I had never thought I would end up here. One of the joys of last minute trip plans means I had to stay out of the Schengen EU countries for as long as possible. I was certainly a little apprehensive when the instructions for the hostel I booked said “look for the building that has been bombed and turn left”. I found myself wondering what I’d do if war started out in a country I was in. An interesting way to start a morning stroll through a rainy city indeed.
Manga hostel (a recommendation from Eliss and a blessing at that) had the most amazing staff. Freshly made turkish coffee on demand (Thanks Igor, a dirty flirt with everyone, who knew the city like the back of his hand) and staff that were all madly keen on music made me feel very at home. The dorm was a bit of a war zone as those few people that remained had all just spent the weekend partying at the infamous Sensation White Party and an after party. The rain had settled in so I wasn’t all that motivated to explore, but not wanting to waste my time, I took advantage of a brief pause in the rain to visit the Saint Sava Cathedral (biggest Orthodox cathedral in the Balkans, and 10th in the world). The cathedral was quite imposing from the outside, dominating the skyline but, due to a lack of funding very little has been done to complete the restoration work on the inside. Looking more like a concrete bunker, with scaffolding seemingly holding the place together, it was almost like walking through a dense curtain of silence when you passed through the doorway. With not much to see, I didn’t dwell in the Cathedral for too long and it was off to sniff out some lunch.
St Sava Cathedral. Belgrade, Serbia
“Sniff out” may not have been the appropriate word as it appears chain-smoking is the national pass time of Serbia. No street corner, restaurant or bar was safe from clouds of smoke (fairly common in this part of Europe, but not at this concentration) and it certainly had me pining for the dining regulations of home. Atmosphere for my lunch was provided by a group of 8 women who popped in to the restaurant, presumably for their afternoon coffee break (or smoke break. Hard to tell) and continued to chain smoke for a solid 20 minutes. Delightful.
The rain and the fact that it was a Monday night meant that there wasn’t a whole lot going on in Belgrade so an earlyish night after trading ridiculous YouTube videos (what would we do without the internet) and sharing my favourite jazz and blues artists with Sanja from the hostel meant that I would be fresh for the excitement of the Nikola Tesla museum. For those of you that don’t know, Toby and I have had a bizarre fascination with Nikola Tesla ever since seeing a crazy video about him at “Cult Cinema” one time. As soon as I found out that there was a museum dedicated to him, it was obvious I had to go. The museum itself was a little underwhelming, but I did get electrocuted (intentionally) by his radio control device (the first in the world) and got caught up in the energy field of a Tesla Coil (not quite as dramatic as what y’all of you computer nerds would remember from “Red Alert” (wow that takes me back)) which was cool. The majority of the museum was dedicated to correspondence that had been received by Tesla, but the videos they played about his life and inventions were really informative. For anyone with any interest in the history of electricity, electric motors or radio-control (all sounds a little dry now that I’ve written it) I encourage you to check him out. Tesla was also quite revolutionary in his thinking (like finding a way to provide free electricity for everyone and a death ray that was designed for peaceful purposes) and there are lots of rumours about other inventions he worked on being confiscated by the American government. Definitely something for the conspiracy theorist.
The urn of Nikola Tesla
The rain persisted post museum, but determined to experience a bit of the city, I took Igor’s advice and sought out the best börek in town. The usual way to buy börek, a flaky pastry filled with savoury fillings such as fetta, sausage and egg and cheese is buy the quarter kilo, but I had been assured that I could buy a little taste of of all of them. It turns out that “a little bit” doesn’t translate all that well from English to Serbian and, despite the help of a local, I wound up with a massive plate of delicious, fat filled pastry goodness. My guilt was somewhat lessened by the fact that I had only had some coffee for breakfast and had done a bit of a workout in the hostel before I left for the day.
This did nothing to lessen the guilt that I felt post lunch. I had planned to check out a place called “The Three Hats”, a restaurant situated in Skadarska the “french quarter” (a lovely cobblestoned area, full of restaurants and bars) of Belgrade, for lunch but the time spent at the museum meant that lunch and breakfast (börek) were fairly close together. By close I mean within the hour. Undeterred, although mindful of the calories (This eastern european travel is hard on the hips even when you factor in the walking), I settled in for a traditional lunch and some local wine. The restaurant was a charming little building (perfect for a date and the food was excellent), complete with band that performed for each table, which didn’t make me feel conscious of the fact I was dining alone at all (lie). Still it was a lovely lovely way to while away the rainy afternoon.
House band at “The Three Hats”. Belgrade, Serbia.
When I eventually rolled back to the hostel, it was to my delight to find that a handful of new travellers had arrived. After a bit of socialising and the big 3 questions (What’s your name, where are you from and where have you been) it was time to hit the town. Belgrade really came alive at night. I’m not just talking about the nightlife, but the city itself is lit up and compared to the dreary rain-soaked day time city, it really was quite pretty. With some new companions in tow, we wandered the streets, hit a couple of bars and were lucky enough to wrangle a “lock-in” at the “Black Turtle Pub”. Apparently closing time is a little hazy in this part of the world and as we wandered in, the bar tender (an amazingly beautiful blonde lass) told us we were out of luck. Thankfully the bar manager, three sheets to the wind himself, thought we would have just enough time for “a” drink. “A” drink turned into a multitude of drinks, predominantly variations of Rakia, as the bar manager took a shining to us. The doors were closed, the music was cranked and the time cruised by. There was a jovial group of Serbs hiding in the back room and their singing fought with the trashy house music until, swayed by the amazing voices of two young lasses in particular, the bar manager turned off the sound system. Not your average night out. It all finished with a wander back through town and passed the parliament building. “Why mention the parliament building?” you say. Well, a little bit of dutch courage and some fairly easily accessible statues meant that it didn’t take much encouragement for me to climb one. Naturally I didn’t dawdle because “Why were you climbing one of our monuments?” was not a conversation I wanted to have with the Serbian police.
Statue climbing in Serbia
Day three in Belgrade was met with more rain, but the surprise arrival of Eliss, meant the dreary weather was much more bearable. We spent the day talking rubbish, eating and, taking advantage of a brief pause in the rain, explored the Kalemegdan Citadel. The citadel is perched up on the highest point in town, watching over the Sava River and has a rich military history (around 115 battles) in it’s short time since being built in the 18th century by the Turks and Austro-Hungarians. What interested me more is the way it has been integrated into modern society. The steep walls are now used as fences for tennis and baseball courts, museums have taken over the larger buildings and little craft shops are scattered throughout the labyrinthine inner wall structures.
Unfortunately that was pretty much it for my Belgrade experience. The rain and a sense of isolation meant that I don’t think I explored anywhere near enough. I’m told the nightlife is to be reckoned with but, being still to early in the season, many of the River Clubs weren’t open and the town was a little quiet. Igor (legend) organised a door to door mini-van service for my travel to Zagreb, Croatia for only one euro more than the regular public bus, one of those secrets you never find without some local help, and it was time to disappear into Croatia.
Crabb walking 
Tesla for the win!! Good to see you writing again mate