Passing through Serbia

Saturday 01.08.87 Departure from Ljubljana at 8. We find fog in the first part of the journey, which slows us down. We pass Zagreb and Belgrade, where we fill up. Towards evening we have already reached Nis, to sleep and wait for morning to continue, filling up with diesel. On the road we meet plenty of Polish caravans and the Yugoslav police keep asking the Poles for their documents. It is 9.30 pm. After Nis, most of the traffic heads towards Sofia. The traffic consists above all of Turks going home from Germany loaded with anything and everything; the cars are crammed and the motorway verges are turned into bivouacs where they eat, pray and sleep on the ground on carpets or simple plastic sacks. For the motorway we spend about 8,000 dyn, almost all the din we had. Inflation is really high. We arrive in Nis.

The city is famous mainly as a communications hub at the crossroads of the roads to Greece and Bulgaria; it is a large industrial centre and home to a university. Although better known for its economic role, it actually has an ancient history. It was founded, in fact, under the name of Naissus in 180 AD and is studied at school because beneath its walls the emperor Claudius II defeated the Goths in a very bloody battle. The emperor Constantine was also born in this city. It was later destroyed by the Huns in 441 and rebuilt by Justinian, who in 550 managed to repel the Slavic attack. Definitely taken by the Turks in 1454, who stayed until 1877. The city is therefore steeped in history and bears traces of all the peoples who conquered it by force. Worth noting are: - Tvrdjava: the fortress built by the Turks, a staging post on the road to Istanbul.

- Arheoloski Muzej: contains material from the Iron Age up to the Byzantines. - The Roman city of Mediana (with Constantine's villa).

Sunday 02.08.87 Departure from Nis at 7. While we sleep, my father starts driving along the motorway to the first stop to refuel with diesel. We pass Skopje and, on reaching the Greek border, we find long queues. We only manage to get through customs at 11.30. We have lunch and change dollars into drachmas. At the entrance to Thessaloniki we refuel and at 4 pm we arrive at Nea Potidea, where we stop to sleep with the camper, between a walk and the beach. The beach and the sea are wonderful. The navigable canal turns Kassandra into an island.