Nis, Serbia

And the second of the Serbian towns we visited - Nis, the third largest town in Serbia, built on the Nisava river.

First we went to the famous Skull Tower - after the defeat of one of Serbians revolts against the Ottoman rule, the Turks decapitated the dead Serbians and made a tower out of the skulls to give a lesson to the other conquered lands. A truly sad story, which resonates with us Bulgarians, as we too were five centuries under the same Barbaric rule and have similar monuments of the Ottoman cruelty.

And downtown

The central square of Nis

The Nisava river

The park cleverly incorporates the ruins of the old Roman fortress and later historical buildings

The University of Nis

Along the central commercial street

A famous sculpture of a Serbian writer and his most well-known character - a hunter and his dog

Pirot, Serbia

Two weeks ago husband and I travelled on a short excursion to Serbia and visited two of the towns closest to Bulgaria - Pirot and Nish. To me Pirot had very much the vibe of a small Bulgarian town frozen somewhere back in the 70s - the marketplace, the low prices, the relaxed provincial atmosphere, the smiling and super friendly people. Here are just a few photos from our walk downtown. We were left with such warm feelings towards this place that we plan to return again next year by car and to purchase some of these gorgeous home-grown peppers and tomatoes and melons we saw in the marketplace.