Nis is the 3rd largest city in Serbia and much like Belgrade, has a lot of history. We only had a day to spend here, but wanted to take the opportunity to stop and see what we could before continuing on our journey to the next country. We visited in November of 2020 for our 4th Anniversary.
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Transportation
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Bus: To get to Nis, we took a bus from the Belgrade Bus Station. We were not sure what time the buses ran, so we showed up to the bus stop early in the morning to see the bus schedule. We took a 6:30am bus and the tickets were 1450 dinars (about $14) per person. The bus ride was fairly comfortable and took us about 3.5 hours.
To-Do
- Skull Tower: This was by far one of the most intense monuments that we have ever visited and has a dark history to it. In 1809, the Ottomans had control of the majority of the Balkans and it was the middle of the First Serbian Rebellion against them. Unfortunately for the Serbs, they were defeated by the Ottomans. The Ottomans gathered the 952 dead Serbian men from the battlefield and made a tower from them as a warning to any other rebellions in the future.
Once Serbia was able to gain independence, most of the skulls were buried, but about 50 of them remain in the tower today. Later on, a chapel was built over the remnants of the tower to make it into a memorial for the sacrifice made for their freedom. There was a ticket booth to buy tickets from before entering and they cost 130 dinars (about $1) per person.
- Bubanj Memorial Park: Built in 1963, this park commemorates the 10,000 people that were executed by Nazis during World War 2 (between February 1942 and September 1944) in the surrounding forests. Many of the Serbian, Jewish and Romani victims were housed in the nearby Red Cross Concentration Camp, which we did not have the time to see unfortunately. As we were walking around the park, which is quite large, we saw a few different structures. The first and most iconic one is the 3 fists upright, in defiance of war.
The 2nd is a large semicircular marble wall that depicts the executions. The complex also has a 0.3 memorial path, which was nice to walk and reflect on these memorials. We could tell that this park was a big part of the locals lives as there were many people here. Another plus is that the park is free.
Food
- Stara Planina (Стара Планина): For lunch, we wanted some traditional Serbian food and found this restaurant, which is actually right inside of the Bubanj Memorial Park.
For our appetizers, we shared a shopska salad (sopska) and some fries. The salad consisted of tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, onion, and topped with cheese. Both dishes were quite good.
For our entree, we shared a meat platter (mesano meso) that had 5 different kinds of meat. The portion was huge and great for sharing. All of the meats were tender and seasoned well.
For our dessert, we shared some baklava. It was flaky and delicious. Lunch was 2050 dinars (about $19) after tip.
This was well worth the stop, to see more of Serbia’s history. If you have the time to stop while in the Balkans, we definitely recommend making this a priority.
