It’s been a while… A lot has happened in these 6 months or so: I got rid of basically 90% things I own, went through a pretty painful bureaucratic process, and moved to a different country. I already love it here in Portugal, but I do miss Niš, the city in the south of Serbia where I’ve spent the last 14 months (I moved there like 5 days before starting to work at Ghost!) so I thought it would be nice to list out all the things I love and miss about it.

Kid drawings in front of my apartment building

There’s not a playground anywhere near the building, so most of the kids just play on the concrete while their parents are sipping macchiatos in a nearby cafe, so they have to come up with their own games. They seem to have unlimited supplies of crayons because every day there is a new drawing, and 9 times out of 10 it’s amazing.

Most of the time they’re typical kids’ stuff: various animals, geometric shapes, happy families. Sometimes they’re sort of a journal (“I fell into a hole” or a huge heart that just says “We are friends again” in the middle), sometimes they're post-modern art (logos of various Serbian TV stations?), sometimes they are a toddler’s first try at being subversive (“Cock and ass” scribbled in a rush, or the one that just says "SPERM" in huge letters), sometimes they just say "DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG". They always made my day and motivated me to get outside of the house even if I was super-depressed.

Half-meter mekika

Mekika is a traditional Balkan dish, basically deep-fried dough. The name roughly translates to “softie” and let me tell you it’s fucking soft as a cloud. There’s one place near a big farmer’s market that sells half-meter mekikas. You can put cream cheese or chocolate syrup (or both I guess?) on top and there’s nothing better to eat when you wake up hungover (and then immediately go back to sleep.)

Bubanj spomenik

Bubanj Memorial is a park at the edge of the city dedicated to around 10.000 Serbian, Jew, and Roma people executed by Nazis during WWII. In the center of the park is a brutalist monument: three huge fists of different sizes bursting out of the ground.

I love this place because it successfully turns something tragic into something that brings people together. It’s near the city center, so on a weekend it’s full of people playing with their kids and dogs, and on a weekday it’s perfect if you want to escape the city crowd and just lie in the grass in the shade of huge-ass concrete fists. Yes, a lot of people died here, but what better way to celebrate them and being free than to have a nice day outside with your friends and family.

This fucking guy

His name is Toto, he is one million years old and hates all other animals. He lives in the street, usually chilling next to the woman who sells used books at the farmer’s market. At night they let him sleep in an apartment building nearby.

I used to see him all the time on the way to my gym and literally every time I had to step down from my bike so we could do our sacred ritual: I lightly tap his butt while he makes disgusting demonic pig sounds. I hope he’s okay and I really miss him.

582697 other things

There are other things I’ll miss of course: amazing BBQ restaurants, my crazy alcoholic aunt, 57 other stray dogs and being able to bike everywhere.

I guess there’s a slim chance most of you will ever visit Niš (except Naz, who’s already been here! hi Naz!) but if you do… well I guess this list is pretty much useless, so go to Tripadvisor or message me or something.