My plan initially was to go from Athens to Sofia and Sofia to Belgrade, BECAUSE there were train lines between those cities. Well, none of those lines were working when I was traveling, so I ended up buying a bus ticket, for a six hour ride, from Sofia to Belgrade. The ride was fine except there were lots of people coughing and sniffing so I felt I should wear a mask the whole time. After about an hour we got to the Bulgaria/Serbia border. We all had to get out with our passports and line up to be stamped. This took half an hour. Then we loaded back on and drive 100 meters to the Serbian border where we again unloaded for a passport check. Not sure why we didn’t just walk from one to the other. Maybe they don’t always check at both borders…? Anyway, that all took time so it ended up being a 7.5 hour trip in actuality.
It was clear right away that Serbia is better off economically than Bulgaria: the road was newly redone (in fact still under construction in some sections, but almost finished) and included pricey solutions like long tunnels. The tunnels were necessary because we went through some beautiful mountainous areas and then into some good farmland. I also saw signs of active manufacturing, something that was clearly not happening in Bulgaria, though I did see lots of abandoned warehouses and factories.
On arrival in Belgrade, I intended to walk the 20 mins to my airBNB as the host had informed me that it was the Belgrade marathons and roads were blocked. However, I was dragging my bag over cobblestones and then a gravel path, so when I saw a taxi, I waved him down. He told me 20 euros, and I said, “No, meter”. As I was negotiating with him, a woman tapped me and mentioned not to talk to him anymore. She was a Serbian who spoke great English and she was also looking for a cab and she called one and said we could share once she learned where I was going. She also showed me the app to use, Yandex Go, where the price was displayed and neither the driver nor I even had to discuss it. This made my stay in Belgrade much more pleasant!
We got close to my apartment which was located right between the national and city parliament buildings and right on the finish line of the marathon which had just ended. I was able to see the thank yous for the volunteers and red cross and there were lots of people walking around and sitting in cafes looking wiped out and wearing medals around their necks. It was 27 degrees and sunny and I already liked Belgrade a lot better than Bulgaria!
The main attraction in Belgrade according to the internet is the Kalemegdan Fortress which is on a promontory overlooking the city. I entered through a beautiful park and an imposing arched tunnel entry to breach the fortified walls.
Once inside, there was a display of tanks and military equipment as this is the location of the Military museum. Once inside the fortified walls, I realized that there wasn’t really much of a fortress anymore. The walls surround a flat park area (loved this little archery station) and there are some turrets in the walls, but not much else is left.
The actual fortress was built and destroyed many times over the history of the city, but now is most famous for a statue called “the Victor”. It is a bronze of a naked man holding a dove and a sword. It was initially intended for placement in the city center, but there were objections to the nudity so it was placed on a very tall column (so nobody can see much of anything offensive) and it overlooks the city. Sorry, but what you see jutting out is the sword handle! I’m sure the Tallahassee Classical School in Florida would approve.
This is a statue I saw near Meteora Greece, whose naked groin was plastered over. I don’t get this kind of thinking!
There was a nice view down to the river and the boats, many of which are clubs which contribute to Belgrade reputation as the Balkan’s party city.
Since I’ll be spending the next few weeks traveling through former Yugoslavian countries, I thought I should brush up on the recent history which led to the break up. I found this very fast overview entertaining and informative The BALKANS Explained (Geography Now!). As I understand it, Serbia is pretty much blamed for the war(s) in the 1990s. However, Serbians believe that they were just trying to preserve the Yugoslav federation that had been working for years. Tito was the main architect of that federation and its leader for almost four decades and is still very respected in Serbia. I intended to go to the Museum of Yugoslavia and learn more about it, but laziness overtook me and I decided to take a day off from tourism.
I looked into my next steps and found that once again, the train routes that had initially been the impetus for my itinerary were not really working out. A train ride from Belgrade to Tivat Montenegro was possible, but would take 14 hours, while it was only a 50 minute flight! I already knew I might need to rent a car for some of my Dalmatian coast travel, but as I look at the options to go between Serajevo, Mostar, Kotor, Dubrovnik and Split, I decided to throw in the towel on the train options and rent a car for two weeks starting in Tivat Montenegro and ending in Zagreb, Croatia. And so ended my adventures in Serbia!
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