Greetings from the southeastern corner of Serbia! Nis is Serbia’s third largest city and is the birthplace of three Roman emperors, the most famous of which is Constantine the Great. In fact, the ruins of his 4th century palace are just at the east end of town. The site is completely closed to tourists, but there it is. For me, Nis is my final stop in Serbia and a good base for more exploration. It’s also considerably less hectic than Novi Pazar, but still has a nice downtown area with plenty of restaurants and pedestrian streets. At the north end of town and just across the street from my hotel is Nis Fortress for what it’s worth. It’s mostly a city park now, but they do have some Roman headstones and monuments in a lapidarium right in the middle of it.

Even though all the sites in Nis can be seen in a day, it turns out this is a really historically significant city. For example, the Turks ruled this area for around 500 years despite many Serbian revolts. In 1809, during a revolt that ultimately failed, the Duke of Resava, recognizing his imminent defeat, fired all his gun powder stores killing himself, 4000 Serbs and 10,000 Turks. The ultimate kamikaze move! The Turks beheaded the dead Serbs and built this truly gruesome tower with their skulls. Most of the skulls have “disappeared” over the years, and now there’s a church like building around it, but it’s still here memorializing the rebels.

The other big historical site in Nis is the Red Cross Concentration Camp (not that Red Cross). The Nazis used this camp in southern Serbia mostly as a transitional camp during WWII. Most prisoners here were eventually transported to other camps throughout Europe, but many were also taken to Bubanj Hill at the south end of town to be murdered. It’s estimated that around 10,000 people met their end on Bubanj. The camp doesn’t look like much, but the inside is now an extremely thorough museum. And on top of Bubanj Hill there is now a huge monument in honor of the Serbs, Jews, and Roma who died here, three gigantic concrete fists rising from the ground. They’re both pretty sombre places to visit.

Nis is a fairly comfortable city, but hiking is the primary reason for basing myself here. In addition to the beautiful scenery, hiking as been a nice way to get away from the triple digit temperatures in the cities. No kidding, spending a day wandering around Nis when it’s over 100° is downright brutal and exhausting! I ventured east to an area called Stara Planina for my outdoor adventures here. First, to a ski lodge at the base of Babin Zub, which apparently means “Grandmas tooth” Ha!

The highest mountain in Serbia used to be Gjeravica, but when Kosovo declared independence in 2008, they took the mountain with them. So NOW the highest mountain in Serbia is Midzor, and I of course just had to go to the top.

As far as “highest” peaks go, this hike really wasn’t that difficult. It was about nine or ten miles round trip, and except for the first mile and a half or so, the climb was really gradual and pleasant.

This whole ridge, including Midzor, is the natural and official border with Bulgaria. So not only does the stone marker at the top mark the summit, it’s also a border stone between the two countries. Looking along the ridge you can see other border stones stretching off into the distance. When I reached the summit, I intentionally sat myself on the Bulgarian side, so now I can tell people the tale of that one time I hiked to Bulgaria for lunch.

My final day took me to a bit more remote part of Stara Planina for a couple of short hikes. I think they’re in the process of repaving the road because it was torn to pieces and a really rough drive for my little Fiat, but I made it. The first short hike was to Slavinja Grlo, a really cool little gorge. I arrived and not five minutes after I snapped a few pictures about twenty people showed up and swarmed the place. I made it just in time! On the hike back down I also passed about another twenty people heading up. I don’t know where they all came from because this place is really small and really remote, but I was grateful for my lucky timing.

A few miles down the road I found the trailhead for the Kozji Kamen viewpoint. This trail was blissfully not crowded.

The viewpoint overlooks Lake Zavoj. To me the water level looks low and the view didn’t have the same wow factor as the other viewpoints I’ve visited so far on this trip, but I still wasn’t disappointed. I especially enjoyed having the place to myself for so long.

Tomorrow I have to take my little rental car back and try not to get ripped off by the rental company. They always try to gouge you for something. Having a car has actually been pretty nice. I wouldn’t have been able to see nearly half the things I’ve seen without it. Also tomorrow, I say goodbye to Serbia and cross over into the next country on my list. Given the climate of the world right now, this is actually this first time I’ve ever been nervous about crossing a border. It will probably be fine, but wish me luck anyway.