Blogs from Serbia, Europe - page 13

“They used to hold Beer Fest in Kalemegdan, until a guy fell into the zoo and got eaten by a bear…. Oh, and here is the Roman well; a tourist fell in and died….” I had been told that Serbia was quite safe these days, but apparently wandering around the sprawling citadel complex of Kalemedgan in Belgrade is not for the faint-hearted. If I was to believe these stories my friend Duscia was telling me, this was treacherous territory indeed. Actually, I found Belgrade, and Serbia in general, about as warm and welcoming – and safe! – as one could hope for. I was visiting mainly to indulge in some Ottoman tourism (see my blog entry at: http://boundarystones.blogspot.com/2012/08/ottoman-ghosts-1-serbia.html), but I had the added bonus of getting to see, if briefly, a Serbian friend from Khartoum. And ... read more

12/07 I knew that I’d return to Exit this year and I bought the ticket already in April. Four days of extreme pleasure do not happen always. This time, though, I felt much better during the night and almost didn’t get tired and danced much less; generally, I spent less time at the festival, but that does not mean that I disliked it or anything of the kind. I just rested more. As always happens during my short trips, I had to make certain translations, so the pattern of the stay in Novi Sad was translate – dance – sleep – eat – translate – sleep – dance – sleep – eat – translate etc… This time I stayed in student dormitory Bajic alone in the room, because the second man moved out of the room ... read more

After writing about Vukovar I can't think of an appropriate pun to use in the title of this entry! Any ideas for this and future country/city puns please let me know. When the Vukovar visit was over, we moved on the most appropriate activity for travellers sobered by recent history - a wine tasting! Actually two different wine tastings scheduled for the same day! Still on the Croatian side, we rolled up just before noon, ready to take the edge off the day. I should probably add now that as I write this, it has been at least 35 degrees every day for the last 7 days. There is talk of a storm this weekend, but who knows when this unseasonably early heatwave will end. We firstly viewed the wine cellars and learned about the history ... read more

After the extraordinary level of helpfulness from the guys in the management and press office of KK Crvena Zvezda in procuring the basketball derby ticket the previous night, there is always one that spoils it. My mind suffers eternal flashback to the security guard waving his gun at an empty BKV Elore in Budapest. Belgrade's "Mr Unhelpful" was to be found at the defunct home of FK Obilic. In advance of my derby ticket forray, I had decided another tour of the grounds was in order. If you are reading this blog and have read others, you will have spotted the pattern developing - if there is some stadium architecture to see, I will endeavour to get to it. It really is a great way to see behind the scenes of a city - to go ... read more

Nous redoutions un peu le trajet entre Sibiu et Belgrade. 7 heures de train pour se rendre à Timisoara, arrivée vers 22h40. Le lendemain, départ à 5h40 du matin pour une combinaison train-bus de 4 heures jusqu'à Belgrade en Serbie. Ça avait bien commencé, un gentil Justin Bieber roumain m'a aidé à placer mes bagages dans le compartiment et Nellie a fait une longue sieste. Mais quand Justin et grand-maman Bieber sont débarqués, une vieille dame roumaine est entrée et une terrible avalanche de mots roumains s'est déclenchée. Blablablablaaaablablablablablabl....Elle arrêtait pas de parler (fort!) à l'autre madame de notre compartiment, qui a fini par se sauver car elle débarquait bientôt, la chanceuse. L'attention de la vieille pie roumaine s'est donc dirigé vers qui vous pensez? Le fait qu'on ne parle son langage ne la dérangeait pas ... read more