PRO #4: Interesting architecture

Honestly, I am really having a hard time finding any more positive things about living here. So these last two pro post are going to be based more on views of other people, rather than mine. Don't get me wrong, I think architecture is a rather positive thing in every country (it gives a sense of identity), it's just not something I would personally point out if asked by someone. It's not like architecture will make your living here any better, if you get what I mean.

But it can make you appreciate and be proud of your surroundings. Sight-seeing can also fulfill your free time and sometimes you just can't wait to show some of the architecture in your city to your friends. Architecture itself is an endless source of knowlegde, important part of history as well as a reminder of times long gone. Thanks to influences from different cultures, architecture in Serbia, just like nature, varies from north to south, from city to city. Every major city is steeped in history and there is plenty of that to see and hear about.

Petrovaradin fortress in Novi Sad

What I find the most interesting and appealing, are these ancient fortifications that crown many of our cities. 'Across Serbia there are some 200 sites preserving the remains of old fortresses and fortified towns dating back to ancient times. However, following many centuries of war and destruction, only those fortresses which retained their military function into the Middle Ages, under Turkish rule, have been preserved. Most of these fortifications were extended and adapted as military technology developed, and in doing so lost their original mediaeval appearance. Some of them were the antecedents of contemporary Serbian towns, which even today boast portions of old walls and towers.' (taken from the official site of National Tourism Organization of Serbia).

Most famous fortifications are those of Belgrade and Nish, but there is also one in Smederevo and Novi Sad. Then there is the mediaeval town of Ras near the city of Novi Pazar and various fortresses alongside the river Danube.

Smederevo fortress

We even have few castles (manor houses) in the northern region Vojvodina, that in style belong to the transitional period between the Baroque and Classicism. They were built on the large estates of landowners or in the larger urban centers and were representing the noble status, wealth and the importance of their owners and residents. The one that stands out the most is definitely Fantas, also knows as the Dundjerski castle, near the town of Bechej.

Fantast (Dundjerski) castle

When talking about Vojvodina's architecture, also notable are monasteries situated on the mountain Frushka Gora. There is 16 of them. Throughout Serbia, you will encounter great number of sacral buildings and monuments, that are of great significance to people here (Serbs are generally highly religious). Temple of Saint Sava in Belgrade is the largest Serbian Orthodox church (as well as the largest Orthodox church in the Balkans) and the largest in size Orthodox church in the world. You can also emark on a journey and visit many of these monasteries and churces, since there are many organized tours all over Serbia.

Temple of Saint Sava in Belgrade

I am mostly talking about Vojvodina, because I live in Belgrade and honestly, I really like the architecture of this region. Some of the traditional houses in Vojvodina, were built under the influence of Slovaks as well as Germans (in time of Austro-Hungarian rule). The main feature in slovakian traditional architecture is the dominance of blue colour.

Bachki Petrovac in Vojvodina

In every other part of Serbia, there is some different style of architecture. In southern parts, the most notable is the turkish influence, but some of it can be seen in Belgrade as well. To me, most of the cities in the north reflect this timeless romantic, bohemian charm, while others give sense of coldness and strictness, like Vranje or Nish. But you can't generalize the architecture here that much and divide it just in these two, because most of the cities are a mixture of different influences. Below are pictures of various serbian cities and architectural styles. Let pictures speak for themselves:

Hotel Moscow in Belgrade, built in the style of russian secession

Subotica, northern Serbia

Sremski Karlovci, northern Serbia

Novi Sad, second major city after Belgrade

Zemun, Belgrade

Gardosh tower (a.k.a. Milennium tower) in Zemun, built by Hungarians

Cross at the entrance to the city of Kragujevac, central Serbia

Kraljevo, central Serbia

Uzice, western Serbia

Nish, southeastern Serbia

Novi Pazar, southwestern Serbia

Vranje, southern Serbia

Valjevo, western Serbia

Prishtina, Kosovo

CON #4: No security

By this I mostly mean no social security as well as security in lets say... better future. Or any kind of future at all. Welfare here is at a very low level. Calling it 'welfare' is even an overstatement.

I remember when my family and I came here from Croatia (during war in the 90s) as refugees and I am aware that the state was pretty much falling apart back then, but the help we were getting was very, very small (it was in the form of food - like one kg of rice, but even that eventually stopped). We had to manage on our own, with the occasional help from our cousins. As the time passed by, the wars ended, we still weren't getting any help fom the state. As we didn't have anywhere else to go, we stayed here and life since then was pretty much a struggle all the time, especially for my parents. We lived in very bad appartments, but I was always thankfull and modest no matter what things were like, since I was just a child. But looking at that today, I can't say the things changed much. We still live as tenants, but that isn't the problem. Seems to me like my parents never actually wanted to live and stay here, but were forced to do so. I totally understand them, because this really isn't a country where you can have a bright future, especially if you're in the situation like ours was. My dad never managed to find any decent job here and he soon got tired of it. So today he mainly spends time in Croatia, working. 

Second thing is that there is no security in terms of your future job. Even when you finnish your college, whatever, nobody guarantees that you will be employed in that area. There are many universities here, but sometimes it seems like the knowlegde you earn is of little or no value at all, because you can't really use it in practise. So again, you're pretty much left on your own and have to struggle to acquire certain experience, because everyone will ask for it as soon as you start searching for a job. They want experience here even for the siliest jobs. I remember trying to find a job over the summer and it was so hard to find it. And it was just a seasonal job, nothing serious. I ended up working in a warehouse (for 8 hours) with blisters all over my hands and I got really poorly paid. No wonder why so many young people end up leaving Serbia. They really have no opportunities here, no matter how much they try. As I said, other things play more important role here, like money and connections. Knowlegde? Not that much. I don't want to sound like I'm complaining all the time, you can find a decent job if you try hard enough, but eventually you'll loose your will. Even if you get a decent job, they amount of money you earn will be most certainly questionable. 

PRO #5: Hospitality?

I've been seeing all this praise of serbian hospitality over the internet mostly by foreigners who have traveled here. They usually have some kind of prejudice before coming to Serbia and then end up surprised when they get to know people. Not only prejudice about Serbia, but of the whole eastern Europe, since media portrays the situation here in a bad way most of the time (like we're still in war over here or something). Well the situation isn't all that great, as you've seen from my previous posts, but Serbs have learned to get the best of it sometimes.

So this hospitality thing mostly has to do with interaction with tourists here and the way they're welcomed. But of course, we can be hospitable to each other, although there are so many different kinds of people not only here, but everywhere, that you can't really generalize these things.

I happen to know one guy from Italy who helped me understand this hospitality praise a bit more (since I live here, so can't really notice it). He loves Serbia so much, that he speaks serbian better than most of the people here, I was shocked. But he kept denying it and saying he still has to learn a lot and insisted on talking in english (although we could have easily continued the conversation in serbian). He also looked more like a Serb, than an Italian, which was funny to me, since it looked like he adopted some of the characteristics of serbian people. In the beginning I though it was some kind of joke and that he was actually serbian, but no.

We met in the bus when I was going to Italy to meet up with my boyfriend and he was coming back home from Serbia. I asked him what the reason was for his trip to Serbia on what he replied 'On no particular reason, I just love to spend my time there'. My reaction was something like 'Are you serious?'. He continued talking how much he loves Serbs because of our laid-back and positive attitude and how friendly and easy to talk to we actually are, in comparison to people from many other countries. He proceeded to show me these pictures of serbian flags hung all over his apartment, I almost started laughing. 'Wow, he really does love Serbia', I thought. He told me he even has more friends here than in Italy. I agreed with most of the things he said, but I also told him that maybe he would not like it here that much if he was a permanent resident haha. So we continued to exchange our views on things and he eventually convinced me and opened my eyes a bit. Serbian people can be sceptical at first and stare at you if you happen to be a foreigner, but when they get to know you and vice versa, they really open up. Anyway, we stayed in contact and are good friends to this day.

Also you can see how hospitable we are when this immigrant crisis was in full swing. Serbs really stood up for these people who were crossing and gave their best to help them out. If only we were like that to each other more often, things maybe wouldn't be so bad here after all.

CON #5: Overall mentality

We might be hospitable to foreigners, but when it comes to a bigger picture of our mentality, things are slightly different and not so positive.

As I said earlier, Serbs are too traditional and narrow-minded sometimes. They refuse to change and most of the stuff that's new to them is bad 'by default'. I say 'them' because I don't fit into this kind of mentality at all. I believe it has to do with the fact that I was born in another country, thus come from a different background. Serbs from Croatia differ so much from Serbs in Serbia (it would take too long for me to describe these differences, so I will not get into it).

Here you will also encounter different mentalities in different parts of the country, but then again there are some characteristics that are the same for all of the people. So yes, serbian mentality can be described in a way.

Since this is a con post, I will talk about negative features of it. What Serbs have in common is this great defensiveness, malice and pride. I will use this opportunity to partially quote one of our greatest geographers Jovan Cvijic: According to John Cvijic in our country, under specific historical and cultural conditions, formed the distinctive ethno-psychological type. This type is formed in the central part of the Balkan Peninsula (in the fertile valleys of the Morava and Vardar rivers), and refers to the the helpless Orthodox population that has for centuries been exposed to the Turkish looting and mistreatment. This constant fear of the enemy and pressure from the tendency to maintain bare life developed subservient and servile mentality of the oppressed people. Main features of this kind of mentality are: fearfulness, fatalism, malice, distrust, pragmatism, trickery, selfishness, sensuality, blind loyalty to master, humility to the powerful and harsh treatment of the powerless, and the moral mimicry.

Have you recognized some of the stuff I talked about in my previous posts? Fearfulness - of change. Fatalism - believing they can't do anything to change current situation, thus giving up and being absolutely passive or 'going with the flow'. Malice (spite) to others, especially if they happen to be your compatriots or neighbours. Trickery - lying and cheating others. And the rest of the features are quite clear. Serbs also love to gossip a lot and judge others. They will rarely mind their own business and will try to stick their nose into everything. Television and things that media is serving today aren't helping either. Serbs unfortunately spend most of their free time in front of TV, thus becoming brainwashed and deprived of anything intellectual. Their blind loyalty (to politicians) has made perfect conditions for harsh treatment (of them by the very same politicians). In Serbia, it seems like few people are in control of everything and that the rest have just fallen asleep.

And I think it's about time to wake up.