My March 2022: The return to Serbia

With March came beautiful endless days of sun on Lolland and the first big travel adventure of the year when I set off to Serbia along with my boyfriend.

Under sun and fog on Lolland

February was rainy, windy and cold on Lolland, but with March came the change in weather that we’d all been longing for. Sure, there were a few days of fog thrown into the mix, but the sun was present most days for the first three weeks of the month.

It was a pure joy working outside. I joined my colleagues Søren and Sandra for two small excavations following our big preliminary excavation on the fields just outside “my” farm. We made some fascinating discoveries, including unexpected pits from the Medieval times, and another pit full of grindstones and polishing stones.

At home on the farm, my host family’s daughter and her boyfriend came to visit from Israel, and we finally held the (very delayed) Christmas that corona got in the way of twice. The whole family was invited, along with Chico’s three siblings, Golda, Theo and Zuko, the latter of whom was brought from Israel. It was such a joy watching Chico having fun with the other pups, although Modig didn’t seem to enjoy having all of her wild children there at once! Christmas was a lot of fun, Pernille made me a delicious traditional Christmas meal but veganized and for a moment we actually forgot that it was now March with no prospect of snow outside – except the occasional frost in the cold mornings.

The first hike of the year

On one very sunny Sunday, it was finally time for the first hike of 2022. My weekends are usually booked up with travels to Berlin or other places in Denmark, but finally I was spending one at home on Lolland without any plans except to get out in nature and explore!

I plotted out a route starting from the town of Sakskøbing to the village of Toreby, approximately eighteen kilometres through pretty forests and along winding country roads.

The hike took me past the beautiful yellow Krenkerup Castle from 1480 and into the forest Flintinge Byskov which hides many Neolithic burial structures including a well-preserved passage grave. This hike was just what I needed. It felt wonderful being out in the Lollandish countryside again, discovering more of this island I currently call home.

Around Lolland with A

On March 10th, my boyfriend A arrived from Berlin, intending to spend an extended weekend with me on Lolland. But it turned into much more as he spontaneously decided to stay the whole week and then join me to Serbia on the 18th.

He joined me to work on the Friday to have a look at the excavation, and his presence must’ve brought good luck as we found the pit with the grindstones and polishing stones mentioned above while he was there! We spent the Saturday looking after Chico and Modig; we took them to Nakskov, the largest town on Lolland, for a beautiful day of thrift shopping and walking in the sun. On the Sunday, we took off to Krenkerup Castle and their cozy brewery where A had one of the best beers of his life and I enjoyed a delicious local apple juice. We then drove to Fuglsang Manor and took a walk in its very special garden.

During the week, we were both working and preparing for Serbia, but we did make time for a short trip to Maribo for a PCR test and a walk through its quaint streets.

Weekend in Belgrade

On March 18th, the time had finally come to travel abroad for the first time this year (Berlin excluded, but it hardly counts since A lives there). We travelled north to the Swedish city of Malmö which is just across the Øresund Strait from Denmark and has direct flights to many destinations in eastern Europe. Very convenient!

A few hours in the air later, we arrived in Belgrade, the capital city of Serbia, where we spent the first two days. Since we arrived late at the airport, the busses weren’t running but we got lucky and found a lovely Chinese guy on a business trip to share a taxi with. He insisted on paying it all, since his company would reimburse him. So incredibly kind! We bought him some street food, shared a wonderful moment with him and then parted ways to find our hostel.

The next two days in Belgrade were spent exploring the city centre and the beautiful neighbourhood of Zemun. We splurged on some really nice vegan meals, gawked at the stunning golden interior of the Church of Saint Sava, watched the sunset over the city from Belgrade Fortress (our favourite spot!), had drinks with A’s friend Maxim and his wife Marina, bought just about everything in a really cool thrift shop, climbed the Gardoš Tower for a view over Zemun, and so much more. We both agreed that Belgrade isn’t our favourite city in the world, but it’s certainly not our least favourite either. Especially the fortress and Zemun were places I really enjoyed!

The return to Novi Bečej

On the Sunday, we met up with Maxim again who gave us a lift all the way to Novi Bečej, two hours north of Belgrade, where I was staying the next two weeks while working on an archaeological project. Some of you might remember that I went to Novi Bečej last year as well to work on the project Borđoš 2021, doing geophysical surveys and surface collections of Neolithic sites all over the province of Vojvodina. I was invited back for the 2022 project which focussed on finishing the geophysical surveys of some of last year’s sites, surveying new ones and also carrying out a small excavation of a skeleton (which turned into five skeletons, four of them children!). I was so happy to be back in Novi Bečej – especially the prospect of eating the same plata vegetariana every evening and the same mini panis every day excited me for some reason!

Our team consisted of some of the folks from last year’s project, and a few new ones – and of course, our excavation dog, Lenka! We were a bit more mixed this year, with me as a Dane, a Norwegian and a Dutchie joining the team of Germans (mainly from Kiel University) and local archaeologists from the Museum of Vojvodina. A stayed with us for the first three days, working online during the days when we were out doing fieldwork, and spending the evening with us all.

Our team was split into two during both weeks – one at the excavation and one doing geophysical surveys and surface collections on various sites. During the first week, I spent 1,5 day working at the excavation, and the rest of the time, I was out and about discovering new sites with the geomagnetics team. We worked at several different sites, had some great results and collected many cool artifacts, especially beautifully decorated pottery! We also had some very fun moments when we weren’t working – we got invited to some very strong coffee by an elderly man who lives by a 300-year-old oak tree; we went wine tasting and the guys bought LOTS of bottles; we explored the city of Zrenjanin for half an hour (it was enough, hehe!); a few of us went on a little hike around Jegrička Nature Park and climbed a dodgy tower for a bird’s-eye view; and I got to drive the most beautiful Lada in the world (oh, my love!).

With A’s departure came a personal failure but one that had been looming for a while. Back in January, I thought it would be a great idea to watch all sunrises of 2022, documenting each one with a picture. The first two months were easy as the sun rose late and I was usually up before it anyways. But with March came early sunrises, and in Serbia it rose already around 5 AM. It started to become a chore more than something I enjoyed, and most days, I’d simply wake up a few minutes before sunrise, walk outside for a quick moment, snap a few photos, and go back to bed. It gave me nothing more than interrupted sleep for both me and whomever I’d share a room with – A was very forgiving of this project, though! But when he left and I moved into a room with Victoria and Merle whom I’d only just met, I decided it was no longer worth it. It had been a fun experiment, but I’m a night owl and I’ll just have to embrace it. I did learn something from it though – that sunrises are often just as beautiful as sunsets, and it’s worth getting up for whenever I’m in a new destination with beautiful nature and sun on the forecast!

A solo weekend adventure to Subotica

We had both Saturday and Sunday off, so it was adventure time! A few stayed at home to work on papers and others went to Novi Sad and Belgrade. Since I’d already been to both places (I spent three days in Novi Sad after last year’s project), I decided to go on a solo trip to Subotica, a small city in the north that is renowned for its beautiful Art Nouveau architecture.

I did join those going to Novi Sad on the Saturday, but only for a tour of the Museum of Vojvodina, before catching a bus to Subotica. Two hours later, I arrived in the small city that didn’t look anything special on the outskirts, but absolutely blew me away once I entered the city centre! My hostel was located conveniently in the same building as the bus station, so I just dropped off my bags and hurried into the city centre to photograph all the gorgeous buildings at golden hour.

The following day, I slept in as much as possible and then set off to explore the city further. I’d seen almost all the important sights the day before (Subotica is very small!), but I hadn’t yet been inside the city hall which is the definite star of the show. Lucky for me, the main door was open, so I just walked in and started exploring. I met several cleaners but they just smiled and let me wander around as much as I wanted. Before catching the bus back to Novi Bečej, I also took a very spontaneous and short trip to the village of Palić, situated beautifully by the calm Lake Palić.

The last week in Serbia

The second and last week in Serbia was short as rain was forecast for Thursday and Friday, so we worked extra long hours from Monday to Wednesday to finish everything on time. I was on the geomagnetics team all day, working at two very exciting sites. The Monday was spent at Lok, the most beautiful site of the project near a huge loess plateau where stone axes, decorated pottery and a beautiful bone needle turned up, and the last two days were spent at Opovo, where we discovered a dense Late Neolithic settlement. The surface finds were also incredible, including several stone axes, an obsidian core and an obsidian blade. Hopefully, in a few years, we’ll return to Opovo for an excavation!

The excavation team also managed to finish on the Wednesday, and they bagged quite an incredible find. An anthropomorphic figurine with ornamentation, also from the Late Neolithic! I will go into much more detail in an upcoming post about the whole project!

We spent the Thursday packing the finds and our own stuff, enjoying the last mini panis, and I helped Fynn take some photos of the best artifacts from Opovo. In the evening, I joined the team for an evening out at the Museum of Vojvodina where we saw a one-man-show about three famous golden Roman helmets found in the area. We enjoyed a last meal together, and then it was time to say goodbye to everyone except Erik who joined me to Belgrade for the night.

In the early hours of April 1st, I travelled back home to Denmark, but not for long…

Destinations visited in March 2022

• Lolland (Rødby, Rødbyhavn, Sakskøbing, Krenkerup Slot, Flintinge, Toreby, Nakskov, Fuglsang and Maribo) and Nykøbing Falster, Denmark
• Belgrade, Zemun, Novi Bečej, rural areas of Vojvodina, Zrenjanin, Novi Sad, Subotica and Palić, Serbia

Highlights

• The beautiful March weather on Lolland. How I wish it would return (April is rainy and windy so far!)
• A Christmas in March – and the reunion of all four puppies! Such chaos, such fun.
• Finally going hiking again. Oh, how I’ve missed it! I can’t wait for the weather to get warmer so I can go on weekend camping trips with lots and lots of hiking!
• Showing A around Lolland. I love sharing this beautiful island with the people I love.
• Watching the sunset over Belgrade from its fortress. What a truly magical moment.
• All of those precious moments in Novi Bečej and during the project. I feel so blessed to be part of this wonderful team!
• Subotica. Such a beautiful city!
• Finding stone axe after stone axe at Opovo – This Stone Age girl was veeery happy!!
• Giving up on the sunrise challenge – yes, that actually felt so liberating!

Challenges

• There were no personal challenges in March – it was a wonderful month for me!

Most popular post

• My January-February 2022: Back to Lolland – Everything I got up to in the first two months of the year, mostly on Lolland but with a few trips to Berlin, East Jutland and Copenhagen in the weekends!

The other posts

• An unexpected visit to Kikinda, a small Serbian city near the border to Romania – A little taste of a relatively unknown city in northern Serbia

Most popular Instagram picture

I don’t know what happened here, but maybe my picture was shared by someone – or maybe people just really like to hear about life as an archaeologist. Either way, this picture of me in a passage grave on Lolland was by far the most popular on Instagram in March!

Vis dette opslag på Instagram

Et opslag delt af Melissa Villumsen (@melissavillumsen)

Coming up in April 2022

The travels continue!

I just returned back to Lolland after a few slow and relaxing days on Rømø for an extended weekend with my mum and grandmother, and in just three days, I’ll be off to Berlin.

But I’m not staying in Berlin for long. Because A and I will take the train to Belgium on Sunday, and then our Easter holiday in Belgium and western Germany will begin! Places like Bruges, Ghent, Leuven and Aachen are on our wishlist, and we’ll also definitely be visiting Brussels. My younger brother, his friend and A’s sister are joining us for a weekend in Belgium’s capital! I can’t wait to see more of this corner of the world which I’ve neglected completely in the past!

When I return to Lolland on the 18th, my best friends Solveig and Mikkel will be there to greet me. They’re staying with me on the farm for a week. April is going to be a wonderful month!