An Unexpected Path, But a Welcome One – Serbia

When I finally decided on a path in Europe once I was finished up in Heidelberg a single theme inhabited my mind: Follow the Danube! From there it was a simple leap to decide that I should visit every country that straddles the great river not often mentioned in history since it served as the Roman Border. Thing is I mistakenly believed that meant Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria. Once I got to Budapest it came to my attention that Serbia also touched the river. So while I originally thought I’d go from Budapest to Transylvania, I figured I had to change my plans and make a quick stop-over in Belgrade. And yes, I’m now aware that Croatia also touches the Danube (albeit very briefly), but for one I didn’t realize until after I was already going to Serbia, and two no one goes to that part of Croatia! That country is meant for a separate “Adriatic Sea” journey because its most popular region is its coast.

Belgrade

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While I certainly enjoyed my stay in Belgrade, there wasn’t a lot that I ended up doing. Here you have the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia and a Church named after not my father but instead my uncle: Saint Mark’s! So cool how Eastern(ish) Europe honors the Cook family like that. I went inside neither but they happened to be close by my hostel and they look pretty awesome as far as national buildings go.

The main thing that happened to occupy my time in Belgrade was the fortress they have there, Belgrade Fortress. It’s big. Like, really huge. And it has so much history! From the Celts, to the Romans, to the Byzantines, to the Slavs, to the Turks, to the Austrians, and finally now to the Serbians this place has over 2500 years of history all built on top of one another, dominating the city and having been it’s core for nearly all of that time.

I also spent one of my days there in the national museum, but as far as I recall they didn’t allow any pictures in that museum either. That or I simply didn’t feel like taking any. This photo is the exterior of the Military Museum, of which I had nothing to do with because I just don’t care about that kind of stuff once guns become commonplace in the narrative. The National Museum was quite nice, though, and spent a significant amount more time on the Neolithic History of the Serbian Region than most other history museums I’ve been to, which I really enjoyed.

The area covers around 160 acres, which I’m not even sure includes the lands below the walls which are probably the same size as the hill itself.

Here is what I believe, based on my snooping, is the administrative center of the fortress. Peaking through the windows, the objects I saw inside were reminiscent of those I saw every day working at Fort Ontario. It also had cars, so that was a bit of a giveaway. It dominated the approach to the fortress from the south-west.

They do an exceptional job of using the space the fortress still occupies to make it a more pleasurable place to hang out. Like including a Cafe-Restaurant to overlook the river and old city. No one happens to be there because it was too cold to eat outside and because construction work nearby hummed annoyingly in the air.

There was also a really nice little church there. Reading the panels I couldn’t quite understand when it was built, some of the information seemed missing because it mentioned sometime in the 1800’s (though not necessarily construction), and sometime in the 1940’s (which did mention construction and not reconstruction). It is not Ružica Church, which sat beautifully above it (but closed). Whatever the name, I thought it was adorable, nestled just below the walls.

Proof that the area is old shows in this Roman ruin. This is but the top floor. A “ground floor” seemed partially buried in dirt, while partially covered holes seemed to take the structure even deeper. Interestingly enough there was a sign nearby that read “Walking here you risk you life.” It was something like the fourth sign of its kind I saw walking around the fortress; the (small) libertarian part of my brain really appreciates this type of approach to warnings, as opposed to red tape or fences. The warning here is due entirely to the potential for landslides from the fortress up top, which happened twice in the past century.

I thought my time at the fortress would be something like an hour but it ended up being more like three. Tons of sights to see, cool signs to read and, if it were just a bit warmer, it would be an excellent place to hang out in the sun. The only oddity was the presence of some dinosaur statues in a closed-off area and a ton of audio guide signs despite there being no accessible audio guides.

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Belgrade also had some awesome food. There was a small little restaurant across from my hostel called Restoran Magija (mah-Gee-yah) that had the most excellent food for super cheap. The first is this beef and mushroom sauce thing on bread with french fries, and urnebes. I ate too much that night, with the giant piece of bread they gave me. But damn did it taste good! Like something I’ve recalled my father making (not the urnebes). The middle is a veal soup with a big ol’ dollop of cheese in the middle. Just a bit of veal, with carrots and broccoli and black pepper – it tasted very meaty, even if the beef composition was lower. And on the left you got yourself a creamy chicken thing that tasted just like alfredo, but with mashed potatoes instead of pasta. The left picture was one meal, and the middle/right is another. Both meals were around $7 including tip.

Niš

While chilling out in Belgrade I again had my mind changed. While it would have been possible to head to Romania from there the lands of Former Yugoslavia are fairly close-knit, even if they aren’t a single country anymore. The hostel I stayed at is in a network with tons of other hostels that give rewards if you book with them directly. And everyone around me kept saying I should spend a little more time in Serbia. With that in mind (and influenced by the food) I decided to add the city of Niš (neesh) to my list.

It’s the third largest city in Serbia at somewhere around 1/4 of a million people. It doesn’t have a lot going on these days but it is rife with history, having been the birthplace of Constantine the Great himself. Unfortunately, the monument/park Constantine built to commemorate his home town is under construction and has been for like 2 years. So I sadly couldn’t go. But I still found things to do in Niš.

This is Skull Tower! As a rule I generally don’t take pictures of skeletons out of (personally codified) respect, so you can’t see the pics here. But if you’d like just click the link. Back during wars with the Ottomans, many Serbians tried to liberate the town. The Turks won and set about constructing a tower out of their skulls and cement. Gruesome stuff… Only about 56 skulls remain now, but they still sit in the cement staring into you as you circle the interior.

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Niš also happens to have ruins! And those ruins are on a fortress just like Belgrade. The fortress isn’t nearly as dominating as the town, but it still makes an excellent park, filled with Roman (left), Turk (right), and Byzantine (nowhere) ruins. I only spent about 30 minutes here because I’d had my fill of Serbian fortresses in the capital and there wasn’t too much to see, but it made for a really nice stroll.

I also visited the Red Cross Concentration Camp situated there. It is in fact named after the humanitarian organization because they once occupied the building. There was also some information about their involvement in the Gestapo-run facility that seemed to suggest they tried to help prisoners while some individuals became incorporated into the operation. Something like 10,000 people who died were processed here, some along ethnic lines, and some along a German policy of “100 Serbs killed for every 1 German soldier killed.”

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The museum was very well designed and I wondered if any of the people I read about here happened to end up at Safe Haven in New York. Beyond that I don’t want to focus on this part of the trip. Read my previous article to understand my feelings better.

While Magija had some great food, I feel like Niš beats it out. Here you have a typical local breakfast known as Burek. It is one of the greasiest bread-things I have ever eaten, but it was delicious! It’s kind of like a croissant calzone filled with cheese and meat, though other varieties exist. Generally they’re prepared in a giant half-wingspan-sized pie before being cut up into 1/4 or 1/8. I foolishly ordered 1/4, due in part to a total language barrier, and I half-regretfully ate the entire thing in 10 minutes. That was no small feat.

For dinner I got recommended Kafana Meze. It’s a local high-end joint that everybody knows in the region with some of the best barbecue in the country (according to my host). In this picture you have some fried sheep’s cheese with a dip of (what I think is) mayonnaise. It was really sour but really good. I’m not sure I’d had sheep cheese before this, but I liked the experience. The mayonnaise was okay.

The real crown was the meat. Grilled chicken stuffed with cheese, roasted potatoes, and a Serbian burger-steak, otherwise known as pljeskavica. The chicken was perfectly moist and masterfully grilled. The potatoes seasoned lightly to really accentuate their potato flavor. And the burger-steak…. wow. I didn’t know a ground meat patty could be so tasty. It was glistening with juices and flavor. The best part was the burger-steak was a small, and the large was twice the size as you see here. These three things – chicken, burger-steak, and sheep’s cheese, cost me $11 including tip and it was nearly 1kg of professionally prepared food. My only regret was the strict budget I set for myself during my time in Serbia, otherwise, I’d have gone for lunch again the next day.