It's raining in Belgrade. We arrived in the morning by train via Budapest, 6:30am. In the Balkans, I can't think of a better way of travelling than by rails. The soothing, almost psychedelic sound of the tracks hitting against the steaming vehicle and the half-open, ramshackle windows remind you where you're going. Smoked a spliff before entering the grey night-train, so it didn't matter even if we had to share a cabin with 7 other guys, in that state of mind we could've slept anywhere. In the seven-hour trip the only disturbance was prompted by police officers & ticket inspectors demanding passports & tickets in the Hungaro-Serbian border.
So Serbia is the first place on our trip you have to be aware of the on-going political tendencies. If someone asks, Kosovo (Kosovo & Metohija, as the Serbs call it) is still a province of the “Great” Serbia. Geographically It is simultaneously in the middle of Europe and yet quite isolated; a city that sees itself as a cultural and regional focal point. Because of its strategic location, Belgrade has been invaded more than 40 times in its history. The recent tragic history of the last two decades is still clearly visible in the heart of former Yugoslavia. We go way back to Josip Broz Tito, the man who united a nation of seven people, three religions, two alphabets & one socialistic fatherland talented in volleyball, Yugoslavia. After his death in 1980, power passed on to Slobodan Milosevic (for travellers in Serbia, it's not recommended to talk about the nationalist capo, so we'll refer to him as Big S), who favored a Serbian high-class race. This & the general collapse of the communist regimes in Europe led into the blood-filled abolition of Yugoslavia, giving birth to six nowadays independent countries (Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Macedonia, Bosnia Herzegovina) & the former home-base of Yugoslavia, Serbia. Even though Belgrade & Serbia were the centre of big S's masterplan, it takes no more than a few minutes in the two-million-people capital to realize what people some 20 years after think about the man who led Serbia into an inflation-ridden economic crisis, as well as a primal target for NATO bombings. Just take a look at this pic. A graffiti speaks more than a thousand pics.
Anyway, we decided to continue our successful streak in good-value budget hotels, & got a triple room from Bristol Hotel, a five-minute walk from the train & bus station. The place might strike out as posh, when you hear that Rockefeller himself stayed here in the 20's. The thing is that this army-run hotel hasn't been renovated since. I bet 80 years ago this was the place to be seen in Belgrade. Even with crippled walls, ragged curtains & armchairs missing the actual arms, Bristol has a bittersweet, romantic atmosphere of his own. And extremely friendly & helpful staff. 18€ per person, once again breakfast included (score!).
Slept until 2pm, & went to find out connections to Pristina, Kosovo. We're probably leaving with the noon bus on Monday (1900 Serbian dinars), because train connections to former Southern Serbia are understandably slow & random. The bills here are pretty huge. One euro equals roughly 105 dinars, catching two cheeseburgers at Donalds for less than an euro. Cigarettes for a bit more than fifty cents. Cheapest place so far.
We'd be top dogs in Finland with these
Strolling around the city started by checking out this fresh-looking market place, selling everything from flowers to blueberries. So I approached this middle-aged Serb for bananas. He was selling them in big junks of ten for 25 dinars. I was only in need for one, so I asked him the price. He started searching his bananas, and gave it to me while nodding his head horizontally, saying “no no no, take it free”. I tried to give him something, but he persistently waved me away. So I started walking away. I couldn't believe the friendliness of this guy, so I walked back, reached my pack of smokes & offered him one. He gave the biggest smile I've seen in this trip, and took one nodding now frantically vertically. You can't really have a better first impression on Serbians than this one.
Continued our journey into the town centre, walking through the hub of main street Knez Mihailova, where you can find all the international fashion brands & snobby-looking cafeterias. The scenery in Belgrade is as diverse as it can get. You've got this majestic 15th century church just next to a graffiti-laden dark-grey concrete-apartment with porches straight from a florists wet dream. On the other side of the road lies full of history an adorned beige building, with the ceiling & top floors missing. Ironically, there's an American cafe in the ground floor of the same building. Like I said, diverse.
After getting to know to the streets we reached one of the must spots to go in Belgrade, the Kalemegdan citadel. The place consist of the Belgrade fortress & a huge park overlooking the crossroads of two rivers flowing through Belgrade: Sava & Danube. Wonderful views over a park full of character & history, full of statues & fountains of past Serbian big shots. There was also going on many outdoors art exhibitions. Some pics after the text. What I found especially intriguing was all these retired old Serbs who gather to the park just to smoke, chat & play a few rounds of chess in the black-and-white-checkered tables. I just realized how I want to grow old.
Our tour was interrupted while having a trademark espresso in this nice little cafe/restaurant called Kosava. It started raining. Real hard. So we started sprinting through the centre towards our once-upon-a-time posh hotel. We found a safe haven from a grocery store. Got a bottle of Macedonian riesling & peanuts. Bring the night on Belgrade.
When Oreos meet Tito
Now we know where our euros are going
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