Blogs from Belgrade, West, Serbia, Europe - page 7

A Serbian taxi driver said that many of the most interesting historical buildings in Serbia had been bombed out of existence. He said Serbians are "like Americans ... you have to kill every last one of us before we will quit fighting when we are at war." If you want to see history, you go to where the "cowards" live. Then he asked me where my ancestors are from. I told him my family comes from Ireland. He told me I was 100% Serbian then, because I fight like an American and I drink like a Serbian. He was missing some facts as some of you may know, but I get his point. I told him I thought he was an educated man, because of his superior grasp of history and language. He said he had ... read more

Day 19 - Day 5 in Belgrade Fri 21/06/2013 'Sleeping with the enemy' Useful advice - don't get drunk before bedtime when camping. Woke up this morning to find 3 well fed mosquitoes inside my tent - horror. How did the mosquitoes get inside the tent? It turned that I was so drunk that I left a little opening in the tent, enough for the mosquitoes to get inside. Those mosquitoes paid the ultimate price for biting me at night. I had some more of those delicious Serbian ice cream in Belgrade and then decided to visit Serbia's second city - Novi Sad. No, not new sad, there is nothing sad about the city. Novi Sad means 'New Plantation'. It was over 1 hour drive North, but it was worth it. Today, the temperature reached a ... read more

This morning I cycled from the campsite to Belgrade, a total distance of 10 miles and it tool me just over 2 hours. I was pretty exhausted by the time I got there, just shows how unfit I have become. There is a great cycle route in the capital that runs along the Danube. Very safe with a fantastic view of the river and the capital city. The bike has made many friends as shown in the pictures. Someone in the market offered me €20 for the bicycle which I thought was very funny. The market place was full of people and stocked with all sorts of local produce, mainly fruit and vegetables, very little meat around. The people in Belgrade are friendly enough and I occasionally get a wave from other drivers. I was sitting ... read more

Novi Sad and Belgrade, Serbia (Srbija) 4 to 8 June 2013We come to Serbia to mainly see 2 places, Novi Sad and the capital Belgrade (Beograd) and learn quickly that it is a country of much to see, beautiful cliff lined River Danube in the north, quaint little country villages, good and terrible roads, friendly people, wide rural regions, with wheat, maize and canola crops as well as row cropping. It is green and has been wet on and off. The River Danube flows down through its centre.Men are prominent in this country (only from an outsider’s observation so we may be incorrect). When we arrive at a local restaurant, particularly in the rural areas, we mainly see men socializing…loudly.We come here a little reticent but leave with confidence that they are trying to improve facilities ... read more

It was a country (that used to be), which I came to know about from playing erasers with country flags on them. Basically each eraser has a country’s flag and name imprinted on it and the game revolves around getting one’s eraser on top of opponent’s one, thus ‘conquering’ it. That’s also how I got introduced to many countries that still would sound foreign to some. Hah, childhood game with educational value! Anyway, the story would not be about the childhood but about the concretizing and then materializing of plans to visit parts of former Yugoslavia. I was intrigued by the history of the country that used to be. I was puzzled why that word Yugoslavia was consigned to history textbooks, especially when I grew up with the notion that it is (was) a great kingdom. ... read more