The Syncretist International » serbia

Novi Sad: Reuniting and Departing

stellar magnet — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 04:21:30 +0000

I just had one day to see Novi Sad. After the fortress, I explore a little bit more, went to a park, used the internet on my laptop (in the park), went to a cafe and waited around until it was time to meet with my two Portuguese friends I met in Sarajevo. I met them in front of the cathedral and then we had dinner (pizza, not pictured). After that we went to a cafe and hung out until it was time for me to take an overnight train to Budapest.

Petrovaradin Fortress

stellar magnet — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 17:56:10 +0000

I got to Novi Sad last night and just kind of chilled out. Today I visited the Petrovaradin Fortress, which was quite nice — there was barely anyone there. I enjoyed the cloudy sky. When I was walking to the fortress, I crossed the bridge and the clouds were gray and it was kind of rainy. As soon as I got to the fortress the skies were blue, clouds were white. The walk back across the bridge was really peaceful, sun shining on my smiling face.

Kalemegdan Park and Belgrade Fortress

stellar magnet — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 20:51:22 +0000

My favorite thing about Belgrade was definitely Kalemegdan Park and the Belgrade Fortress, which sort of co-exist on the same plot of land. I spent most of my last day here, before having to catch a bus to Novi Sad.

Cafeteria Style Vegetarian Food

stellar magnet — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 20:42:29 +0000

It seems like almost every city I go to, there exists one vegetarian restaurant that has cafeteria style food, where they make a different set of things each day. This one was really tasty and somewhat cheap compared to regular food in Belgrade. I paid about 6 dollars for this plate of food below (including that muffin!). It’s located at Palmoticeva 5, right behind Parliament. Supposedly its a brand new place to eat, but I think there used to be some other veggie place at this same address.

The White City

stellar magnet — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 20:25:53 +0000

Since my suitcase handlebar broke, I decided to become a real traveler and purchase a backpack. I got the largest one at the store — 95 liters. Soon I will have to post a picture of how ridiculous I look carrying this backpack. I had to mail a bunch of shit back home because it would not fit in my new piece of luggage. Hopefully this thing lasts me my entire trip…

I partook in some more wandering around the city of Belgrade (which translates to “the white city”). Belgrade is a beautiful and easy going city, there are nice parks scattered around everywhere and things generally seem very clean.

Tesla, Tesla and more Tesla

stellar magnet — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 06:23:09 +0000

There is a good amount of Nikola Tesla pride in Belgrade/Serbia. They have a Tesla museum, that is mostly under construction, which contains various Tesla related items such as some models (built by the museum peoples) showing some of Tesla’s inventions. Also, they go in depth at explaining some patents, like this fountain he was trying to commercialize. Tesla’s ashes are located at this museum!

More Tesla pride: Belgrade’s airport is the Nikola Tesla Airport and the man on the 100 dinar note is Nikola Tesla.

From Sarajevo to Belgrade

stellar magnet — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 17:15:00 +0000

I went to the Sarajevo bus station with the Portuguese girls who were also heading to Serbia. By now my suitcase handle has broken and I am looking really silly dragging it around without no handle. There are a bunch of young kids at the bus station and it seems like they are laughing and looking at me. They must be talking about me — right — or am I just being self-centered? The girls sent me off on an overnight bus and then around 5 a.m. I arrived in Belgrade. I immediately decided to get in a cab — I was tired, my suitcase was broken and I wanted to get to rest. When the cab arrived at the address of my hostel, he wanted to charge me something like 50 euros for going under 2 kilometers. Yeah fuckin’ right! I gave him 10 euros while demanding “this is ALL i’m going to give you, you can’t rip me off by that much.”

Kralja Milana 17 is the address of my hostel. I saw a sign for “Hostel Belgrade” and walked through the main door. There are a bunch of doorbells with different names on them, but I didn’t see one for “Hostel Belgrade.” I was really confused and lost at this point. There is another door straight passed the main one leading to a sort of backyard/garden area of the building, with a bunch of houses back there. There is none that says “Hostel Belgrade” though. I walked ahead to some of the doors but am really confused and not sure what to do. I walked back to the main street and look at the doorbells again and am just kind of wishing for somebody to walk by and see how lost and frustrated I am and then tell me how the hell to find my hostel. Where are you, my guardian angel? I walked back through the two sets of doors, to the back of the building and there is some guy walking out of one of the doors. I asked him if he knows where the hostel is. He pointed to the second door down on the left, in this courtyard of houses-behind-building. I walked up to the door and I saw in the doorway there is this broken green-n-orange sign that looks like the same one posted out on the main street, but this one is on the floor, being of no help to the person that does not yet know how to find her way to this destination. But there it is and now I will remember.

So yeah, I’m in Belgrade now… just wanderin’ around a little.