Two Weeks in Novi Bečej: Life in a Small Town, Novi Becej, Serbia

On October 11th, after a two-day drive from Kiel in Germany, we rolled into Novi Bečej, a town home to over 13,000 people in rural northern Serbia. Together with a bunch of archaeologists from Kiel University, I lived in the town while working on archaeological prospections of nearby prehistoric sites. I will go into detail about our project in an upcoming post, but first let me introduce you to Novi Bečej where I spent two weeks of my life in October.

Novi Bečej is located in the Central Banat District of the province of Vojvodina near the borders to Hungary and Romania. The town is home to a large population of Hungarians and a smaller but still significant population of Romani. However, Serbs make up the majority at around 60 %. The town is located on the banks of the river Tisa which begins in Ukraine and joins the Danube near the village of Stari Slankamen further south in Vojvodina.

We stayed at the guesthouse Azucki which is owned by a local family (and their adorable Siamese cats) in the centre of the town. Most of our evenings were spent dining at Hotel Tiski Cvet just across the road where the plata vegetariana was ordered every single evening – but never came with the same foods! It was always a surprise what we’d receive! We also enjoyed one evening meal at a gorgeous restaurant by the river, and Romy and I returned several times for their amazing fries! ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).