The next destination in the underground walking tour series was the Roman lapidarium. You can read about the others by following the links below:
1. The Roman Well
2. The Victor

The Roman lapidarium was originally the Gunpowder Warehouse (Austrian). A lapidarium by the way is a place where stone (Latin: lapis) monuments and fragments of archaeological interest are exhibited. That information is kind courtesy Google and Wiki. Anyway, the warehouse turned lapidarium houses many Roman artefacts (this time it is indeed Roman) found in the territory of Serbia.

Since I was taking a video of the surroundings, I was one of the last few to follow the guide. A little down the path, I lost my nerve. The path was all downhill, stony and uneven and also steep. It was going to be difficult going down. Yeah, that’s the understatement of the year. Coming back up would be equally taxing on my poor back and legs unless I could do it at my own pace. I didn’t want to push myself too much and land in trouble. NEVER OVERDO THINGS, is the motto I live by which lets me enjoy life and travel to a great extent.

The Second Born offered to hurry ahead to find out if we’d be retracing our steps in which case I would stay put and wait for the others. The guide informed him we’d be going ahead. Phew. What a relief! I carefully and slowly walked down the slope with the son’s girlfriend holding my hand firmly.

Once we reached, I found we hadn’t missed much because everyone was waiting for the group which went in first to finish and move on. Since the place echoed too much two groups inside would have been a terrible idea. I really appreciated the concern the guide showed because I have been to places where no one cared and everyone spoke at the same time with no one being able to hear anything.

Here are some pictures I took of sarcophagi, sacrificial altars and tombstones and of course our guide.

Afterwards we took a long walk, mercifully not a stony or downhill, just a pleasant walk through proper roads. We could see the wall of the fort high up behind us.

Our final destination for the day was an underground winery (which once used to be a disco!). Everyone enjoyed a glass (or two or three) of wine. A nearby group was having a book reading from an author. Since he spoke in Serbian I did not understand a word. I’d have liked to know what his audience was listening to with absolute and rapt attention. Perhaps the book is all about underground wineries, who knows!

Psst! I cannot find the photos of the winery. Please use your imagination 😉

© Shail Mohan 2022