If you are coming to the EXIT Festival in Novi Sad, you may be wondering how preparations are coming along this end! Well, this is a bit off-topic for this blog, but I am in a good position to give you a location report from the festival site in Novi Sad.

As you can see from the picture, your poo will be well taken care of!

This endless row of portaloos is the first visible sign of the EXIT campsite coming together. The campsite is in a small woodland right by the Danube river, and the portaloos are practically on the promenade, so you get a view of the river while you’re “using the facilities”. You can also see the Petrovaradin fortress across the river, where the EXIT Festival takes place. That’s how close it is - just a 10-15 minute walk across the nearby bridge, and then up some stairs.

A little bit of info too for British citizens. I was able to have a few words with some embassy staff who told me about their “operation” in Novi Sad during the EXIT festival. Novi Sad, and indeed Serbia, has never seen anything like the influx of the 10,000+ visitors from Britain who are predicted to come here for the Festival. So the British consular division in Serbia is setting up a special help “centre” in Novi Sad, manned (and womanned) by a couple of embassy staff who will be there to help out British citizens. In the past they say that this has involved arrests and some lost and stolen passports in particular.

The British Embassy has published a special flyer (UPDATE: download here, from the Belgrade British Embassy site) for Brits visiting Serbia for the EXIT Festival, which will be distributed at points of entry into the country. I won’t go into all the details here, but the flyer explains some basic some things to be careful of: drugs are not tolerated in Serbia, you can get in at least as much trouble here using/carrying drugs as you can in the UK (I get the odd person coming to my blog trying to find info about buying drugs at EXIT - I certainly ain’t going to tell you - apart from anything, I don’t know, but I am sure you will find them if you really insist); also don’t change money on the street, it could be dodgy and there’s nothing to be gained. The flyer also says what the Embassy can and can’t do for you: they can issue you with a temporary passport, though it will cost you 55 quid (!), so you’d be better off not losing it; they can’t get you off the hook if you get arrested, so it’s best to avoid doing anything stupid, like dealing drugs, smashing stuff up whilst drunk etc. All in all I think they have made a nice effort - it’s quite a unique situation really - and I can say as someone who lives here that all the advice they have given is pretty sound so make sure you read the flyer.

I would just add: be nice when you come here. The Serbs, younger people all the more so, are extremely welcoming, broad-minded and friendly but you should be respectful towards the local culture. EXIT is not an Milwall away game, it’s in another country with its own customs and expectations, and although people are very tolerant, do not abuse the hospitality of Novi Sad, you might end up in the aforementioned poo. Have fun, look after yourselves, and the EXIT Festival should keep enjoying the massive success it has achieved in the last 5 years.

(Check out my recent post on the EXIT Festival as well as my special page on EXIT for more details)

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Posted on July 1st, 2007 by markowe
Filed under: Off topic