Casual anecdotes aside, I got into Belgrade at c. 7am after spending the night on a train from Podgorica (Montenegro), which lasted about 11 hours. I have already been on 3 or 4 of these by now. As per my previous post, after walking around the city for a mere 2 hours (which, by the way, is more than enough...) I hit the train station. After a totally unsuccessful attempt to communicate (in English) with the teller at the ticket/information kiosk, I got into the "waiting lounge", which was more a smoking spot for those who preferred not to wait out in the cold. Two or three locals attempted to initiate a conversation - I am guessing to discuss my itinerary, destination, etc. as they saw me with my two bags but, again, conversation cut short. My three/four words in serbian/croatian/slovene (and slavic for that matter) do not enable me to go very far in a fluid conversation... unfortunately. I did manage to give my neighbour the time though (he asked me by pointing to my watch... and I responded by, physically, showing him the time). In any case, the train ended up being packed as the route actually starter in Bar (on the Montenegro coast) and Podgorica was one of the many (many!) stops along the way. I did manage to sleep rather well in spite of being in a full (6-person, yes all the trains in the Balkans seem to have the same design, probably from the former Yugoslavia days... only a wild guess though!) - which, after these past few days of overnight travel, has been quite rare. After getting to Belgrade, I went directly to my hostel to drop off my big bag, rest a bit, post... and get ready to hit the streets with my Canon.
Belgrade, and Serbia in general, has a different flair compared to the rest of the balkans. One can really tell it was at the heart of Tito's Social Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and was regarded "de facto" as the world capital of the "Non-Aligned Movement" he chaired upon the organisation's creation in 1961. The city counts hundreds of ample (4-lane +) boulevards, majestic squares/roundabouts and colossal buildings designed and shaped in the most "Socialist" of styles. Nonetheless, the city has also been at the centre of ancient history's most relevant events (as many other cities + countries in this part of the world). One can not only feel the ancient Ottoman influence as well as the more contemporary Orthodox present (most notably illustrated by the Cathedral of Saint Sava and St Mark's Church) but also the centuries in between, the passing of the world wars, the communist era and also, rather sadly so, the infamous legacy of Slobodan Milosevic. One of the most impressive sights I managed to savour was the Kalamegdan Fortress (more commonly know as the Belgrade Fortress), which was founded in the 3rd century BC by a Celtic tribe, the Scordisci. The views of the city as well as of Novi Beograd (which began its development as an urban area of Belgrade in 1947 under, you guessed it right, Tito's grand urban development schemes) are fantastic and one can even visit the outdoor military museum on display within the fortress. The rest of the day was very much spent visiting the city. Only spot I missed was the "House of Flowers", or Tito's mausoleum in south Belgrade. The second day I spent in Serbia I went to the northern city of Novi Sad (which is the country's second largest and a c. 2 hour train ride away from Belgrade). The town is famous for hosting a world-famous music festival every summer (you all know I am a big fan of these things!!), the EXIT festival (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exit_(festival)), which was organised for the first time in 2000 and became a symbol of the resistance of Serbia's younger generations against the Milosevic's government at the time. I have shared some pictures of Novi Sad with you below. Well worth the visit if you have half a day to spare and you are in the vicinity of Belgrade. After eating a delicious "local pizza in a downtown restaurant and climbing up to the city fortress (yes... also another common theme in the Balkans - most cities have, in some shape or form, a fortress of some sort) I took the train back to Belgrade, headed to the hostel to collect my bags and got on an overnight train to Skopje (FYROM). That part of the journey calls for another chapter though.
In the meantime here are some pics of Belgrade and Novi Sad. As always, hope you like them!
By the way, did you know that the Cathedral of Saint Sava (also in the pics below), which I mentioned above, is the world's second largest orthodox "temple" in the world after the Cathedral of Christ Saviour in Moscow, Russia? Its construction began in 1990 and to this day is still mostly incomplete (more so on the inside, where there are barely any decorative motives and it is purely stone on the inside).
Talk to you very soon for further updates.
pv
