Arriving in Belgrade early in the morning I went to my Hostel, the ‘Hostel Hedonists’ which all seemed very chilled out and relaxed. I dumped my stuff and engaged in my usual routine of going off to do the ‘Free’ tour. I find this gives me a good feel for the city and is a nice starting point for later exploration. I hadn’t realised what a large city Belgrade is and the centre is much like any modern European city. There is some interesting architecture dotted about with influence from Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian empires as well as some traditional Serbian buildings and older Roman ruins. That being said as the city has been razed to the ground so many times in the past there’s not all that much to see.
Exhausted from my overnight train experience, I spent the afternoon relaxing in the garden of the Hostel making the most of the WiFi. There were a large amount of Brits staying there which was a change as I’d barely met any yet. Unfortunately, there were a couple of real specimens. One over-confident public school ‘lad’ who I imagine wasn’t much older than 21 spent the whole afternoon in the garden loudly phoning his various mates and family members. I wish I could convey the embarrassing nature of his conversations. I was close to recording him at one point. He blabbered on about all sorts of inane stuff and clearly had a very high opinion of himself. Every sentence he uttered ended with the word ‘dank’. The Oxford dictionary defines this as “unpleasantly damp and cold“, although I believe he was using the colloquial version which The Urban Dictionary defines as “Another way of saying COOL or AWESOME TO THE MAX“. I dare say he could work on expanding his vocabulary.
There were thankfully some more tolerable people staying there and I did meet some interesting people. Following a barbecue there was a little party in the hostel before everyone was heading out to the Belgrade beer festival. Deciding this wasn’t my sort of crowd and following a lengthy and heated debate with a Polish man about gun control I opted for an early night.
The next day I checked into a nice hotel as I needed a bit of a comfort and some privacy after a month of living in dormitories. Before checkin I decided to visit the Serbian Museum of History which was excellent, apart from skipping out any 20th century history which I most interested in finding out about. When I finally got to the hotel I realised that I’d left my small rucksack with my DSLR camera and most of my valuables at the museum! A slightly heart stopping moment but thankfully I later recovered it with ease and without panic.
Later in the day I had to buy tickets for the train to Sofia which involved an hour long trek across Belgrade in the heat to Belgrade Centar train station. Not the prettiest of stations I’ve ever visited.
It wasn’t a very scenic route either. Once there and to my great frustration the ladies in the office told me to buy the tickets at the departure station (Topcider) the next morning before getting the train. I had to point out that I’d walked for an hour to get there and that I was very much going to purchase them then and there.
It wouldn’t have been a decent visit without checking out the city walls, my new favourite pastime. From the fortress and walls there were great views out to the confluence of the River Sava and the mighty Danube and you really got a feel for how much the city sprawled outwards.
Statue of ‘Victor’ installed following the First World War but intended to celebrate victory from the Ottomans (I think). He was considered to be too indecent to go in the city centre as he may corrupt the young women of the city. More likely make the men insecure.
The confluence
As I was coming to the end of my time in the Balkans I thought it only proper to have one last meal of Çevapi in the evening. The restaurant was a little dubious with some interesting options on the menu. They also kept a managerie of small animals inside including rabbits and various rodents. Not exactly what you’re really looking for in a restaurant. What I got was a and over-priced and overcooked meal but with all the walking I was hungry enough that it didn’t matter.
Wandering Henry 