At the beginning of the year, I created a hefty goal for the number of Hive meetups this year... As I do like to meet other Hivians in person, I set a goal of attending at least 5 meetups during 2025! It wasn't just a random number as I had plans to attend some of the regulars like BuzzParty, HiveFest, and I wanted to visit the Aachen meetup this year... Along with those 3, I had in mind to do the 2nd Hive Meetup in Serbia... The 5th meetup was "stretching" myself... 🙂
So, how am I doing til now? I did attend BuzzParty in Graz, Aachen, and Kuala Lumpur (HiveFest) are under a big question mark, but I did my Serbian meetup this week!!! Second Hive meetup checked! ✅ Before going into details and sharing photos, I would like to thank @guiltyparties, who created a small banner for this meetup (you will see it in the photos), without even asking for it! He and @tibfox offered to send some merch for the meetup, but it wasn't enough time to receive them as I did the announcement post a bit too late... We will do the merch next year!
What you can see in the photo above was our meeting point, in a small town, Apatin, in Serbia... A small square with the world-famous scientist Nikola Tesla in the middle, and with a huge mural on the building in the background...
This was the 2nd meetup in Serbia, and slowly it is turning into an annual event... :) This time, we had "international attendees" and some pleasant surprise as I didn't know that we would have an additional Hivier there... I do count as a "local", but after living over 13 years abroad, I was more like one of the visitors, too... We had @duskobgd and @bil.prag from Serbia, @flurroland, who lives in Canada, and @mipiano and me, visiting our families, coming from Spain!
The weather was tricky that morning, with a couple of short showers, so almost immediately after we met, we found the closest bar (interestingly, it was called Piano Bar!) to take cover and warm up with coffee... Yes, warm up in the middle of summer! Btw. Do you remember how it was last year at the Serbian meetup? Check out here! 😃
As usual, despite @mipiano reminding me every 10 minutes, I forgot to take photos... 😂 You know how it goes with having friends around and meeting some of them for the first time... You never know when you will meet them again, and you want to absorb and enjoy their company as much as possible, engaging in conversation, without thinking about the time and space... 😃
So these 3 photos are literally the only ones that I took from our walk on the main street of the town... There were a couple of other buildings to show (except the Catholic church that you see in the photo above), and I hope that other participants will share more in their posts (if they share)... To be honest, it's hard to "compete" with the professional photographer as @bil.prag! As you can see in the photo above, @duskobgd is trying to absorb some of the knowledge, but with our mobile phones, we didn't have a chance... 😃
In our small town, there are some really strange sculptures, like this one... Nobody knows what it represents, which leaves it to our imaginations... The best guess was that it could be a portal to other dimensions... So, we sent Hivian to spread the word to other civilizations about our social media blockchain... 🍷
The river Danube is our Amazon of Europe, and having it on the doorstep in this small town is a privilege... It was a fishing town in the past, and that's why there was that big mural from the beginning of the post... It is still a good place for fishing, but also, it is a nice stop for cycling enthusiasts who like to cycle through nature...
One of the biggest and oldest breweries in the Balkans is situated here, with a tradition of making beer for over 250 years! In those days, there was a big German influence, and knowing that, having a brewery here was a logical move... 🙂
The new Orthodox church is situated at the banks of the river Danube (that small blue spot on the left)... The river is big, but I didn't have time to take a photo at this moment as the sky was at the point of releasing a big shower over us... As a matter of fact, after taking this photo, we were running toward the restaurant as it started to rain... but also, as we were hungry... hahahahaha
And then we had a few minutes of silence as everyone was hungry and eating lunch! 😃
After we filled our tummies, the (couple of) next stop was nature! The old course of the Danube, which is now a kind of canal... A small restaurant in the back, a few fishing boats (no motorboats allowed), forest, and water...
Discussions about HIVE and photography continued...
It wasn't Saturday when the meetup took place, but it was definitely a Caturday! This was just one of the cats that we met during the day... This cat came all over the dock just to be cuddled! lol... The one that we met during lunch got more than cuddles, and she was also happy after the encounter... 🍴
The next stop was back to the river Danube! At least, I did some decent photography there, as I completely forgot to take photos during lunch, as the restaurant was on the river with beautiful views! 🤦♂ (The thumbnail photo from my announcement post for the meetup was taken from that spot, restaurant)...
...back to the current photos... This place is a couple of kilometers out of the town, where locals have their weekend cottages... During summer, it's much easier (and fresher) to spend time by the water/river than in the apartment buildings!
You can't beat the forest shade and refreshing water...
There was an idea to organize one of the next Hive Fests on the cruiser... Maybe it doesn't have to be an ocean cruiser, we can do something at a place like this one! Cruising from Germany to the Black Sea, with a river boat!
I don't know about you, but this is something that I have never seen! Yes, there is a rowing machine in the gym, but rowing in a boat, in nature, on firm ground is a very rare occurrence... 😂
We are again on one of the old Danube paths... What you can see are the remains of the old water pump/mill, which was used over a century ago... Today, it is forgotten, in the middle of the forest, but the building is still standing!
Some of the Hivers dared to go inside and do some Urban Exploring in @slobberchops' style! 😃 We are patiently waiting for photos from the inside...
We had another spot on our busy daily schedule to visit... Of course, I sucked there too as I didn't take photos... lol... It was a bar/restaurant located on the local beach, and the only photo that I took was this small decorative boat at the entrance/exit...
When we came back to the town, it was time to say goodbye to others... I had a great time hanging out with other Hivians, and I hope we will repeat something similar next year... If there are more interested people, maybe this will turn into a more massive Hive meetup... Serbia had a turbulent history (and maybe present), but there are some nice places to visit and people are kind in general... Nature is beautiful, and I hope this post (and I hope posts from other participants) will help you to find out more about it!
Until the next Hive meetup! Where can I meet YOU? 🙂
Thank you for your time.
--ph--