Novi Sad is spring’s natural home. If it is true that nomen est omen, i.e. that the name speaks for itself, then spring is right, because in its original name Neoplanta (Neusatz, Novi Sad, Újvidek) it is festively welcomed and happily hosted. Nevertheless, the first heralds of spring are mimosa flowers from the Montenegrin Herceg Novi region. They, as early as February, bring intensive yellow colour in the dominantly blue tones of the urban spaces that are at this time of the year still chained by winter and buffeted by košava winds. It may be that spring with mimosa bouquets, as in some good advertisement, announces sunnier days. And when the omen embodies in reality, city parks and street markets are the first places to get vibrant.
The centre of the city, along the pedestrian zone, becomes an endless spring garden in the middle of which café and restaurant tables are clustered together and from which romantic alleyways depart. From early morning to late in the night, it is where the spring life of Novi Sad is buzzing. Through the very heart of the city, the jolly parades of the festivals such as Zmaj’s Games for Children, the Cabanero Salsa Festival, the Tamburica Fest. Novi Sad lives in the rhythm of NOMUS, Serbian Fashion Week, Agricultural Fair and Sterija’s Theatre Festival. The locals then migrate to the banks of Danube, the main street of Novi Sad, wiping away the boundary between Srem and Bačka coast. The mighty Petrovaradin fortress and its Suburbium on the Srem side bring to light the baroque shine of representative buildings and gates, testifying about the spatio-temporal history of Europe.
The local gastronomic experience is not to be missed. The Danube fish restaurants prepare their premises, piers, stacks in the pantry, and wine in barrels for new temptations: mostly the Danubian and gastronomic ones which will later be recounted around a wood burning stove in cold winter afternoons and evenings. In spring, the wine which is already mature, and the ever better craft beer, are consumed in a hedonic fashion.
This year, Novi Sad is the European Youth Capital, so there is an opportunity to get together with those who feel young and who come to our city to exchange ideas, hopes and, perhaps, love. Welcome!
