serbia: belgrade

My Air Serbia flight from UAE to Belgrade landed around noon. The flight was easy, and the food was decent. I got my passport stamped, found an ATM, and took a taxi to my accomodation. I called my host, who let me in to the apartment.

It was a lofted apartment, so I felt like a queen looking down from the bedroom to the living room area. I relaxed for a couple hours, then started walking into the city. It felt like a home, and after two flights plus the trains on which I'd spent the day in South Africa, it was really nice to have a place to gather my thoughts for a few moments.

I found a pedestrian street in the middle of the city center, which felt really European to me. There were cafes with outdoor tables, shops with random stuff, It was nice to walk, and watch people. There were also several gelato stands, which were tempting but I somehow restrained myself.

I found a Serbian SIM card in ont of these shops. It was nice to have internet access everywhere again.

Eventually I ended up in front of the National Parliament building. To me it looked big, and fancy communist. Given the history of Belgrade, this sort of thing is possible.

Of course, I could also be totally wrong about the history of the building. In front of the building was a looong banner, stretched out on a barrier of some sort. It wasn't a barrier, just a way to display the banner. I have no idea what the banner said, it didn't matter much to me.

Close to this building was a park called Pioneers Park. There wasn't much to it, but I did notice what I think is the Russian Embassy on one side of the park. It is a grand building, to say the least. If I hadn't seen the flag on the building I would've assumed it was another Serbian government building.

I kept walking, and found St Marks church. In order to find the entrance I ended up walking around almost the entire church. The outside is really eye catching, you can't miss it. I wasn't nearly as impressed by the interior, which is mostly white; except for the iconostasis, of course. There is also a tomb on one side, and various icons all around. There was a steady but not large flow of visitors while I was inside. As usual, a church is a great place to watch people. 

I followed another street, all the way to another church called St Sava. According to various sources this is one of the largest (Orthodox) churches in the world. Top 3 I think. The walls are 40 meters high, which is pretty impressive. You can't miss it, mostly because it is so big. When I entered, I was less than impressed. The interior isn't yet finished. It was dark, and mostly concrete, still somewhat covered by tarps. The construction of this church began a long time ago, and is still going, through a few wars, government changes and the like.

On the way back to the flat I stopped in a supermarket to pick up breakfast food and dinner.

The next morning I got up early enough to wander through the fortress gardens for a little while. Since it was the end of August, there was plenty in bloom, and people wandering around. I got to the fortress itself, but didn't go in. I walked along one length of the wall, looking at the tanks and other military vehicles on display.

After a short while I called a taxi to go to the airport. Traffic was light, and Bo's flight landed only a few minutes late. We found each other, and took another taxi back into the city, back to the flat. Bo liked it just as much as I did. I still had the donuts from Krispy Kreme in Johannesburg, I hadn't opened that box at all until then, we split a couple donuts.

We walked out into the city, back to the pedestrian street I'd walked the day before. Not far from this street was a sight I'd found listed on a travel app, one different from anything I've visited before.

The national bank has an currency exhibition area, where previous currencies and histories are on display. We got to the front door, and learned that there is a dress code for visitors! Since I was wearing shorts, as was Bo, we ran back to the flat to change. Neither one of us was keen about this, since it was hot outside. Running back and forth didn't help anything.

With our change of clothes we got back to the natioanl bank, went through a security gate, and into the exhibition area. There was a man waiting for us, as there is one activity visitors love. They'll take your picture with a computer, then print your face on fake Serbian currency. I can't help it, I loved it. I think of it as 'my' money, hee hee.

We looked at all the different currencies on display, nearly all of them had been in use in the area at various times during history. We read displays telling us about a specific time in history, just after the fall of communism, when there was hyperinflation.

During this time people were wheeling around wheelbarrows of cash, as it was nearly worthless. I loved wandering around this area.

The rest of the day we followed mostly the same path I'd walked the day before. We walked through Pioneer Park, back to St Marks. Bo felt the same way I did about the church, in that the outside is much more eye catching than the inside.

We also walked to St Sava, about which I was less than excited. Bo was as surprised as I was when he saw the incomplete interior. Both of us wondered if there is a plan for finishing everything, and when that might be.

We took a different street to walk back to the cafe area I'd first seen, just because we wanted to see a different street. When we got back there, we had dinner at one of those cafes. I couldn't help it, as I knew the portions were big, and I was really hungry. The portions were indeed big, so big that I needed a takeaway box. Of course, not finishing my food didn't stop me from buying a bit of gelato afterward.

We also stopped at a small supermarket on the way home to pick up breakfast food.

The next morning we ate that food, and a couple more donuts.

We walked again, aiming for somewhere different from the day before. All along the way we took photos, because both of us love to do so. We saw public transport for the city, and a few parks. At one point Bo noticed something he'd been looking for, I had no previous idea it existed. This was the (now former) cafe where the first public showing of a movie took place in the country, only 5 months after it first happened in Paris. It was closed, but each of us took photos in front of the cafe, just because.

We walked to the Tesla Museum, and decided to wait for a guided tour, which was included in the price of the ticket if we wanted.

We found lunch at a random milk bar (cafeteria style place that is really cheap,) not too far away. I ended up with far more than I should've eaten, buuuutttttt....

Back at the museum, our guide started by showing a short video about the life of Nikolai Tesla. The video and guide assumed a basic understanding of science, and much of what Tesla did, which made it a bit more difficult to understand for me. I am not scientifically minded, at all. Things that seem so obvious to others don't seem that way to me. That being said, I still enjoyed what I was seeing and learning.

Our guide also had a few demonstrations for us, great fun. I got to be electrocuted! It didn't hurt, of course. Instead, it was more of a tickling sensation. We got to see how things light up, and how current travels invisibly. There were displays of several machines that displayed the knowledge and understanding Tesla had, and we were given explanations of how these machines helped society.

After the tour we wandered through another couple rooms, looking at personal possessions of Tesla, including some of his gloves. Apparently he wore them pretty much all the time.

After the museum we made our way over to the river in the city. Along the way we passed a number of buildings with giant wall murals, they were awesome. We also saw a couple churches, one of which required me to put on a wraparound skirt before I could go in the sanctuary.

The Sava is a major river, and during summer is a great place for walking. We started our visit on one side, winding our way down through a residential neighborhood. We found a couple small courtyards, and while they were definitely still lived in, there was clearly not a lot of money in the pockets of the inhabitants.

When we finally got to the river, we had to run across the road to avoid traffic. I turned around to take a photo, and took a step without looking first. That step was a mistake, as the leg ran hard into a pole in the ground that I didn't see. IT HURT. A lot. I knew immediately I was going to have a major bruise in tht middle of my thigh. Ugh.

We climbed back up to a bridge, and crossed the river that way. The city planners hadn't been thinking, as one side of the bridge was closed to pedestrians. This meant that everyone walking (both directions,) AND everyone riding a bike (both directions,) were on one side of the bridge, in an area not even as wide as one car lane.

I think we would've spent more time on the bridge except that we were annoyed by not being able to walk more than a few steps without having to slightly change directions to avoid someone. I don't know why the other side was closed, I hope there was a good reason.

The sun was starting to go down when we got to the other side of the bridge, so we didn't really stay over there to walk or explore. Instead we went back over the bridge and up the road. We meandered our way back to the pedestrian street, stopping at a bakery along the way for snacks for Bo. (I'd eaten popcorn after the museum earlier in the day so I was still full from that.)

We also found a souvenir store with mugs and magnets and postcards and other random stuff. I made note of what I wanted to buy the next day.

We didn't feel like sitting in a restaurant or cafe for another large meal, so we found a grocery store for dinner instead. I found a brand of canned tuna named after me! Between the leftover pasta from the night before and the tuna I had plenty to eat.

The next morning we got up early-ish so we could explore the fortress. We walked through the gardens and took a look at the military vehicles.
Instead of going through the front gate we walked through what used to be the moat, circling around the fortress to the back side, which is on a hill.
Back there we found another bridge and gate, as well as a small church. We figured out how to get into the church (had to find a smallish and not super obvious staircase to get down to that platz,) and stood for a moment. I think there was a baptism going on in front, but most people were going in and out. It didn't take us long to look at everything, as the church was quite small. Though the outside seemed new-ish, it also seemed really quaint.

At that point we had to start to take time into account. We wanted to see a little more, but we also had to start heading back toward the flat. We strolled through another area of the gardens in front, I liked the blooming flowers.

When we got back to the flat we packed everything up, closed and locked the doors, and checked out by leaving the key slightly buried in the potted plant outside the door.

Since I was staying an additional day in Belgrade (I waited too long to book tickets back to Kyiv, so I had to stay an extra day in Belgrade and make another stopover as well,) and Bo was not, we walked to my next accomodation and got everything sorted.

From there we walked back toward the city center on streets new to us. Bo had lunch by getting a large slice of pizza at a small takeaway place.

From there I called a taxi to take Bo to the airport. We said goodbye, and I started walking again.

My next walk was much longer. I walked all the way to Tito's Mausoleum, which is most definitely not in the city center. I passed a few falling down buildings, a few churches, and random residential areas. I walked on a bridge going over train tracks, and through a park.

Google maps showed me how to get there, or so I thought. Everything was good until I realized one road didn't go all the way through, so I had to walk all the way around another area to get to an entrance to the area on the other side.

Officially called the House of Flowers, the mausoleum is actually a complex of several buildings. There is of course the building with his tomb inside. The tomb itself isn't nearly as spectacular as I expected it to be. The building has a large skylight, which I really liked. On one side were photos of him along with his history, and Serbian/Yugoslavian history during his lifetime.

On another side were displays of some of the many torches given to him while he was in power.

Another building is a display of some of the items given to Tito as gifts during his time in charge. As with any such leader, there were a LOT of gifts. More torches were displayed, along with a globe, a radio, a robot, and plenty more. It was interesting to see the variety on display, and to note who gave gifts.

Yet a third building was supposed to be a museum of some kind, but I found only one room, and I couldn't figure out what it was supposed to be telling me. I really hope it is still under construction.

There is a fountain in front of this one, and the landscaping continues down the incline until you get to the main road.

When I left the area I realized I was really dehydrated, as I'd done all my walking during the day without drinking anything. Fortunately there was a small stall selling everything I might possibly need, thank goodness.

From there I walked back to the pedestrian area, mostly so I could buy postcards, and a mug. (Not that I needed a mug, as I have plenty of those, mostly from trips like this one.) The lady remembered me from the night before, and even remembered that I'd been looking for a frog for my sister. Yay!! (Especially because she found one for me!)

The next morning I woke up, packed up, and took a taxi to the airport. It was an easy and short flight to my 'layover' in Budapest.

I'd like to come back to Serbia, though I don't know how much time I will spend in Belgrade. I'd also like to see the rest of the former Yugoslavia.