Pay the Air Toll, Then Breathe to Your Heart's Content!

• 11-Aug-23

If you thought times were hard, and even harder ones are coming, we have to admit you're probably right. Pay for this, pay for that - as our people used to say, "If you don't pay on the bridge, you'll pay at the crossing" - and the fees and taxes just keep piling up, so it's only a matter of time before we have to pay for breathing too.

Well... if you thought it was never like this before, you'd be wrong, because throughout history, the parks of Novi Sad have actually had cases where you had to pay to breathe. Pay the air toll, then breathe to your heart's content, if it matters that much to you. As if breathing were optional?!

Well, it is necessary, but look at everything we breathe in today, and we're still alive and well. Almost every family has at least one car, we heat our homes however we can manage, we pollute the air in every possible way, and then we'd still like to breathe! Well, tough luck!

Even parks are often not entirely exempt from pollution, given that they sit in the heart of the city - yes, our very own parks, like Dunavski Park. And once, long ago, it wasn't like that, but...

...breathing used to be paid for...

That's right, it was paid for. About a hundred years ago, more precisely in the mid-1930s, Novi Sad was a city with many canals, ponds and stagnant waters, from which rose a rather unpleasant smell. Because of this, the population fled to the parks to breathe at least a little cleaner air, but - wouldn't you know it - the city authorities had figured out yet another way to top up their coffers.

And so, a fellow townsman from that era told a story about how he came to Dunavski Park, wanting to take a little walk and enjoy the scent of flowers, hoping to neutralize the marsh smell he'd been breathing in most of the day. He brought his newspaper, sat down on a bench, and began reading with pleasure, enjoying the intoxicating scents. He had just read a few news items, a smile of bliss spreading across his face - like the bull Ferdinand in the cartoon, completely absorbed in soaking up the wonderful scent of the flowerbeds - when someone snapped him out of his sweet daydream.

Standing before him was an old man with a small bag over his shoulder. It took him a few moments to return to reality and realize the old man was addressing him directly. The old man was asking: "Two dinars" - but not "comrade," rather "sir." "I beg your pardon," our fellow citizen asked. "Two dinars," the old man repeated. That, apparently, was the price of sitting on a park bench and enjoying the fresh air and the scent of flowers!

Now what?!

Our fine citizen of Novi Sad angrily rose from the bench and set off walking, looking for another, more secluded spot where he wouldn't have to pay. But the old man with the bag wasn't naive either. He followed him with his eyes, and then approached him from a direction he least expected, with the very same sentence: "Two dinars, sir." And so it was - he realized that to breathe nicer, fresher air, he'd have to travel a bit further from the center, to Sremska Kamenica or Sremski Karlovci, where the "air toll" was not charged.

And how is Dunavski Park today?

Today, people don't go to Dunavski Park just to breathe. When you walk through the city center, your feet somehow, of their own accord, lead you there. This is the most beautiful park in Novi Sad, covering 33,695 m2. It was created back in 1895, on a field known as the fairground, since in those days, annual fairs were held on this large meadow.

In the central part of the park, a small lake was created, which even got its own little island. Much later, in 1978, the lake got its first residents. Naturally, you've guessed it - the residents were ducks and swans, which are still there today.

Alongside these lovely birds, the park today is also home to some rare species of trees and flowers, and in the section next to the former Court Palace, which was also the first to be landscaped, lawns and pathways were created, and the first fountain-sculpture, "The Nymph," was installed - a work by our distinguished sculptor Djordje Jovanovic. Later, busts of Djura Jaksic, Branko Radicevic and Miroslav Antic - great lovers of our beautiful city - were also installed. There is also a figure of Saint Sergius of Radonezh, a gift from the Serbian-Russian Friendship Society.

And finally...

Dunavski Park is today an oasis of peace and a favorite place for all generations, both residents of Novi Sad and tourists, where you can rest, stroll along its paths, or go for a recreational run. It's also a wonderful place for children, who can freely play, run around, and watch and feed the residents of the little island on the lake.

The old man who used to charge the "air toll" has long been watching from "up above" as people freely walk through the park without paying anything! He's not too happy about it, but there's nothing he can do now. And the people of Novi Sad no longer hide! They freely stroll the paths, sit on the benches, read the news on some strange devices, since hardly anyone still buys the paper kind. Nothing is quite as it used to be!

But Dunavski Park - is. In its nearly 130 years of existence, it hasn't changed all that much. It successfully withstands the tooth of time and offers a refuge from the city's hustle and pollution, both to the residents of Novi Sad and to tourists, for whom it is one of the unmissable stops.

In its immediate vicinity are also some of the most beautiful and important properties, landmarks of Novi Sad. And the park is its trademark, and the eternal postcard image of our beautiful city. So come, visit Dunavski Park, and breathe your fill, because breathing is no longer something you have to pay for.

Welcome to Novi Sad!

Photos: YouTube.com (Screenshot)