing to what it is today. Alex is begging me to throw out more of my shoes to get some additional space, as we still haven't organized our new boat buy, and I guess I soon have to give in for the pressure. Who needs 30 pairs of shoes on the oceans anyway? /Taru

Walking Around Loch Monzievaird

Shortly before I went away to Serbia, a colleague told me that she hoped it would be everything I was looking for.  When I came home overwhelmed and exhausted, it made me think about exactly what I wanted from my upcoming holiday to Scotland.  I had an idea of greenery and wide open spaces, lazy afternoons reading books while I looked out on to the loch* and visiting places steeped in history.  My boss had a good old laugh at that as the week we were up in Scotland was meant to be rainy, cold and grey and to top it all off, it was midge season.

I am more than pleased to say that I got my wish and we had a full week of the most incredible late summer weather topped up with a life affirming dose of greenery, blue skies and incredible nature.

Now I know that other people’s nature photographs can seem a bit boring sometimes but I hope you’ll enjoy taking this photo walk with me.  This is a walk I took around Loch Monzievaird on the first afternoon after we arrived.  It took 75 minutes and the closest word I can find to describe the experience would be exhilarating. 

Click on any of the images to enlarge them

Before I embarked on my walk, I took a look back up to the cabin.  Doesn’t it just look like the archetypal holiday cabin in the woods?

I tried macro photography for the first time this holiday.  I did not realise how very hard it is and the two photos above are the only ones out of quite a few that came out reasonably well.  It makes me appreciate all of your macro shots so much more now!

I think it is pretty safe to say that I will never, ever in a hundred years tire of this view (and that I will be back to visit Loch Monzievaird).

I walked up a little hill and saw this ancient structure standing on it.  It looked like it was only about 15 feet by 10 feet in diameter.  We think it might have been where they lead their sheep at night.  The sheep would have stayed in the bottom and the men would have slept a level above them, benefitting from the warmth that the sheep would have emitted. It looks like wooden beams would have run into the wall in the third photo above and that was shot at an upwards angle.  Although crumbling at the top, it does look like there were some defensive structures built in and that would have been protection from marauders.  Due to the precarious state of the building, entry was prohibited but I’m sure you’ll be pleased to know that I had a run in with some stinging nettle in order to get you these photos.

I was quite enchanted to see how these stairs above seemed to disappear into nothing but lush, green forest.  It was really beautiful and green and abundant in the forest and soon I arrived again at the water's edge. 

I soon came to a fork in the path and decided to go right, along the path that was less travelled.  It was a good decision as the path went back into the woods.  I soon came upon a tumbled-down house and a fence. 

This massive tree had obviously fallen down on the house one stormy night as it looked like it had been quite intact before the incident with the tree.

By now, I was on the other side of the loch and all of a sudden, I was in a meadow.

 

Laugh, if you will, but I totally had an Edward and Bella** moment and laid back in the meadow watching the clouds go by for a good quarter of an hour.

Back on the path, I just loved how the edges of the path was dotted with little yellow flowers (you might need to enlarge the photo to see them).

I clowned around on those tree skeletons for a while, as I phoned Stephen and asked him if he could see me.  He made me clown around and jump up and down for quite a while before owning up that yes, he could see me very clearly.

All too soon, I was on the other side of the loch.  Just right of centre in the photo are the tree skeletons.

Then al that was left to do was to hop over the stream next to my cabin and then I was back ‘home’ again.  What a fabulous walk!  If you have ever been thinking of visiting Scotland than don’t delay!  It is gorgeous and you certainly can’t go wrong with Loch Monzievaird.

* Loch is the Irish and Scottish Gaelic term for a lake or a sea inlet.
** Twilight reference for men and non-Twilight readers.