Београд (Belgrade)

So, when you are an American working in the EU legally, you have to get a work permit. And when that work permit expires, if you want to stay in the country, you need to leave the EU and then return, in the process getting your passport stamped and officially beginning your three months allowance of visiting as a tourist. At least, this is what I've been told. So come the last day of school (and the last day of my work permit), I needed to make my way to the nearest non-EU point in Europe which, from Budapest, just so happens to be Serbia. More specifically, I chose to visit Belgrade, or in Serbian, Beograd (white city or castle).

So, that Friday I headed into Budapest to enjoy a lazy afternoon before heading over to Keleti station to get on my night train to Belgrade. FIRST MISTAKE. The night train to Belgrade is a strange, oddly sketchy affair where I got very little sleep and cannot say with complete certainty that I understood everything that was going on. Of course, there is always the problem of sleep on international night trains because though you may pass out for a little while, eventually you're going to have to cross a border and if you are leaving the Schengen Zone (as we were), you must have your passport checked and stamped. So, you have to stay awake at least long enough for one set of Hungarian guards to come through and check your passport before you leave and then another set of Serbian guards to come through and check your passport before you enter. It's a process. Sometimes it's worse than others; when I took the night train to Yerevan from Tbilisi all of the non-Armenian/non-Georgians had to get off the train (this was at about 2 AM I believe?), line up in the office at the border, have their passport checked, and then buy the visa, which admittedly looks cool and takes up a whole damn page in your passport, before reboarding the train and sleeping for another four hours or so. So, being allowed to just sit in your compartment and wait for the guards is by comparison not so bad. But it still makes for a pretty sleepless night.

Having sheets like this does not help.

This was compounded by the bewildering majority of Serbian dudes aboard. I don't know if this was just specifically in my car or on the whole train but I shared a room with a very nice New Zealand couple, and it seemed like every other room in my car was full of smoking, drinking, loud as hell 20-somethings. I did not even dare to use any of the bathrooms during the trip because this is not my first damn rodeo but the New Zealander woman in my compartment did in the morning and she said the toilet was coated in vomit. So. Good group of guys.

Furthermore, while checking tickets and passports after we left Budapest, the ticket collector took everyone's tickets. He held onto them all night. This is highly strange, to me. Why do you need those tickets? You have to return them to us at the end of the trip anyway. They are our proof of purchase and in some cases they are the same physical ticket that will be used for the return trip. It's more important for a passenger to have a ticket in case the border guard has a question, I would think, than for the collector to have it. Especially when they are in Hungarian and although I know almost no Hungarian I still seem to understand what the ticket says better than the surly Serbian ticket man. This brings me to an odd story. This nice couple who I roomed with on the train were in a similar situation to me, needing to leave the EU and re-enter to begin their three month tourist visa. Instead of Belgrade they decided to visit Novi Sad (New Garden), which I believe is the next largest city in Serbia and also lies between Budapest and Belgrade, about two hours outside of Belgrade. So, while the train arrived at its final destination of Belgrade at about 6/6:30 in the morning, my temporary travel buddies got off the train at about 4.

Serbian sunrise.

They had some issues with that, which I did not learn of later, as we both took the same return train on Sunday and I ran into them. They had quite the tale. But we'll get to that.

I knew I was in trouble right around the time the New Zealanders got off the train in Novi Sad because I was freezing on the train and I had only brought tank tops, as the weather report for Belgrade had report clouds but highs of 85. Not to be. When I finally arrived in the city, it was overcast (which it remained for the entire day) and raining. This rain intensified until mid-afternoon. I had no umbrella, at least at first.

What a... beautiful... station....

So I had booked a bed for myself at a hostel that had decent ratings on Hostels.com and promoted itself as being in "Novi Belgrade", or the new part of town. It still boasted that it was very close to old town, which is really the main draw of visiting Belgrade. It's got an interesting old town which it took me many hours to see. Remember that I arrived around six in the morning. It took me maybe 20 minutes, half an hour, to figure out where to buy a public transportation pass (although once I asked someone for help at a magazine/tobacco shop inside the train station, she was very helpful in making sure I bought the right kind of pass. I will say this about Serbia, in general: outside of that asshole ticket guy on the train who was terribly incompetent at his job and not very nice, everyone I met was helpful and incredibly kind/generous.). So the hostel I was supposed to stay at had directions on its Hostels.com page that led me out into what I can only describe as suburban Belgrade. I took the tram to what I believed to be the correct spot, and then walked around for about an hour wondering why all I could find were apartment buildings. I tried a couple other stops along the line, with equal failure, and rode it out in the suburbs just out of frustration and complete indifference to everything. At this point I was cold, I was rained on, I was exhausted from a weird and disjointed night on-board the Sketchy Serbian Express and I had temporarily given up on being invested in this adventure in Belgrade in any sense.

Finally I ended up here, at a tram stop staring at what appeared to be a shopping mall and an Olympian training center, before deciding... fuck that hostel. I shall find another, and reclaim this day in the process!

So I headed back into town and randomly rode trams for an hour or two, hopping on and off at random until I understood the city somewhat better. (I literally had no where to be and at least they were dry and warm-ish.) Finally I saw a McDonald's where I ordered some shame fries and soaked up the free wifi with what little iPod battery I had left until I found a VERY close, relatively inexpensive hostel. So I walked down the street to 1001 Nights, which is a hostel I would happily recommend to anyone looking to go to Belgrade. It's a small place with a microscopic lounge area and baby-sized kitchen but the staff were nice and before I had even paid or said for certain that I wanted a bed for the night, they offered me a shot of the Serbian liquor Rakia. Sorry, Hungary, but I have to say this stuff beats pálinka by a landslide. After picking a bed they told me I had free use of a locker and a towel (some hostels charge for that stuff because $$$$). I considered laying down and sleeping until I had to leave the next day but they told me there was a free walking tour at 11. So I rallied, changed my clothes, borrowed an umbrella from the owners, and headed out to walk around Belgrade learning about its history and culture for three hours in the rain.

Hotel Moskva.

The National Museum. (Not really that impressive due to the scaffolding which it has apparently had up for years, although as you can see here it is actually a beautiful building.) This is where the tour started. I don't really remember all of the stories or facts related during the tour so this will just be some pictures I took along the tour but if you're ever in Belgrade, the National Museum is located in Republic Square and the statue in front is of Prince Mihailo, who is famous for expelling the Turks and liberating Serbia in the 19th century.

Cyrillic! There is a weird blend of Cyrillic and Latin characters used intermittently on street signs, billboards, shop signs, everywhere.

Also in Republic Square: the National Theater.

One more thing about the walking tour! The one I took was great, the guide (whose name unfortunately I can't remember) brought someone of his grandfather's homemade honey-flavored Rakia which he shared with the entire group, and also shared some delicious ajvar and chips with the group later on. He clearly had a lot of pride in being from Belgrade and Serbia and had a lot of interesting information to share.

Interesting shop door.

Very old street in Skadarlija, an old bohemian neighborhood.

This street sign showed the way to other cities, places in Belgrade, and perhaps most helpful of all, the moon.

Bohemia.

Statue of Đura Jakšić, a famous Serbian poet.

Ulica (Street) Skadarska.

Shabby ghosts, reminding us to never forget what's come before.

Bajrakli Mosque.

Zoo BPT Beograd.

Zindan Gate.

Kalmegdan/Belgrade Fortress. Supposedly the first fortress was built by the Celts in the 3rd century BS when the city was still Singidunum, then conquered and added to by the Romans in 75 BC, then becoming part of the Byzantine Empire in the 4th century (but not being at least partially destroyed by the Goths and Huns?), as well as later on the Huns (again), Ostrogoths, Gepids, Sarmatians, Avars, and Slavs, before finally being rebuilt by Justinian in the 6th century. An interesting in not particularly peaceful history.

First of all, doesn't that look like a sarcophagus, to the right of the sign? I forget if the guide said anything about it. Also, in case the sign can't be read, it says, "WALKING IN THIS AREA YOU RISK YOUR LIFE". No mincing words there.

Dizdar Tower or Despot Stefan Tower/Gate.

Meeting of the Sava and the Danube.

Some guy. (Just kidding, it's Pobednik, built to celebrate Serbian victory in the Balkan Wars and World War I. Should you guys really be celebrating that latter victory, considering you started it??)

? Kafana, the oldest bistro/tavern establishment in Belgrade (1823).

Some lady.

St. Mark's Church.

The Church of Saint Sava, the largest orthodox church in the world, which I walked over to check out later that night. And then returned and watched just enough of the Italy/England World Cup game to see someone score, then passed out.

But! The next day, on the train ride back (on which I shared a compartment with two very nice Danish students who'd been studying in Budapest but traveling around the Balkans) I ran into the New Zealanders who told me they never got their tickets back from ol' Sketchy Serbian ticket collector man. I remembered him entering our room upon arriving to Belgrade and freaking out because they weren't there, saying Novi Sad in an increasingly bewildered and loud voice while pointing at their tickets. I'd just shrugged him off and eventually stopped responding to his shouting because what the hell did he expect me to do about it? This was also the guy, by the way, who collected our tickets upon leaving Budapest and then came back ten minutes later and demanded our tickets. This man, whoever he is, wherever he is, is not to be trusted. Anyway, they told me that not only were the doors CHAINED shut at Novi Sad (they'd eventually had to break them) but that the conductors on the train back were trying to penalize them with a 100€. The point of this: if possible to avoid, don't take the night train to Belgrade from Budapest. If you must, bring a buddy. And if you're leaving the train before Belgrade, be prepared to hunt down the conductor to get your ticket back.

So, so sketchy.

But visit Belgrade, if you've got the time and inclination! It's not the most beautiful city to grace the planet, but it is also the most bombed city in history, so... according to our guide, it has been occupied by about 40 different armies and razed nearly as many times.... anyway, the people are nice, the liquor everyone makes the foreigner try is better than than of other countries (coughcoughHUNGARYcough), it's got some nice tourists attractions, the walking tours are awesome.

Still, it was nice to get back to warm, dry Hungary.