May 24, 2013

Architecture of Bus Stations in Serbia

Central Bus Station in Niš (picture from wikimapia)

I got inspired for this post by Yomadic's blog entry: http://www.yomadic.com/bus-from-belgrade-to-nis-serbia/ and his beautiful picture of the Niš Bus station.

Since in the Balkans, particularly in Serbia, Railway travelling was never so popular like traveling by bus, some Bus Stations got a lot of architectural attention when they were built.

I found pictures from some interesting Bus Stations and hope to expand this collection soon!


Niš Bus Station

Entrance of the Bus Station (picture wikimapia)
One of them is the Bus Station in Nis (Ниш) built in 1977 and one of the most modern Bus Station of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia with 18 platforms. Nis-Ekspress AD was the main investor.

Ćuprija Bus Station

Bus Station in Čuprija


A lot of inhabitants of Ćuprija work as "Gastarbeiter" in Western Europe, so really lots of Bus Lines serve this little town. That explains the big Bus Station at the entrance of the town.
A close up shows the lamellar structure of the roof supported by precast columns arranged in a semi-circle.



Novi Pazar
A postcard from the 70's of Novi Pazar's Bus Station
Another interesting Bus Station  is the one in Novi Pazar built in the 1970's. The first time I visted Novi Pazar I was fascinated by it's frivolous architecture (read it in my post about Novi Pazar).

A newer picture on autobusi.net
The Bus Station fits in that style, and though it shows signs of age and people complain about its flaws it still looks charming.

Loving this combination: the bus station and his "soliter" a stand alone highrise building (from autobusi.net)


Zrenjanin

Zrenjanin Bus Station (from autobusi.net)

In Zrenjanin the Bus Station has a relief-like Fassade like in Niš. It/s not a big station, but with this detail it looks almost like an airport.

May 9, 2013

Communist Style Hotels 2

Hotel in Kolasin (Montenegro)


Last summer I posted about communist style Hotels in the Balkans with good example of state own Hotels built in the communist past. 

To the list of Hotels I'd like to visit I will add also these 6 eye-catcher:

Bianca Resort & Spa in Kolasin (Montenegro)


Bianca Resort in Kolasin: Jumbo Alpin Architecture



The Hotel also featured in this old postcard get my thumbs up for its appereance! (The main picture is from here


Hotel Merkur in Vrnjacka Banja

Vrnjacka Banja a Spa town in Central Serbia has a couple of cool buildings to offer. This is just one of it.
The garden side of the Hotel (Picture here)


The street side of the Hotel


Hotel Zubor in Kursumljska Banja

This building from 1982 is actually empty, as the country can not keep up with maintenance costs. 
Hotel "Žubor" in Kursumlijska Banja (picture from here)

Hotel Internacional Zenica (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Hotel International Zenica (picture from here)
A masterpeace of a Hotel...and it still looks good today!


The Hotel today (picture from here)


Hotel in Vranjska Banja in Vranje

Unfortunately this one never got finished, started in 1973 it was about when the economical crises stroke the south of Serbia.


Just 50% completed (picture from here)

And at the end a little interior detail of a bathroom in Hotel Slavija in Belgrade

tile paradise (picture from here)


Links to other posts about interesting Hotel Architecture in the Balkans: