Tesla Girls & Red Star Boys

---

We arrived back at the Bus Station in Belgrade, after 3 days in the north. The arrivals is across the road in a separate section and the missing onslaught of taxi touts from the airport are all there in force. We ignored the clamour and proceeded to walk up the hill towards Republic Square to get a bus to our accommodation - a word of warning if carrying a large rucksack, the hill is steep!

One of the things we didn't accomplish in the previous few days, was go to the Nicola Tesla Museum (200 dinars). He was basically the father of modern electricity - although as non-scientists we seemed to have allowed this to by-pass us on the journey through life. After various studies and jobs around Europe, he went to the USA to turn his theories into hard cash. However, Tesla's main competitor in the world of pioneering electrical development - a certain Thomas Edison - seemed to have had a better business brain and successfully nicked all the glory along the way. The museum is a combination of a film, displays and models demonstrating his various theories and inventions - the basis for the world's first electric motors, the first remote control device and even the technology for a vertical take and landing aircraft later developed further into the Harrier. There is plenty of English translation in all aspects of the museum, so Tesla's world is a lot clearer after the experience.

The title, Tesla Girls was immortalised in the song by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, which has references in the lyrics to the tussle between Tesla and Edison for supremacy in the electrical field and also seemed an appropriate title for this blog. There appears to be a certain "electricity" passed off by the girls of Serbia, who turn heads in a way similar to those in Argentina. It's just a terrible shame that for every drop dead gorgeous woman, there is usually a cigarette for company. The prices for 20 are similar to those in somewhere like Latvia - as low as 65 or 70 pence, so that must fuel the fire so to speak. While you can't smoke in the odd public place such as on a bus or tram, there appears no concept of a separate non-smoking area in a restaurant or cafe and the only exception we found was in the Partizan WaterPolo Club cafe. In summer, it was tolerable due to being able to spend time drinking on the terraces - winter in a crowded bar could be a whole different ball game. They are perhaps just making hay while the sun shines - it can't last if Serbia joins the EEC!

As we said in the last blog, everybody was super friendly - even the market traders who insisted on giving extra when you asked for two apples, when it would have been so easy to rip us off. The only real tension we experienced anywhere was outside Red Star Belgrade. There was no game on, just a few people buying tickets for an away match and obviously a foreigner taking photos of the graffiti outside the Marakana rouses the curiosity. The Red Star employee who didn't think it was appropriate to take more than two pictures of the stadium without making a visit to the museum was also a bit on the over zealous side. We did actually get to a Partizan v Red Star game - see photos - but it wasn't quite what was envisaged.

A bit further along the 40 bus route just down from Partizan and Red Star is the other end of the Serbian First Division spectrum. In among the imposing tower blocks of Vozdovac, is Stadium na Banjici - home of FK Rad. There is a main stand - the only stand - part of which is given over to the groundsman's house complete with washing line and a restaurant with a terrace in the lower tier. There is also what looks like a large chimney at one end, in case the pizza chef is less than focussed? It seems the suburbs of Belgrade have a stray dogs issue and Vozdovac is no exception - as demonstrated by the cute young puppies hanging around the bus stop waiting for a tit bit.

We took an 84 bus to Zemun, once an individual town and the extremities of the Hapsburgs rule but now fully incorporated as a suburb of Novi Belgrade. The same cobbled streets as in Skadarska are here and a very busy water front lined by various cafes and restaurants. We climbed the hill to the look at the Millennium Tower - built by the Hungarians in 1896 to mark a 100 years of their presence in the region. It is closed to the public and in a bit of a sorry state, but there are still tremendous views back across the river and the city.

---