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Published: June 29th 2009
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Knez Mihajlova street
Older part of Belgrade city We took the overnight night train to Serbia. Realising that we had no money on the train we panicked as we thought we needed a visa to enter Serbia. 'Take credit card?’ doesn’t really cut it at the border at 4am. Visions of being dumped off the train and having to wait over night at some forgotten station in no-mans-land began running though my mind…Doah!!
Luckily when the police arrived in the cabin, the EU membership thingy seemed to hold a lot of weight especially for ‘wanna be members’ - No visa requirement at all for existing EU members. Nice one!
Nicola got singled out though for special treatment as the police seemed to think she could be some sort of fugitive. The police officer radio’d back to base ‘Keaneee, Keaneee’ after reading her passport. We couldn’t understand the reply of the follow up conversation but he seemed to approve and gave us the thumbs up with a big Serbian welcome stamp in our passports. EU membership rocks!
Serbia was originally a part of Yugoslavia along with Croatia, Kosovo (which is still not recognized by all countries - see note below), Bosnia, Slovenia, Montenegro and finally Formal Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia. Over the years the declaration of member Republics to declare independence and look for the international community recognition has caused much war and political tensions between the different ethic groups. Slobodan Milosevic, former head of Yugoslavia, was arrested and put on trial for war crimes against humanity as well as illegal funding of the Serbian army in Bosnia and many of the other wars which ensued ethic tension.
Sitting in the coffee shop in the town centre these days, it would nearly pass for O’Connell Street in Dublin. The centre of the city has been done up and café’s and restaurants are a common occurrence. The city is not geared for tourists and we felt like locals as no one batted an eyelid at our presence. Western capitalism seems to be finding its way into every corner of the former communist state and the quest for westernised living is pervasive.
Poverty is still self evident on the outskirts of the city with the common tower block theme, as well as the shanty towns with people living in unimaginable conditions by western standards. Contrary to a popular belief peddled in the West though, towers blocks are
not just inhabited by poor people OR no-go-areas. Like many things in life they have just evolved overtime. Yes they look shabby but don't confuse this with dangerous or bad!
Belgrade is not really an 'easy on the eye' city and once you’ve seen one grotesque communist architecture type city you feel like you’ve seen them all. I think I need a new scene!
As one blog reader and Belgrade local has pointed out "In general Belgrade is not a place where you come as a tourist seeking a lot of sightseeing, it's more of a city where you come if you are looking for a great nightlife".
We are heading on to Sarajevo for a few days as we have heard its a nice place to visit and of course steeped in history after the Siege of Sarajevo in the 1990’s by the Serbs which I am looking forward to learning more about.
Some Trivia *The International Criminal Tribunal charged Milošević with crimes against humanity, violating the laws or customs of war, grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions and genocide for his role during the wars in Croatia, Bosnia, and Kosovo. Milošević conducted
PRINTING MONEY
Heavy pockets - All these notes add to about 1 EURO his own defense, but the trial ended without a verdict because he died of a heart attack during the proceedings, after nearly five years in the War Criminal Prison in The Hague.
*In 2008, the parliament of Kosovo unilaterally declared independence from Serbia. Serbia asserts Kosovo as its southern province ruled by a temporary government, setup by the United Nations. Serbia's government, as well as the UN Security Council, has not recognized Kosovo's independence. The response from the international community has been mixed. Presently, Kosovo is recognized by 60 out of 192 UN member states. On October 8, 2008, the UN General Assembly approved Serbia's request to ask a U.N. court if Kosovo's secession was legal. The International Court of Justice was expected to take one to two years to issue its opinion.
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