Belgrade anyone?

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Well after 12 hours in a place no-one could claim to understand it, or it's people. I accidentally spent this much time in Serbia, then deliberately 24h in Montenegro.

What I do want to say is that the Slavik states, in particular Serbia, have always been in dispute. fighting has never been far from these people (WW1 started here). Throughout history these states have been amalgamated and broken apart, often with serbia in control. Today they are almost completely separated - Montenegro voted and gained independance in May this year, and the Serbs are currently having a referendum as to whether Kosovo should be allowed to break off as well. I don't know how this'll work, I understand the majority of Kosovar people want to, but there are far more in Serbia. If the vote is based purely on numbers isn't it obvious who'll win? Milosevic may now be dead, but so is Zoran Djindjic his democratically elected successor.

I'll leave you with my (translated!) diary excerpt and a few photos...

Well that settles that I guess.. I had to stop for 12h 'cos the train I was supposed to take isn't going. Luckily train station staff are great, everyone who's had to help me has been russian-stuck-in-the-system-come-back-when-someone-else-is-working friendly. Then when I don't need a hand, people have gone out of their way to help.. maybe they just don't like work? I don't blame them.. I'm rapidly getting more adverse the closer I get to the big bad UK 😊 i'm so dirty, wish i could have a shower. my train problem has partially solved my cheapness problem (trains overnight save on having to book accomodation) at the expense of a shower tonight. Oh well, hopefully the train's empty as it was last night, a whole carriage to myself!

I'm sitting in the citadel at the heart of Belgrade - it's beautiful and sunny and there are kids everywhere! The military museum next door has an amazing display of paraphinelia - including some US military equipment from 6 years ago. This is the first place I've been where history tells us the locals were the "bad guys", war feels like a part of life here.. Conflict is so recent, it feels strange wandering around their home when the people involved are still round.. I guess there's two sides to every history, there's certainly no obvious sign of remorse. Or maybe i wasn't looking in the right place.. The part of the military museum I understood was all about "look how bad the US was to us", with no mention of the Serbian violence... It's hard to figure.

Stopping in Montenegro was another "necessary" break to make a long journey bearable. It was lucky really, my train carriage was overfull and the guy sitting opposite chain smoked just about all night, despite sitting right under the "no smoking" sign 😊 Kotor sounded like an interesting spot for a visit, and the fjord looked incredible as we zig-zagged down the steep road at the head of the valley. I had to take a second take as I stepped off the bus though as right accross the road was a closed down 'Duty Free' store, a sure sign I couldn't afford this place 😊

Luckily it was quiet and i managed to find a homestay within the walls of the old town for just 20 bucks a night. The weather was good, and there were plenty of walks around the town (freebies!).. I spent a good proportion of my time hanging out in the sun at the castle above the town or by the water 😊 As usual in really touristy places, it was hard to find random people to talk to.. but time to myself was good. Can't wait to catch up with the girls 😊

This journal has changed from the one I hurriedly tried to write in Croatia... What may make sense and provoke memories in a journal may read very badly when the context is removed... apologies, K.

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Photos

Catching the train into Belgrade
Is this what I expected Serbia to look like??

Montenegro
Beautiful old town Kotor from the castle

Central Belgrade
Complete with small Turkish bath, showing the standing influence of the Ottoman turks who ruled for some 500 years

Never far from war
Military museum at the Kalmegdon citadel. Now the most beautiful, peaceful place to relax in the city.

Military relics
Military museum, 13th centuary Serbian arms and armour

Military relics
Military museum, 20th centuary US arms and armour (parts of a shot down F117)

"Arms and equipment of the captured American soldiers"
Notice the photos of the Serbian civillians killed by these weapons. no mention of the reason for the war or the "cleansed" Kosovar people.

Outside my homestay
the dark, narrow streets of a Medieval town

Kotor
taken from the far side of the fjord. the castle is on the top of the near ridge.

Comments

[Sophie]

Kotor
Hey dude :-) So chuffed you went to Kotor! Spectacularrr eh! It was one of my favourite places. Dubrovnik too. hehe I too had an encounter with a snake on a croatian island. think I even managed to get a photo. Lovin vicaritravelling and remembering it all through you guys. xx Soph.

[Ivan]

"...a Proud country with fighting in its blood..."
"...a Proud country with fighting in its blood..." I am trully curious to know what your opinion is going to be when in 20 years the English, French, Dutch, and many other nations spend some time cleansing the Arabs out of Western Europe.....Last time I checked all these countries have a rich history of violence....It is comical how people like yourselves overlook that...Almost as comical as Turks being regarded as civilized people in todays world....

[branko]

Oh, they ... always right!
Or ... Americans (and anglos in general) as "free" and "democratic" ... It's just the BS they are born with ... like a retarded tatoo they carry all their lifes.

[Ernest]

hi there!!
ol_boss, I was just reading ur blog n I think it's very xcitin', what u have seen so far. I'm from Poland and I haven't started this exciting lifestyle yet. Your photos and article is very interesting, so I learned very much about Balkan countries. I wish you good luck in your travelling experiences and I'm keeping an eye on your blog for even more interesting stuff.