Belgrade

Phillip and I found Belgrade, Serbia, to be a safe city, full of pleasant people. Everyone we encountered was quite friendly. From the two young people who immediately gave up their seats to us on the bus from the airport to the owner of the last restaurant in which we ate, everyone treated us well. Even the harried convenience store clerks chuckled at my obviously non-native "hvala" (thank you in Serbian).

On Sunday, our first full day, we went on a 3-hour walking tour of central Belgrade. Our tour guide was extremely knowledgeable of Serbian politics and history, so he provided a wealth of information. We went past many government buildings, some modern construction and other remnants from Serbia's past as a monarchy, a republic, and as Yugoslavia, a socialist country under Tito.  

built as a palace, now houses elected leaders

We could not get any closer to the above building because of the barricades. The current leaders are in hot water with the citizens over corruption. These are the barricades in the neighboring park.

the tan material on the top rail of the barricade is grease

The President has barricaded himself off because Serbia has a history of turning on its corrupt leaders, with the military and police joining citizen protestors to remove the President. (example: Milosovic in 2001). The political situation hasn't reached that stage yet, but we saw protests by university students. 

At 11:52 am, for 16 minutes, students block major intersections

The catalyst for the protests was the collapse of a shoddily built concrete train station canopy on November 1, 2024 at 11:52 am. Sixteen people were killed. Students, and most of the rest of the country, believe that graft and corruption are rife in government construction projects. The then-President has already resigned under the pressure; however, nothing else has changed. The student request is for new elections, something that could happen if government leaders called for them. 

Another day, another intersection blocked for 16 minutes

The protestors' traffic stoppages are very orderly, with the lead protestors wearing safety vests and the police keeping cars away as the protestors stand for their 16 minutes. Then, protestors move to the sidewalks and disperse. Every day, throughout the city, traffic is really gummed up just before lunch. 

Our tour guide also took us to Belgrade's most famous historical location, the Belgrade Fortress. Phillip and I returned on Monday to spend more time there. 

One of the fortress gates

After our tour, we wandered around the city area outside the fortress. Unlike many American cities, the shops and malls were 100% full of retail stores. Very, very few vacant storefronts and none on the main pedestrian thoroughfare.

The pedestrian walkway, about 10 blocks long, from fortress 

A few whimsical pictures... not all statues were of dead military heroes:

Belgrade was the capital of Yugoslavia, a country that produced what was called the worst car in history, the Yugo. Because they were so badly constructed, I never expected to see one, 20 years after they went out of production, but we did:

Yugo: the worst car ever made

Phillip and I returned to the Belgrade Fortress on Monday and walked around more. Some type of protective fortification has been in that location since the Celtic settlement in the 3rd century BC. 

The Fortress is at a valuable location, on a cliff at the confluence of the Sava and Danube Rivers.

view from the fortress of the Sava and Danube Rivers

The fortress contains a military museum, but we could only visit the outside exhibits because, like almost all museums in Europe, it was closed on Monday. 

WWII military items

Since we were in a modern city, we were able to find a self-service laundromat about a twenty-minute walk away from our hotel. It was the most modern laundromat we've found since one in Switzerland several years ago. 

Instructions in Serbian and English, new LG machines

We took care of other non-travel items, like a haircut for Phillip. No specific pictures because he walked the four blocks to the barber by himself. He made it there and back without needing to call me for directions. Several days during our stay in Belgrade, we walked or took the bus from our hotel to the central area. About those buses... Since January 1, 2025, all buses, trams and trolleys are free to ride. We could just hop on a bus and not have to walk the two miles. Unfortunately, it wasn't so easy as the buses never kept to their schedules. Road construction caused detours in the routes. We heard that the bus drivers were unhappy with free travel because their salaries may be impacted when only taxes pay for the transit system. 

Our hotel staff, really friendly and helpful people, suggested we visit New Belgrade, the portion of the city across the Sava River from the fortress. We took a bus to Gardoš Tower, built in 1896 over the ruins of a medieval fortress. The tower was unimpressive, as it had never been a working guard tower, but the view was pretty good:

Danube River in the distance

I used Google maps to take us from the tower to the malecon, the boardwalk next to the Danube. From the tower's rear exit, we found a cemetery. This was not a war cemetery, but a place for families. As we walked thru, I noticed the different customs for burial. Here, the concrete grave vault was not six feet underground, but frequently partially above ground. Sometimes, flowers were planted directly over the grave. And most interestingly, entire families were in the same vault. 

Serbian cemetery

Google maps directed me down a small street to a set of steps that took us to the northern end of this section of the malecon. It was not a route that many tourists took!

The steps we took to get to the Danube

Once we passed about 100 yards of local small boats, we made it to the actual malecon. 

walking along the Danube River

This walkway extended for miles toward Old Belgrade. After a bit, we stopped at a riverfront cafe for lunch. As we sat down at a table overlooking the water, we heard an American voice greet us from the next table. We introduced ourselves and had a delightful conversation with a fellow Texan, Xavier from the Austin area, who had come to Serbia for work, met a lady from Serbia whom he married, and settled down here. They shared locations in the Balkans that we need to visit while we are here. After lunch, we continued our walk along the river, seeing a flock of swans.

swans along the Danube

Sometimes, our path veered inland thru parks:

tile walking surface in this area

About three miles after we started the malecon walk, we had a view of the Fortress from the New Belgrade side of the Sava River. 

Belgrade Fortress from across the river

We walked a bit further to one of the bridges over the river and caught a bus back to our hotel. It had been a nice walk, no streets to cross, no traffic to dodge. 

We enjoyed our time in Belgrade, even with the occasional bus wait frustration. The people were friendly, the food was delicious (even the horse meat sausage), and our hotel was wonderful. 

Food of our First Four Countries

As we arrive into the fifth country of our land travel during this adventure, I have collected enough food photos and stories to create a food-specific post. Phillip and I have eaten plenty of good food, some great food, and very few items that we would not eat again. First up, breakfast. At all of our hotels except one, we have had breakfast included.  Most of the hotel breakfasts have been just average, nothing to write about. About half the time, scrambled eggs. A few times, boiled eggs. Usually cold cuts, cheese, bread, yogurt, and machine coffee. Our very first breakfast, at a bed and breakfast, was the best. 

breakfast served in our room, Tivoli, Italy

The host owners went to the bakery early in the morning, so the croissants and pastries were deliciously fresh. Freshly squeezed juice, fruit, meat and cheese, yogurt, and good brewed coffee. 

Our first three cities to visit were in Italy, so pasta was the name of the game. 

My first (of several) dish of cacio e pepe (pasta with cheese and pepper)

Phillip was eating ravioli for his meal. Another pasta dish we ate in Tivoli was pasta with truffles. It was the best pasta dish and the most expensive (30 euros per plate). To have fresh pasta with slices of truffles harvested nearby was an experience we couldn't pass up.

We both savored this pasta with truffles.

During our visit to Bologna, I had to eat pasta with Bolognese sauce. It was quite tasty. What I noticed about it, because of the texture, was that it had been simmered for quite some time with the ground meat in it. Also, and probably because fresh tomatoes were used, it actually resembled my home-canned spaghetti sauce. Mine has a little bit more oregano and basil than this truly original "spaghetti" sauce.

Tagliatelle with Bolognese sauce in Bologna

Another specialty of Bologna is tortellini in broth, so I tried it also while in town. The tortellini were nothing special, but the broth was quite clean flavored, with just the right amount of saltiness.

plenty of tortellini were served in the broth

Our third Italian city was Trieste. It is located closest to the Balkans, so a lot of the dishes there were Balkan. By the time we got to Trieste, we were pasta-ed out, so I had my first sarma, which is stuffed cabbage. 

Big cabbage rolls go well with a really dark beer

Since we were in Europe, I scoured the convenience stores for a snack we ate when we visited Poland a few years ago, bacon-flavored (and shaped) chips. I found them when we got to Slovenia. 

In Ljubljana, Slovenia, we ate our first burek. Basic burek is cooked ground or minced beef baked in a filo pastry dough. It is a staple of the Balkans, found in every country so far. Variations of burek include cheese burek, spinach burek, potato burek, and apple burek. Yes, we've tried the basic and all the variations that we've come across. In Ljubljana, two burek vendors compete for market share: Olympio and Noble. We tried them both and Olympio, served as 1/4 of a large pie-shaped burek, was the clear flavor winner. They also had more meat in each piece. Olympio's burek was our favorite thru our journey... until Sarajevo where another restaurant's burek took the lead for flavor. 

Olympio's cheese burek on left, meat burek on right, served with drinkable yogurt

Although the name may be different in each country, beef stew is quite popular, delicious, and filling. Sometimes, it was served in the pot it may have been cooked in!

Beef stew, usually with potatoes and carrots

Our tour guide to Predjama Castle and Postojna Caves introduced us to Cockta, a truly Balkan beverage. In 1952, a Yugoslav business owner came up with the idea of producing a beverage to compete against soft drinks from abroad (particularly Coca-Cola), which were not yet being sold in Yugoslavia. A chemical engineer created the drink with a new, different taste, derived from a blend of eleven different herbs and spices including rose hips. We tried it and both love it! It's close enough to Coke that Phillip enjoys it. It's different enough (herbal-flavored) from Coke that I enjoy it. 

In addition to burek, another staple food of the Balkans is cevapi. Cevapi is unsmoked, uncased sausage, usually sold in plates of five or ten, eaten with a pita-like bread. It's like our breakfast sausages, but with completely different seasonings. Served with the cevapi and the pita bread are usually chopped onions and ajvar sauce. The red-orange paste seen in the picture below is ajvar, made of roasted red peppers and eggplant. Surpsingingly, Phillip likes ajvar. It is a condiment served with anything. It was at the breakfast buffet at the last three hotels. We both ate ajvar with our scrambled eggs. 

Especially while in Croatia, local strawberries were sold on every street corner. For 2 euro, I bought a pint of the smaller-sized berries from a vendor. They were little bundles of true strawberry flavor, the flavor I remembered from childhood, not the USA's perfect-looking but bland fruits. 

Imperfect in appearance, perfect in flavor

In Split, Croatia, we passed a storefront called Gudin Pigeria a few times before we decided to stop one afternoon. It was a butcher shop that sold pork, but it was also a restaurant that roasted and sold the pork by the kilogram, with sides. Time for us to get 500 grams (about a pound) of roasted pork belly with crispy skin and smashed potatoes with a sour cream/cream cheese like topping. 

More meat than fat on this pork belly

At our next stop, Mostar, Bosnia, our hotel was attached to a mall. Nice hotel, but mall food is not exactly authentic or usually very tasty. We walked a bit and found a small local restaurant called Uglovnica Grill. Using Google translate, I found the name means Corner Grill, not Ugly Grill. The food wasn't ugly at all. I ordered a plate with sausage and got this sausage, cased, but with the same flavor as cevapi. Very nice. French fries have been a relatively common side; however, only once have we gotten ketchup served with them.

Moving on to Sarajevo, where we spent five nights, we really hit the gold mine with traditional Bosnian food. Stuffed peppers at a small restaurant hidden down some stairs called Bosna Bistro, about 300 yards from our hotel. We went back twice more during our Sarajevo visit. Balkan peppers are not usually dark green like our bell peppers, but rather this lighter shade of yellow-green. Slightly different flavor. They were served with mashed potatoes and sour cream (and a local beer).

light tomato sauce, ground meat stuffing

A lot of vegetables are stuffed and served, not just peppers and cabbage. In central Sarajevo, we found a cafeteria-type restaurant. We could see the food and even just point at it since we didn't know the Bosnian name for it. I pointed at several items and gestured "small," so I could taste a couple dishes. I got a bowl containing okra stew with meat, two stuffed cabbages, and three stuffed onions. The stuffings were seasoned differently from each other and different from my previous stuffed peppers.  

The bread was a fluffy pita bread

Phillip got a big bowl of beef stew. I tasted it and it was lightly seasoned to allow the beef and vegetables to flavor the dish. He really enjoyed it. 

Big chunks of meat and potato in his stew

We had been eating burek once or twice in each town and hadn't found one we liked better than our first burek, at Olympio in Slovenia, until we at burek in Sarajevo. I found a burek restaurant in a neighborhood that had a high Google score. All the burek now was coiled burek, but we'd noticed a smaller ratio of meat with the pastry coil versus the pie shape. Until we went to this Sarajevo burek restaurant. Burek was the only food it served and it was great! Whereas Olympio's had a faint onion taste, these had a faint black pepper taste. It was coiled but had so much more meat and potatoes than others we'd eaten. It beat Olympio because this one was not greasy. We didn't find the restaurant until towards the end of our Sarajevo stay, but we did eat there twice. 

Phillip frequently bought gelato. A few times, I would get one, but I'm not big on sweets. One afternoon, however, I could not resist the baklava, so we stopped and got an assortment to take back to the hotel. I think we had enough sweetness to last a week with these!

An almond and two traditional on back row
front row is a chocolate baklava, a nutella one, and an unknown one

And back to snacks... we stopped seeing the bacon-flavored chips when we left Slovenia. We checked the different groceries and convenience stores in each city and haven't found them again. We did, however, find truffle potato chips that are also delicious! Truffles are harvested in the area around Tivoli and Trieste, but we didn't find these until Sarajevo.

very pronounced truffle flavor

A finally for this post, our last visit to Bosna Bistro in Sarajevo did not disappoint. Stew for Phillip and sarma (cabbage rolls) for Pat. 

No potatoes and a different flavor of stew than he ate before

 

A darker and more flavorful cabbage for this sarma

This has been a summary of the delicious foods we have eaten so far on this adventure. We've also eaten hamburgers, only once from an American chain (Burger King) because it was a rainy Sunday evening in Tivoli, all the local restaurants were closed, and we were hungry. Local hamburgers are just like American hamburgers, so no pictures of them. We ate Thai food once (authentic Thai as all the employees appeared to be from Thailand) but it was too spicy for Phillip. One of the best things about the Balkan food is that it is well seasoned but doesn't give Phillip indigestion unless he eats too late, which is our fault. We are looking forward to more delicious food!  

Strolling down an Olympic Bobsled Track and other Sarajevo Adventures

Five nights in Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina, are almost over. We enjoyed our time here and recommend the city to other travelers.  Our favorite adventure was strolling down an abandoned Olympic bobsled track. Sarajevo hosted the Winter Olympics in 1984, before the Bosnia War of the 1990s. For the Olympics, bobsled/luge tracks were built on a mountain close to the city. FYI, Bobsled and luge use the same track, but the competitors start at different parts of the track. And, in the USA we call it bobsled, Europeans call it bobsleigh. The bobsled track, now over 40 years old, is still on the side of the mountain. After the Olympics, it remained in use for competitions until the Bosnia War and the Siege of Sarajevo. During the siege, the track was used as an artillery position by Bosnian Serb forces. Unsuccessful attempts to fund a renewal of the track, which did get some damage, have occurred in the past thirty years. Now, visitors can take a cable car to the top of the mountain and visit the tracks. 

Looking back at the beginning of the cable car ride

And the city grows smaller.....

Still quite a way to go up the mountain

The city is quite small as we near the top of the mountain

The trail at the start of the walk down went under the cable car

Just after going under the cable car, the trail met the beginning of the bobsled/luge runs. The runs, made of reinforced concrete, were in remarkably good shape and curved down the mountain for over 4200 feet (8/10 mile) with a vertical drop of over 400 feet. Phillip and I walked in the runs for their entire length, about 1/3 of the mountain' slope.

Sometimes the walking path was right next to the run. We
stayed in the run as we walked down.

We weren't sure how these sections of track fit together

The banked curves were graffiti canvases

True artists who used spray paint and concrete as their medium

The final curve out of the trees, probably had a spectator area

This part curved uphill to slow and stop the competitors

We were still 2/3 of the way up the mountain when the bobsled run ended. We hopped out and found the walking track to continue down the extreme slope. The middle third of our trek wound thru trees with switchbacks and some small plateaus.

We passed war-damaged buildings

We saw sheep and goats with a shepherd.

The shepherd is sitting, in about the middle of the picture

The final third of the mountainside took us through neighborhoods, but the path, now a one-lane road, was still extremely steep. There were sections that Phillip and I could barely stay standing, probably over a 25% grade. Fortunately, it was paved. Had it been gravel, cars could not have made it up and we would have slid going down. 

Our steep trek took us right to the edge of the main central city area. Although we walked the bobsled track two days ago, our legs are still sore. The extreme downhill used muscles in a way that our previous level and uphill walking had not. And... I'm glad we had trimmed toenails, or we would have had sore toes and holes in the tops of our shoes!

Other sights we've seen in Sarajevo include the Latin Bridge and the exact location where Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated, starting WWI. A replica of the car in which he and his wife were riding when they were shot was parked nearby. Phillip and I had seen the actual death car in a museum in Vienna, Austria, so it was fascinating for us to see the actual historic location, too.

The Latin Bridge, site of Franz Ferdinand assassination

Soon after our arrival in Sarajevo, Phillip and I took a two-hour walking tour to familiarize ourselves with the city and to learn a bit about the Bosnia War of the 1990s. Our tour guide told us of the history of Sarajevo as a place of harmony and tolerance and the crossroads for different cultures and religions. 

Note the different paving stones, Eastern (Ottoman) style on the
lighter side, Western with the darker stones

Sarajevo as a city was established by the Ottomans (from the East) in the 1400s and became part of the Silk Road (trade from East to West). By the late 1800s, the Ottoman empire was dissolving and Hapsburg rule came to Serbia. Standing on the sidewalk above, looking one direction are vendor stalls like a bazaar:

In the other direction are buildings in the style of the Hapsburgs of Vienna:

Our tour guide, to illustrate the city's historical tolerance of diversity, told stories of how, during WWII, the Muslims of Sarajevo (who were not persecuted by Hitler as he did not want to fight what was left of the Ottomans) would hide their Jewish neighbors in their homes, giving them fake Muslim names and passing them off as relatives so the Nazis would not take them away or kill them. After WWII, the local Muslim community paid to rebuild the Jewish synagogue. 

The Bosnia War, which involved several of the Balkan countries, and the Siege of Sarajevo (1992-96) was caused by tensions that developed during the dissolution of the country of Yugoslavia. Ethnic minorities were not happy with the country lines being drawn out of Yugoslavia and they ended up with the weapons from Yugoslav military. War raged in this area for several years during the 1990s, with 14,000 people killed in Sarajevo alone. 

All the gravestones we could see in this cemetery were from the early 1990s

Bullet holes are still seen on many of the buildings

The Siege of Sarajevo involved one side trying to take Sarajevo but Sarajevo being defended from within. A blockade of supplies occurred as well as snipers set up in the mountains around the city, firing down into the city. We visited two of the museums dedicated to this terrible time in Sarajevo. 

Museum display

We also saw the "Roses of Sarajevo," red paint on the sidewalks to commemorate where a regular citizen had been gunned down by snipers. 

We saw these all throughout the city

Sarajevo isn't just war memories. It's a nice town with a river running thru it, with ducks and public art.

The people are friendly, and English is taught as an elective in high school. A trolley or tram ticket is about US$1 per person to go across town. Spring-like weather right now, warm some days, jacket needed on others. We enjoyed our time here. Tomorrow: a flight to Belgrade. No train and a bus would have been an eight-hour journey.