Serbia, Belgrade: This ain't no ordinary tour!

So I had never planned on going to Belgrade, you know, 'Serbia' just sounded a bit daunting. But with the promise of a free hotel room (thank you again Eric Lightfoot), I couldn't say no. I arrived in Belgrade at about 5am by train, got jipped by the cab driver on my way to the wrong-Best Western, met a nicer one who took me to the correct Best Western, and had a most lovely nap on a beautiful bed.

Roamed around some side streets aimlessly for a little bit, taking into account the cars, which were much newer than those in Sofia, the streets, which were newer and cleaner, and the people, which thankfully for their own sakes had escaped the bu'gly gene from their neighbours to the South! Interestingly, Bulgaria is part of the EU, whereas Serbia is not, yet the latter is much more prosperous - if it weren't for the Cyrilic writing and the (very, very few) buildings still displaying vestiges of bombings, I could have mistaken it for a Western city. And it was just buzzing with excitement, people out & about, on the street, smiling - a huge difference from the day before. I met a Spanish guy who has spent the past 2 years working in Bulgaria, and he said the EU has just gone in and jumbled up a whole bunch of stuff with the banks to their advantage, only increasing prices without increasing wages, support, etc. for the people.

Eric and I had arranged to meet at a certain time, certain place. What we had not planned was that Marko Karadzic, the State Secretary for Human and Minority Rights in Belgrade (with whom Eric had just met) would be picking us up in his official State vehicle and spending the next 4-5 hours with us, walking and touring us through the city. Oh, and he'd also join us for dinner!!!!! !!!!!!!

We saw the Parliament & Government buildings, several churches including a huge one (either Serbian Orthodox Church or Church St. Marko... Eric?!), snuck into a fruit & veggie market (there are boards all around, you would never guess what lay on the inside!), roamed around a cactus market, passed by the Nikola Tesla Museum (electricity/electromagnetism people, you heard me), and walked the length of Knez Mihailova (pedestrian street, lots of shops, historical buildings, museums, and galleries). Finally, we made it to the Kalemegdan citadel, which is a beautiful old citadel, from which you can lookout to the Sava & Danaube rivers. Folks were strolling, teenagers hanging out, kids playing on the fake tanks near the War museum, newlyweds having photos taken, etc. Within the complex, you can find the victory monument, a tall naked man holding a falcon in one hand (symbolizing Slav freedom) and a sword in the other (for defense of this freedom).

We ate dinner at a restaurant located on an old, authentic rocky street (rocks of all different shapes and sizes jutt out) that served food sort-of like old-times. Serbian salad & lots of meat!

Oh, and on the way home I bought my 3 euro ticket for Museum night, taking place the following evening from 6pm - 2am, free entrance to over 30 Museums, galleries, sights, etc. Guess I'm staying in Belgrade another night... :-)