I feel like I start out half of my posts with, "When it only costs €150 for the entire family of four (plus a suitcase) to travel to ____, then you buy the tickets and go!"
That's what happened here, yet again. Having grown up in the 80s and 90s, the Balkan countries (which make up the former Yugoslavia) were always in the news. I never thought I would ever get to visit them!
Let's go to Belgrade, shall we?
Flying into Belgrade, I spotted the Avala Tower. It's the tallest tower in the Balkans, and the original tower was destroyed in the Nato bombings in April 1999. This rebuild was completed in 2009 and was two meters higher than the old one. To put it in perspective, there are only two towers in the United States that are taller: The Stratosphere in Las Vegas and the Tower of the Americas in San Antonio.
OK Belgrade, you're already making me laugh with your funny baggage claim area. As my friend Megan said, "Are those Yugos?!?" Actually, I believe that's a Fiat.
The brutalist style Western Gate greets you as you drive into Belgrade from the airport. There used to be a revolving restaurant at the top, but it's been closed for a while. The taller of the two towers is for commercial use, and the shorter is for housing.
Our apartment in Belgrade was at a really nice location. The Belgrade Cooperative bank was right at the end of our street, as were lots of restaurants and small stores.
I'd like to say this was the funniest story of our trip, but I might have to give it the #2 spot considering what we went through to get home. Todd sent his family a text that read, "Hey everyone. Made it to Belgrade without problems today. We'll be here til Monday!" He then included this screen capture. His sister Helen wrote, "Wow. Be safe!" Then his mother piped in and said, "What's happening?" and his other sister Kathleen said, "What's wrong?" So (through our laughter), Todd responded with, "Nothing's wrong. We're in Belgrade. Beautiful city. Perfectly safe." And Helen replied, "Lol the map looked scary!"
As usual, we didn't have a ton of time to explore on Friday when we arrived since we got there in the late afternoon. We walked around our neighborhood, did some shopping for water and breakfast stuff, and then stopped at Burrito Madre for dinner. Burrito Madre makes some incredible burritos. I can't tell you the last time I had a burrito. So why not in Serbia!? These things were huge!
Must have been a long day traveling to Serbia! Their sleeping styles reflect their personalities perfectly.
Our first full day in Belgrade was cloudy but there was no rain, and the temperatures weren't bad. So we walked to Republic Square to do the Belgrade Free Walking Tour. We liked it so much in Sofia, why not try it out in Belgrade!?
Since (obviously) Serbia doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving, they've already moved directly onto Christmas.
The Belgrade Free Walking Tour meets up in Republic Square, so we met up with our guide Ivan and we nearly got a personalized tour, but a nice lady from Iran joined us for the two hour tour. The statue in the center of Republic Square is that of Prince Mihailo Obrenović, who was dubbed the Prince Liberator after he freed Serbia from (who else?) the Ottomans. Our guide Ivan told us that he is pointing toward Turkey, as if to tell the Ottoman's "go back to your home!" You can also see that the horse has his left front hoof raised up. This means the rider was wounded in battle or died later of the wounds he sustained in battle, or in this case... he was assassinated (two hooves up means they died in battle.)
The building behind the statue (and behind these goofballs) is the National Museum of Belgrade. Everywhere we went in Belgrade, there was construction being done. Ivan told us that there was a mayoral race coming up, and the current mayor, who hasn't done anything for the city for his entire term, has suddenly decided that everything needs to be renovated. That includes the National Museum. Unfortunately for us, that meant it was closed. Inside, it houses a large number of works by Monet, Cezanne, Renoir, Picasso and many others, as well as a mummy! Before it was the National Museum, this was a building that had a bunch of cafes and other shops beneath it where the Bohemian and artist crowds would gather. Back in the day, when they wanted to get together at one of these cafes, they would say, "Let's meet under the horses ass."
I'm certain Ivan (on the right) gets tired of holding this sign every day. Good thing he had a super eager kid to help him out today.
Next, we made our way into the Skadarlija neighborhood. This neighborhood is the funky, colorful Bohemian neighborhood, full of kafanas, which started out as little coffeehouses but eventually morphed into taverns that serve food and drinks. All of the poets and writers of the day would come to these kafanas and discuss politics and have deep, meaningful discussions about art, culture, and poetry. Before the National Theater was built, this was even a place to come to see theater plays, despite the cramped quarters. I took a bunch of pictures but they paled in comparison to the pictures I took the following day when it was sunny (so you'll have to keep reading to see this stunning neighborhood!). We did stop to whisper sweet nothings into the ear of the most famous Serbian poet and painter, Djura Jakšić. He lived in the building behind Todd, and rumor has it, if you whisper in his ear, you will enjoy much Rakia! (If you recall, Rakia is a tasty but strong drink that the Bulgarians claim is theirs, but the Serbian's also claim they are the rightful inventors of the plum schnapps!)
The Bajloni family started the brewery that used to be housed here back in the late 1800s. When he began digging, he found bones of a wolly mammoth and Neanderthal men! Unfortunately, after changing hands a couple of times, the brewery was closed in 2008. The building was going to be torn down, but in true Bohemian fashion, they repurposed it and now it's a bunch of cafes and bars.
The Bajrakli Mosque is the only remaining mosque in the city of Belgrade after the Ottoman's were ousted in 1815 (this must have planted the seed in the Bulgarian's mind since it occurred much earlier than their revolution). During the Ottoman rule, there had been as many as 273 mosques. Why were they (all but one) destroyed? Because when the Ottoman's came in, they destroyed many of Serbia's churches and replaces them with the mosques. So as a "take that!" to the Ottoman's, all but one of the mosques were destroyed. In fact, this had even ceased operating as a mosque for a time after the Ottoman's were kicked out. However, under Mihailo (the guy on the horse in Republic Square... come on! Follow along!) it resumed operations as a mosque so that business travelers of the Islamic faith would have a place to worship in Belgrade.
Although you can barely see it, there is a flag sticking out of the minaret. Back then, the flag was placed on the minaret so that they could signal to all of the other (272) mosques in the city that it was time for the call to prayer. Hence the name of the mosque - Bayrakli means, "with flag" in Turkish.
Natalie and I are listening to what Ivan has to say. Grant... not so much.
The Serbians are EXTREMELY proud of their basketball team. They will tell you that they are the "Number 2 team in the world!" Second only to the United States, of course. Ivan was a big fan of basketball and knowing we were from Boston asked if we watched the Celtics a lot. Funny too- when he talked about "Celtic" influences in Serbia, he actually called it Celtic like the Boston Celtics, ha ha. We had a nice discussion about Gordon Hayward's injury. EWWWW.
For the record and completely off topic, while not perfect, the Belgrade sidewalks were vastly superior to the sidewalks in Sofia.
Next we walked through Kalemegdan Park to get to the Belgrade Fortress. There's still plenty of leaves on some of the trees in Belgrade.
The Zindan Gate Complex of the Belgrade Fortress was built in the 15th century (behind it there is yet another gate known as the Despot Gate). The Ottoman's used these towers as dungeons. Zindan is Turkish for "dungeon," hence the name.
Looking down into the lower town beneath the Belgrade Fortress. This is also the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers. The lower town is comprised of more ramparts and towers, fields for soccer, a museum and a planetarium. All built in the floodplain!
Sorry for the poor quality of this picture. It actually wasn't my camera this time! It was actually the cloudy, smoggy weather. But the flat roofed building on the right with all of the windows (in the distance, sorry... it's a bit difficult to see) is the Serbian Government building. One thing that got ZERO mentions on this tour (except when I asked) is Slobodan Milošević. This is the building he worked in. If you don't remember, or were too young at the time to remember, back in 1999 the Serbs were committing genocide of ethnic Albanians living in Kosovo, which was a part of Serbia at the time. Milošević, President of Yugoslavia at the time, was arrested and charged with crimes against humanity and genocide. He died before the end of his (already) five year trial, and it was later found that there was actually no connection between the government of Serbia and those who were committing the genocide down in Kosovo. He was posthumously found guilty of not preventing the genocide and not punishing those who were responsible. Although not currently considered an independent nation by the United Nations, Kosovo does have diplomatic recognition by 110 of the 193 United Nations member countries. Interestingly, as an American you can't travel from Kosovo to Serbia without having to enter from another country, unless you originally started your trip in Serbia, traveled to Kosovo, and are now traveling back to Serbia (with proof you didn't go anywhere else but Kosovo.)
This is Pobednik, otherwise known in English as The Victor. He sits at the top of the upper town of the fortress, overlooking the lower town and the confluence of the Sava and the Danube. He was originally to stand in the center of Belgrade near Republic Square but the decision to place him here in late 1920s was due to women's groups being very upset that he was nudie kazooties! In reality, he was meant to be a Herculean type figure, and a symbol of the Serbian victories over the Ottoman's and in World War I.
It was foggy and cloudy all day, but the views from the Belgrade Fortress were still pretty good. Although we couldn't see some of the buildings Ivan told us about in the distance. The rounded top bridge in the distance (the Old Sava Bridge) was built by the Germans during their occupation in WWII. It's the ONLY bridge in all of Europe that was built by the Germans and NOT destroyed during the German withdrawal at the end of World War II. Why not? Because a school teacher named Miladin Zarić foiled the Germans plans! The German's set up explosives on the bridge to slow the Russian Army's advances as the German's fled out of Belgrade, but Zarić (who happened to have a lot of experience defusing bombs and mines in the Balkan War and in World War I) cut the wires to the explosives that the Germans had set up beneath the bridge, thus saving it from its demise.
Natalie holding the upside down kettlebell sign (come on! That's what it looks like!) at the Belgrade Fortress. You can see The Victor and the Danube behind her. She also happens to be standing at the top of the Small Staircase. This staircase was designed by Jelisaveta Nacic, who was the first female architect in all of Serbia! Girl power!
The end of the tour found us over near the Serbian Orthodox Cathedral of St. Michael the Archangel, where I noticed this building. Ivan said it was new, out of place and NO ONE liked it. All I could think was how my architect friend Tom Williams would hate this. A five-year-old with Legos could do better than this!
After the tour, we were hungry so we hit up the ? Kafana. It's the oldest kafana in all of Serbia, opening in 1823. The name is rather funny... it was originally called, "At the Cathedral Church" since it was across the street from the Cathedral of St. Michael the Archangel, but the church elders didn't like having this bar associated with their church, so they changed the name to ? as a temporary solution. Of course, the name stuck and it's still named that today. Inside, they had this cool drawing of the restaurant!
Go big or go home is our eating and drinking motto. Notice my rakia next to my beer!
Ziveli! A toast to having some lunch and drinks in the oldest kafana in Serbia! (Superlative! Check!)
Grant about died when Todd took out 20,000 diner at the airport when we arrived. You can see from our lunch bill, that amount doesn't really get you that far! The current exchange rate is that $1 = about 101 Serbian dinar. So when your bill for four at lunch comes out to 4601 dinar, don't be nervous. That's only about $46 (and that included 4 drinks!)
The sun popped out in the afternoon, so we hopped in a cab with our new favorite cab driver Zoran, cab driver to the stars to go see the famous St. Sava church. This was Natalie's and my reaction to when Zoran told us he just recently drove Kevin Costner around. (Or maybe right after Natalie asked, "Who's Kevin Costner?")
You can't go to Belgrade without visiting the Temple of St. Sava, the largest Orthodox church in the Balkans, and one of the largest in the world. St. Sava's body was burned on this site in 1595, but this church wasn't built until 1935. The outside was completed in 1989, but they're still working on the inside.
Not even close. Sagrada Familia feels more finished than St. Sava! When finished the round part of the ceiling will have a beautiful mosaic of tiles.
They had to make sure that everything was covered since all that construction work could damage what's already completed.
The basement is currently the real gem of St. Sava. The entire thing is incredibly bright, and most of it is in gold and marble. It appears to me to be complete.
A close up of the amazing chandelier that's in the center of the basement.
The frescoes were beautiful and the lighted columns reflected off of the gold painted walls. Interestingly, construction was started in 1935, but was put on hold during World War II, and then since times were tough during the communist era (even during the years that the beloved Tito ruled Yugoslavia), construction did not continue until 1985!
You've gotta be kidding me with this color!
The crypt and the treasury are held in the basement of St. Sava. As we walked around down here, I imagined that if the larger, upstairs portion of the church looks anything like this, it's going to be beautiful!
Everyone lean in and we'll take a picture with Jesus photobombing us in the background.
Before it closed, we wanted to hit up the Nikola Tesla museum which wasn't too far from the Temple of St. Sava. We had heard good things about it and it didn't disappoint. Nikola Tesla was Serbian born and raised, and essentially designed the AC system of electricity.
The famous Tesla Coil which produces wireless transmission of electricity. He invented this in 1891, which generated AC (alternating currents) of electricity. Tesla was a big proponent of AC, while his mentor (after he moved to the United States), Thomas Edison was a proponent of DC (direct current, which flows only in one direction).
First you watch a video (in English) about the life of Nikola Tesla. Then you go into the next room and the guide tells you about the Tesla coil and how it works. They also do a demonstration (sorry, the video we took was too large for this site) of how it can produce light. While I completely understand the concept, I was struggling to find a way to tell the reader exactly how this coil works. So I went to Easy Science for Kids (dot com) and they explained it this way: "It is an air-core transformer that makes light. This invention pushed the limits of electrical understanding. This step-up transformer increases the input of 120 volts AC to around 100,000 volts. It was the first ever system that could transmit electricity wirelessly." We all stood around with large unlit lights that looked like light sabers. He then turned on the machine and it transmits enough electricity to light our giant light bulbs. Pretty cool!
Nikola Tesla's ashes, above. Unfortunately, although Tesla's AC type of electric power eventually won out as the primary form of electricity that powers homes and businesses, he wasn't the most savvy of business men. He sold most of his patents to George Westinghouse, but in the end, wound up completely broke. Edison was a pursuer of patents, and most of his inventions were very well known, such as the phonograph (the world's first tape recorder), the incandescent light bulb, and of course, motion pictures.
Tesla was known to be a neat freak, and had a strange aversion to women's earrings. He was very prompt and systematic in his daily life. He had a photographic memory and rarely slept, and was an aficionado of food and fashion.
We hopped a cab back to the apartment and TB 45 snapped this cool picture of a decent Serbian sunset.
Dinner was at Restaurant Zavičaj. I'm pleased to announce that I scratched off ALL THREE Serbian foods from my scratch off food map. This wasn't one of them though, but the goulash was awesome!
THESE GOOFBALLS. This child has no teeth. He hasn't had teeth in a while. Poor kid.
On the walk home from dinner, we spotted this. Discount plastic surgery!
After a fun night of watching Auburn football and watching MTV and VH1 (can't remember the last time I did that! And they played actual music videos, too!), we woke up to a beautiful day in Belgrade!
We walked through the market on our way to Republic Square and this guy was slicing up a serious gourd.
The market sold mostly fruits and vegetables, along with some clothing. Meats and breads were sold in the rooms along the outer walls. Funny story- there were some women and children trying to sell things illegally outside of the market when we walked in, and when the police showed up, the women and children all scattered with their belongings! It was funny to watch them run and hide. You know they are just trying to make a living too, they just don't want to follow the rules!
They're eager to start the holiday season in Belgrade! The main drag, Kneza Mihaila is pedestrian only and lined with shops, restaurants (and apparently very scary clowns).
Looking down Kralja Petra toward the Cathedral of St. Michael the Archangel (again since we were there the day before).
The day before, when we were driving back to our apartment from St. Sava, we passed a sign that said, "Fashion and Friends." The kids and I about died. (Remember when we were in Macedonia and we saw the "We are twins. Fashion and Friends" sign? The kids talk about that silly sign ALL THE TIME.) So when we went to the little mall off of the main drag and the kids saw the actual store, they wanted their picture taken here!
Todd saw this and apparently I walked right past it. I must have been looking up instead of down.
We don't need no stinking proper spelling in our advertisements! English schmenglish!
We walked back through Republic Square to see our friend the Prince Liberator in the sunshine.
We had really enjoyed the artsy Skadarlija neighborhood the day before and wanted to take our guide Ivan's advice on getting a bite to eat there at one of the several old kafanas. It's amazing how much more beautiful this area was under sunshine and blue sky.
I love the colorful paint, funky decorations and tons of flower boxes.
The chairs and the flower pots here were ALMOST enough to make me want to stop and eat here. (Like, forget whatever they were serving or how good their food was!) If it had been summer, I would have definitely stopped here for a break!
They had plenty of tables set up outside in all of the restaurants of the Skadarlija, but it was a bit too chilly to sit outside!
Fall flowers in the baskets, yet the leaves were still mostly on the trees!
Grant trying to climb the fence of the old Bajloni brewery, where they used to make Aleksandar beer. He's such a goofball!
There are several well known and long running kafanas in the Skadarlija area, such as the Two Deer, Three Hats or the Golden Chalice. We chose to eat at the Two Deer, and it was beautiful inside!
We could NOT decide what to eat, so we went for the small plates, tapas style. I have to say, I've really enjoyed the food in the Balkans! It's not something they are really known for, but it's all been so delicious.
There's a little carnival like area at the foot of the Belgrade Fortress in Kalemegdan Park, and we promised the kids we would go there for a bit if they were good. So we headed there after lunch. This building! I don't know why, but I love it and I want to fix it up. I want to keep the paper stars in the windows, too!
"Your sons love you."
I can't read the last word, but I translated much of this to be, "Every week, are you hurting to be...." Am I hurting to be what? I need to know! The street art was really fantastic in Belgrade. The kids are now very well versed in the difference between graffiti and street art!
Me to the kids: "What country is that flag from?" Both kids: "Macedonia!" How many 8 and 10 year olds do you know that can identify the FYROM flag???
We don't need no stinking proper spelling in our advertisements! English schmenglish!
We walked back through Republic Square to see our friend the Prince Liberator in the sunshine.
We had really enjoyed the artsy Skadarlija neighborhood the day before and wanted to take our guide Ivan's advice on getting a bite to eat there at one of the several old kafanas. It's amazing how much more beautiful this area was under sunshine and blue sky.
I love the colorful paint, funky decorations and tons of flower boxes.
The chairs and the flower pots here were ALMOST enough to make me want to stop and eat here. (Like, forget whatever they were serving or how good their food was!) If it had been summer, I would have definitely stopped here for a break!
They had plenty of tables set up outside in all of the restaurants of the Skadarlija, but it was a bit too chilly to sit outside!
Fall flowers in the baskets, yet the leaves were still mostly on the trees!
Grant trying to climb the fence of the old Bajloni brewery, where they used to make Aleksandar beer. He's such a goofball!
There are several well known and long running kafanas in the Skadarlija area, such as the Two Deer, Three Hats or the Golden Chalice. We chose to eat at the Two Deer, and it was beautiful inside!
We could NOT decide what to eat, so we went for the small plates, tapas style. I have to say, I've really enjoyed the food in the Balkans! It's not something they are really known for, but it's all been so delicious.
There's a little carnival like area at the foot of the Belgrade Fortress in Kalemegdan Park, and we promised the kids we would go there for a bit if they were good. So we headed there after lunch. This building! I don't know why, but I love it and I want to fix it up. I want to keep the paper stars in the windows, too!
"Your sons love you."
I can't read the last word, but I translated much of this to be, "Every week, are you hurting to be...." Am I hurting to be what? I need to know! The street art was really fantastic in Belgrade. The kids are now very well versed in the difference between graffiti and street art!
Me to the kids: "What country is that flag from?" Both kids: "Macedonia!" How many 8 and 10 year olds do you know that can identify the FYROM flag???
The street art in Belgrade definitely adds color to an otherwise drab architecture.
The kids got to jump on these trampolines for 10 minutes. I couldn't decide which one I liked best, so you get to see the top three. Lucky you! Isn't it cool how my kids can levitate!?
Grant, mid air and Natalie's hair.
They really had a blast jumping around. They did funny jumps and made us judge them.
The kids got to jump on these trampolines for 10 minutes. I couldn't decide which one I liked best, so you get to see the top three. Lucky you! Isn't it cool how my kids can levitate!?
Grant, mid air and Natalie's hair.
They really had a blast jumping around. They did funny jumps and made us judge them.
Then they took a ride on the ferris wheel, or as they call it, the panorama. It was built in the 1960s, and I read on Wikipedia that as of 2013, there were only six of it's kind left in the world. Naturally, I did NOT get on this. But Todd and the kids did (they are at the top).
Belgrade Fortress actually has two churches. One of them is the St. Petka church, which is located in the lower town. I wanted to visit, but there was a large tour group visiting it, so we avoided it. There's also the Ružica Church (or, "Little Rose Church") which is now a Serbian Orthodox military church but had once been a gunpowder magazine in the 1600s under Ottoman Rule.
The coolest part of the church is the two chandeliers that were made out of bullet casings, swords and knives. Serbian soldiers made them during World War I out of used bullet casing they found out on the battlefield.
Another view of the bullet chandelier, with the frescoes from the mid 1920s behind it. The church itself was badly damaged by the Austrians in World War I, but managed relatively unscathed in WWII.
There has been a fortress on this site since the late 3rd century BC, but it's been destroyed in wars and rebuilt several times. Notable reconstruction dates include the early 1400s and the early to mid 1700s.
Built at the confluence of the Sava and Danube Rivers, the fortress was an important strategic location. The lower town you see above has flooded numerous times, the last time in 2014. They have a levee down there, but it doesn't appear to be much more than about 10 feet high.
The Despot Stefan Lazarevic ruled Serbia in various forms between 1389-1427. Despite the title of Despot, Lazarevic was actually a fairly benevolent ruler, and an excellent military leader as well as a poet and supporter of the arts. The ruins you see above are from the Metropolitan Court from the time of Lazarevic.
Me and my babies leaving Belgrade Castle. Grant can never make a serious face!
On the way out of Kalemegdan Park, there is a pretty good sized playground so we let the kids run around for a bit.
I seriously looked all over Belgrade for one of these. They were really hard to find! My quest to find super cool manhole covers continues!
We had dinner reservations at the #1 rated restaurant by Trip Advisor (Casa Nova) so we strolled through the pedestrian area of Belgrade on our way there.
Your first instinct as an American is to think, "Aren't these Christmas lights up a bit early?" But the rest of the world doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving, so this is totally normal.
Casa Nova was excellent. I see why it was the #1 rated restaurant. Once again though, my bourbon and Coke Zero came in three different glasses.
Casa Nova is billed as a French-Italian restaurant, and I ordered the steak in a cognac and pine nut sauce. It was topped with onion rings and was to die for. Total price for this was $16.68, once you convert the dinar back to dollars. Amazing!
The bathroom at Casa Nova was for all genders, so Grant and I went together! There's a boys stall and a girls stall! Fun for the whole family!
We took a nice leisurely stroll back to the apartment after dinner. Rent a bike from one of these famous Serbs-- Or just steal this one!?!
Elephants hanging from the ceiling, sparkly horse heads and giant moustaches - all kinds of quirkiness at Blaznavac. I wish I could have stopped in here for a drink!
On our way back, we saw this going on and then remembered it was Guy Fawkes day! Remember, remember the fifth of November!
The next morning we were scheduled to fly out at 12:10 pm, or so we thought. What time do YOU think we fly out? Todd read this as we fly back at 12:10 pm. However, that's our arrival time. You can, sort of, through the numbers see that we actually take off at 10:25 am. So when Zoran and his cab arrived at 9:45 am, and it was about a 30 minute drive to the airport, we knew we were screwed. Todd was inside of the apartment as he realized this, and he bolted out the door to tell me this - he hopped in the cab, and Zoran started driving away when Todd says, "Where is my backpack?" It's still inside the apartment. With the keys to the apartment locked inside, as we were instructed to do. Cue panicked phone call to the AirBnB host who wasn't able to get there for another 10-15 minutes.
This is our dear sweet cab driver Zoran rushing us to the airport. It was a moot point though. We obviously missed the flight. Wizz Air's next flight to Nuremberg wasn't until Friday (five days away), so we talked to the folks at Air Serbia and the only thing they could find us in the next 24 hours was going to cost us at a minimum about 1300 Euros. Ok time for plan B!
Plan B was to take the train home. For under 70 Euro, we got seats on a train to Budapest. We got a few snacks in the little convenience store in the train station but many of the snacks mentioned "kikiriki" which is Serbian for peanuts. Which Grant is allergic to. And it turns out the train to Budapest was about 9 hours long, moving at a snails pace, without a food car and zero opportunities to stop and get something to eat.
Well, at least I bought two beers before I left!
Grant is not pleased with the food situation. We took all of the food we had brought with us and gave it to him, while Natalie ate the snacks we had purchased at the train station store.
Train tracks in very rural Serbia.
The ride to Budapest wasn't bad. The scenery was pretty, but there wasn't much to see. You know it's bad when the most exciting thing you see is a train station.
There were miles and miles of farmland viewed through dirty train windows.
I always love buildings like this. What's the story behind it? This was in the middle of rural northern Serbia. Why the disrepair?
Well, at least Natalie is hanging in there.
See that red dot in the window? The moon was blood red as it rose in the east after we had entered Hungary.
We finally made it to Budapest and the international ticket office we found had closed about five minutes before we arrived. OF COURSE IT DID. So we ran around to try to find another one, and THANKFULLY one was open. We bought tickets on the overnight train to Munich. I can't remember how much it cost, but I think it was something like 170 Euros? We knew the sleeper cars were sold out, but we were thankful to get a couchette.
After buying tickets we now only had about 10 minutes to grab something to eat and get on the train. There's a little doner stand inside the Budapest Keleti train station - so weird doner burgers it is!
The couchette had 6 seats (three facing the other three) but we did have a roommate. Thankfully she got off in Vienna so we had the whole cabin to ourselves after that. Grant laid in my lap and slept most of the night. Natalie was up a lot, but at least she got to lay down. Todd and I? Not so much! We dozed off here and there but it was literally the longest night ever. Every time I woke up, I would check my phone to see the time and it was only about 15-30 minutes past the last time I checked.
Finally we got to Munich at around 7 am. So we went to a kiosk to buy tickets to Nuremberg and the tickets Todd bought were for a train that was schedule to depart in about 5 minutes and for some reason, we could NOT find the track. (Turns out we are really good at misreading tickets these days because we were looking at the wrong spot for the track number). So we missed that train. And we're out another 70 Euro or so. Then we bought tickets for the next train, which we also nearly missed because I was getting us coffee and butter pretzels. (In my defense, I didn't want to get on another two hour train with hungry children!) When we finally did get on the train, the seats were all booked, so we stood in the luggage section of the car.
Or some of us just sat directly on the floor. Hey, it's always an adventure with the Griswolds! In all, the trip home took 24 hours door-to-door. Can you believe it?!?
Until next time, Belgrade!
I really wanted to stroll around the Belgrade Fortress (this time in the sunshine) so that's what we did next. I knew it would be prettier without the fog!
Back at the Zindan Gate dungeons.
I always like traveling in the fall because there are way fewer people and I can capture really cool pictures void of any other humans, such as this one.
Belgrade Fortress actually has two churches. One of them is the St. Petka church, which is located in the lower town. I wanted to visit, but there was a large tour group visiting it, so we avoided it. There's also the Ružica Church (or, "Little Rose Church") which is now a Serbian Orthodox military church but had once been a gunpowder magazine in the 1600s under Ottoman Rule.
The coolest part of the church is the two chandeliers that were made out of bullet casings, swords and knives. Serbian soldiers made them during World War I out of used bullet casing they found out on the battlefield.
Another view of the bullet chandelier, with the frescoes from the mid 1920s behind it. The church itself was badly damaged by the Austrians in World War I, but managed relatively unscathed in WWII.
There has been a fortress on this site since the late 3rd century BC, but it's been destroyed in wars and rebuilt several times. Notable reconstruction dates include the early 1400s and the early to mid 1700s.
Built at the confluence of the Sava and Danube Rivers, the fortress was an important strategic location. The lower town you see above has flooded numerous times, the last time in 2014. They have a levee down there, but it doesn't appear to be much more than about 10 feet high.
The Despot Stefan Lazarevic ruled Serbia in various forms between 1389-1427. Despite the title of Despot, Lazarevic was actually a fairly benevolent ruler, and an excellent military leader as well as a poet and supporter of the arts. The ruins you see above are from the Metropolitan Court from the time of Lazarevic.
Me and my babies leaving Belgrade Castle. Grant can never make a serious face!
On the way out of Kalemegdan Park, there is a pretty good sized playground so we let the kids run around for a bit.
I seriously looked all over Belgrade for one of these. They were really hard to find! My quest to find super cool manhole covers continues!
We had dinner reservations at the #1 rated restaurant by Trip Advisor (Casa Nova) so we strolled through the pedestrian area of Belgrade on our way there.
Your first instinct as an American is to think, "Aren't these Christmas lights up a bit early?" But the rest of the world doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving, so this is totally normal.
Casa Nova was excellent. I see why it was the #1 rated restaurant. Once again though, my bourbon and Coke Zero came in three different glasses.
Casa Nova is billed as a French-Italian restaurant, and I ordered the steak in a cognac and pine nut sauce. It was topped with onion rings and was to die for. Total price for this was $16.68, once you convert the dinar back to dollars. Amazing!
The bathroom at Casa Nova was for all genders, so Grant and I went together! There's a boys stall and a girls stall! Fun for the whole family!
We took a nice leisurely stroll back to the apartment after dinner. Rent a bike from one of these famous Serbs-- Or just steal this one!?!
On our way back, we saw this going on and then remembered it was Guy Fawkes day! Remember, remember the fifth of November!
The next morning we were scheduled to fly out at 12:10 pm, or so we thought. What time do YOU think we fly out? Todd read this as we fly back at 12:10 pm. However, that's our arrival time. You can, sort of, through the numbers see that we actually take off at 10:25 am. So when Zoran and his cab arrived at 9:45 am, and it was about a 30 minute drive to the airport, we knew we were screwed. Todd was inside of the apartment as he realized this, and he bolted out the door to tell me this - he hopped in the cab, and Zoran started driving away when Todd says, "Where is my backpack?" It's still inside the apartment. With the keys to the apartment locked inside, as we were instructed to do. Cue panicked phone call to the AirBnB host who wasn't able to get there for another 10-15 minutes.
This is our dear sweet cab driver Zoran rushing us to the airport. It was a moot point though. We obviously missed the flight. Wizz Air's next flight to Nuremberg wasn't until Friday (five days away), so we talked to the folks at Air Serbia and the only thing they could find us in the next 24 hours was going to cost us at a minimum about 1300 Euros. Ok time for plan B!
Plan B was to take the train home. For under 70 Euro, we got seats on a train to Budapest. We got a few snacks in the little convenience store in the train station but many of the snacks mentioned "kikiriki" which is Serbian for peanuts. Which Grant is allergic to. And it turns out the train to Budapest was about 9 hours long, moving at a snails pace, without a food car and zero opportunities to stop and get something to eat.
Well, at least I bought two beers before I left!
Grant is not pleased with the food situation. We took all of the food we had brought with us and gave it to him, while Natalie ate the snacks we had purchased at the train station store.
Train tracks in very rural Serbia.
The ride to Budapest wasn't bad. The scenery was pretty, but there wasn't much to see. You know it's bad when the most exciting thing you see is a train station.
There were miles and miles of farmland viewed through dirty train windows.
I always love buildings like this. What's the story behind it? This was in the middle of rural northern Serbia. Why the disrepair?
Well, at least Natalie is hanging in there.
See that red dot in the window? The moon was blood red as it rose in the east after we had entered Hungary.
We finally made it to Budapest and the international ticket office we found had closed about five minutes before we arrived. OF COURSE IT DID. So we ran around to try to find another one, and THANKFULLY one was open. We bought tickets on the overnight train to Munich. I can't remember how much it cost, but I think it was something like 170 Euros? We knew the sleeper cars were sold out, but we were thankful to get a couchette.
After buying tickets we now only had about 10 minutes to grab something to eat and get on the train. There's a little doner stand inside the Budapest Keleti train station - so weird doner burgers it is!
"I'll have four of those burgers and four beers."
The couchette had 6 seats (three facing the other three) but we did have a roommate. Thankfully she got off in Vienna so we had the whole cabin to ourselves after that. Grant laid in my lap and slept most of the night. Natalie was up a lot, but at least she got to lay down. Todd and I? Not so much! We dozed off here and there but it was literally the longest night ever. Every time I woke up, I would check my phone to see the time and it was only about 15-30 minutes past the last time I checked.
Finally we got to Munich at around 7 am. So we went to a kiosk to buy tickets to Nuremberg and the tickets Todd bought were for a train that was schedule to depart in about 5 minutes and for some reason, we could NOT find the track. (Turns out we are really good at misreading tickets these days because we were looking at the wrong spot for the track number). So we missed that train. And we're out another 70 Euro or so. Then we bought tickets for the next train, which we also nearly missed because I was getting us coffee and butter pretzels. (In my defense, I didn't want to get on another two hour train with hungry children!) When we finally did get on the train, the seats were all booked, so we stood in the luggage section of the car.
Or some of us just sat directly on the floor. Hey, it's always an adventure with the Griswolds! In all, the trip home took 24 hours door-to-door. Can you believe it?!?
Until next time, Belgrade!
