On the Cross roads of the most important Balkan and European roads which connect Europe and Middle East, along the centuries and people have left imporant traces of their existence, from the Celtic tribes to the present days. In 140 Ptolemy noted that Nis was one of the four biggest towns of the province of Dardania.
This was the birthplace of Emporor Constantine, the one who would legalize Christianity in the Roman Empire with the Edict of Milan 313 and who would build the magnificent Constantinople. The town will experience, according to antique writers, its full bloom-political, economic and cultural – during Constantine’s reign. The Roman monument which has survived until the present days is the locality of Mediana, which once was the luxurious suburb of Nais with many villas decorated with mosaics and wall frescos.
History noted that on this very place great Lord Stefan Nemanja signed an agreement about fighting against the Byzantine Empire with the German Emperor Friedrich I Barbaros, who started the third Crusade to Jerusalem in 1189. The legend says that Nemanja placed his signature on the agreement and Barbaros placed his tumb finger print.
The Turks left their trace in the form of Cele-kula (a fortress made of skulls) which is today a horrifying museum made after the battle of Cegar in 1809. Namely, Hursid Pasa ordered that on the side of the road to Constantinople, a three meter high tower is built up, as a reminder, with 925 fleeced heads of Serbian uprisers built in it. The Beautiful Nis Fortress built right by the bank of Nisava dates from that time.
Today, it isa big and beautiful park with many charming restaurants and shops and every summer, among its walls, a film festival is taking place, the oldest one and the most prestigious one in Serbia, ten kilometres away is the famous Nis Spa, beneficent for treating cardiovascular and rheumatic health problems.
After arriving Belgrade Airport by means of airlines, you will be taken by bus to Nis with the prior organisation. If you want to use scheduled bus services of the country, you should arrive to Bus Terminal of Belgrade and take scheduled intercity buses from Belgrade to Nis, approximately 3h via highway.