Serbia

While we were a little unsure of what to expect, we decided on a stop in Belgrade between Romania and Bosnia, because we were just in the neighborhood. Arriving latish in the evening, we went about searching a resturant recommended in the lonely planet called '?' Walking the open streets was quite peaceful and the meal of smoked pork chops and Ćevapčici (grilled skinless sausages) was a great introduction to the Serbian capital.

As we only had one full day in Serbia, we were up bright and early, keen to see Belgrade. First up I wanted to get a traditional Serbian breakfast and coffee before starting the site seeing. After a quick bit of research we settled on a quite little place near our hotel which served the typical breakfast of smoked meat and cream cheese and a baked egg sandwich. This of course was a great start to a big day.

We spent the remainder of the day exploring the Belgrade Fort, which was quite interesting. The fort housed the military museum which had an exceptionally large collection of artifacts on the war history of Serbia itself from ancient times till more recent. However, there was only one small display on the recent war between Serbia and Bosnia which was mainly focused on the United Nations and how unbalanced the sides were. As this was a great chance to understand the Serbian side we were a little disappointed at the lack of information. We then walked through the main shopping street and the surrounding funky bohemian areas, enjoying a little frozen yogurt along the way.

Now Ryan assures me that he didn't know that there was the biggest beer festival in Eastern Europe on at the time we were there and I'm still not convinced that he didn't plan this. But nevertheless I was happy to go along and see what it was all about.

After the short walk along the river we arrived at the festival and were met with a massive horse shoes of temporary bars. Each one had its own branded type of beer products, with the remaining serving a range like the Premium tent and the little English pub. After selection out a couple of drinks - Ryan a local beer and a blueberry flavored beer for myself we headed off to see the food van. The selection was relatively small - mostly BBQ on bread - we picked a BBQed ham steak and local sausage pita bread. After a tour via the beer tents for refills we jumped on a couple of rides in side show ally and enjoyed the amazing view of the festival from the top.

We were both pretty tired after our long day, but definitely found that Belgrade has a lot to offer!

- Louise -