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Old Man in a Campervan

Watching sunsets, not boxsets. Join Liz, River, Arty and me as we wander Europe one road at a time. Current Location: Serbia 🇷🇸

05/09/2026

The path into Đavolja Varoš, or Devil’s Town, winds through the woodland, and before you even reach the main attraction you’re confronted by these strange, dark wooden figures.

They appear among the trees, one after another. They’re modern artworks, created during artists’ colonies held here.

And after a walk past the Red River then you reach the reason this place has its name. Oh, the Red River has Red Mud. It’s slippy. I got covered in a full on splat, Liz less so but she looks prouder of her splat 😂

Anyway, scattered across the hillside are 202 enormous earth pillars, some reaching around 15 metres high, each wearing a great lump of rock like a hat.

Millions of years of geological activity followed by rain, wind and erosion have slowly carved away the softer earth, leaving the hard capped pillars standing.

Of course, the locals have a better story…

One legend says they’re a wedding party turned to stone after the Devil tried to make a brother and sister marry.

Science says erosion.

The legend says the Devil.

Another fabulous stop on our travels through Serbia — and one that was worth the walk in. 🇷🇸

05/09/2026

On our travels we expect to see memorials to the fallen. I never expected to see one dedicated to plums.

Yep, plums!

Residents in Blace, a small town in Serbia, are so thankful to plums that in 2012, the town erected a statue in their honour.

They unveiled Spomenik Šljivi, "Monument to Plum" during their annual "Plum Day" festival.
Many residents of the region work with plums, making jam, juice, compote, or Rakija fruit brandy, the most popular alcoholic drink in Serbia. (apparently.. )

Along with the statue, the festival every year gathers plum lovers to the area, with concerts, a fair, and many educational lectures about fruit growing.

There was none of that and honestly, the spomenik was a tad underwhelming but I understand the sentiment behind it.

Better still was, what seems to be, a funeral parlour. Or at least an arranger…
Seemingly your burial is sponsored by the excellent Serbian beer, Jelen!
I don’t think the chap running it was impressed with me snapping that photo though.

04/09/2026

We stopped here for a coffee and somewhere to walk the dog.

What we found was something rather different. At first, we honestly had no idea what we were looking at.

I had to do something serious digging and this is Slobodište, a memorial complex on the outskirts of Kruševac.

It’s a WWII memorial built on the site of a German concentration camp and ex*****on ground. Around 1,650 people were executed in Kruševac, with the largest single massacre taking place on 29 June 1943, when 324 people were shot.

There are these strange stone shapes rising out of the hillside — almost like enormous wings or birds — along with circular stones and inscriptions carved into the landscape.

Something else to dig into…

The twelve stone “birds” were designed by architect Bogdan Bogdanović. They are seen to rise from the earth towards the sky, symbolising the souls of those buried here and the idea of life and freedom emerging from death.

And then there are the words carved into the ground:

“Under this sky, human, straighten up.” or that’s what Google Translate came up with. Anyone got anything different?

There’s something incredibly powerful about a memorial that doesn’t simply tell you what happened. It makes you walk through it, around it and try to work it out for yourself.

And that’s why we found the place so fascinating. We only came for a coffee and a dog walk 😆

We left after sitting in a hot car park for a bit, and discovering one of the strangest and most thought provoking memorials we’ve come across in Serbia. Actually, anywhere…

Have you ever stumbled across somewhere completely by accident that turned out to be far more significant than you realised?

03/09/2026

And then we went inside… 😳

From the bright sunshine outside, we stepped into something completely different.

The walls and ceilings are covered in centuries old frescoes. They’re cracked, faded and badly weathered in places, but somehow that just adds to the atmosphere. You can almost feel the age and history of the place.

Then there are the chandeliers — enormous, ornate and glowing gold against the dark, almost blackened walls.

It’s incredibly atmospheric.

We’d only stopped because we were looking for a coffee stop.

Instead, Liz found us one of those completely unexpected places that you stumble across while travelling and think:

“Bloody hell… look at this.”

Definitely worth opening the door. 🇷🇸

03/09/2026

We were actually looking for somewhere to stop for a coffee…

Liz spotted this on Google Maps and suggested we have a look.

It turned out to be the Monastery of Saint Roman, tucked away in the little village of Praskovče in Serbia.
Saint Roman is reputedly one of Serbia’s oldest monasteries, with the monastery traditionally dating back to around 1010, and it is a protected cultural monument of great importance.

From the outside, it’s wonderfully understated. Whitewashed walls, old terracotta tiles, a beautiful stone dome and a quiet little courtyard filled with flowers.

We had a wander around, took a few photos and enjoyed the peace and quiet.

It was one of those completely unexpected discoveries that you get when you’re travelling without necessarily having a plan.

Although we had absolutely no idea what was waiting for us inside… 😳

…. To follow 😉

02/09/2026

The Vratna Gates

After visiting the Vratna Monastery, we took a little path into the forest to see something rather different…

The Vratna Gates are three enormous natural stone bridges, formed by the Vratna River carving its way through the limestone over thousands of years.

The biggest is around 45m long and 26m high, with the river still running beneath it.

And it’s seriously atmospheric. Dark, cool and incredibly moody under the arches — you can see exactly where the folklore about mysterious portals and demons from other worlds comes from. 👀

Another brilliant little detour on our travels. Serbia has some very cool things to see. Anyone tell me what the sign says though? 😆

01/09/2026

The Vratna monastery is a 14th-century Serbian Orthodox monastery in the village of Vratna, Serbia. It now operates as a female convent following various historical reconstructions.

Founded by Serbian king Stefan Milutin of the Nemanjić dynasty and Saint Nikodim I, it is situated below the Vratna canyon and the nearby Vratna river flows through the village.

This is such a peaceful place and we asked the nuns for permission to park overnight. They run a cafe that serves ice cream and some fabulous coffee! They also sell their own lavender honey and if you’ve never tried proper lavender honey, you’re missing out!

01/09/2026

A few more from the boat trip…

Having watched the little reel, here are some of the pictures from Liz and Steve’s trip down the Danube.

I’ve said it before, but Liz is definitely a better photographer than she gives herself credit for. She’s always convinced she hasn’t got the eye for it, but I reckon she absolutely has. She gets some lovely compositions. What do you think of her photos?

So while I was back in the van nursing a stomach bug 🤮, Liz was out there photographing Decebalus, the Tabula Traiana and the spectacular Iron Gates.

Here are some of my favourites from her boat trip.

And yes… she really is a better photographer than videographer. 😉

01/09/2026

Liz and Steve (of Steve & Bee Adventures - find them on social media ) went off on a little jaunt while I stayed behind feeling rather sorry for myself with a stomach bug 🤮

Probably a wise decision… although, having now seen where they went, I’m beginning to think I may have made a terrible mistake! 🤣

Their trip took them along the Danube and down towards the enormous rock carving of Decebalus, the last king of Dacia, whose face is carved into the cliffs above the river. He eventually lost his head in Romania… although thankfully his stone version is still very much attached! 😆
Oh, and at around 40 metres high, his face is roughly as tall as the Statue of Liberty! Impressive eh?

They also passed the Tabula Traiana, a Roman plaque carved into the rock nearly 2,000 years ago to commemorate the road built by Emperor Trajan during his campaigns against the Dacians.

And then there was the big one… the Iron Gates. 😮

This spectacular stretch of the Danube cuts through the mountains between Romania and Serbia, creating a huge gorge of towering cliffs, narrow passages and some seriously impressive scenery. It’s one of those places that really needs to be seen from the water to appreciate just how enormous it is.

So, while Bee & I were on dry land with dogs, Liz and Steve were off exploring one of the most spectacular bits of the Danube.

Here’s a little reel to give you a taster… courtesy of Liz 😁

📸 More photos to follow!

Disclaimer: This video contains music from Shutterstock, licensed through the Splice video editing app.

30/08/2026

If you could find a park up in the UK that had views like this, how much would it cost? £10? £20? More?

This was free.

It’s just a small car park next to the Danube that was peaceful and you could enjoy a beautiful sunset.
And a view of Romania - they’re an hour ahead just over the river… weird, huh?

Don’t get in the way of the fishermen and leave no trace.

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