Special Section: Summer Fun
Special Section: Summer Fun
Belgrade, Beaches, and Cool Runnings
Belgrade
Albania
By Frank Hennick
By Debbie Knight and Mary O’Connor
If you want to see Belgrade, Serbia’s bustling capital of one
and a half million, you’ll need to consider the eight-hour bus
ride ahead of you, on a none-too-scenic route. Don’t allow
yourself to be dissuaded, though; especially if it’s August and
you’re a TEFL volunteer with languishing English clubs and a
weekend to spare, a trip to Belgrade can be rejuvenating. Under these circumstances, I headed up there with two friends,
unsure of what kind of city we’d find.
The length of the bus ride, miserable and sweaty though it
was, did lend us a bit of perspective. Headed north, we watched
the landscape, the election posters, the standards and styles of
living all change before our eyes. By the time we’d reached
Belgrade, it seemed that we’d exited one district of history and
entered another. (The grandiosity of that statement makes me
cringe, but that’s really how it seemed.)
I’ll admit that as our bedraggled old bus pulled in, I was
thinking of what always came to mind when I heard “Belgrade”
in the past: NATO bombs and Tito. And sure enough, you can
find plenty of evidence of both, from ruined buildings, to museum displays, to Marshall Tito-themed cafe bars. I’d hoped to
see these places, but perhaps fortunately, plans didn’t pan out.
The museum was closed. We never found the cafe bar. War
damage, unfortunately, is easily seen–we didn’t really need to
look for it.
With no real destinations in mind, then, serendipity and wandering became the theme of the trip. Belgrade certainly is a
pretty city; yes, it’s got plenty of selfsame concrete cubes from
the socialist years, but we hardly noticed these among the Austro-Hungarian relics and the buildings with baroque facades
such as the Parliament and National Theater. We wandered for
hours, admiring the green copper domes on so many of the
buildings, the quay along the Danube, and the so-called “Bohemian Quarter,” with its smartly dressed twenty-somethings
and cafes buzzing more with conversation than dance music.
Belgrade, on that first day, could do no wrong.
We missed out on Tito’s grave, but we made it to the far
more upbeat and, dare I say, enlightening Nikola Tesla museum. Tesla, a physicist and eccentric, was one the pioneers
of electricity. Nowadays, he’s a great point of pride for Serbs
(who seem rather keen on points of pride) and his pensive, sullen face appears everywhere in Belgrade. The museum was
quite well done, featuring working models of Tesla’s gadgets.
By reputation, most Serbs are not too happy with America
these days, and occasionally this can complicate tourism. Fortunately, almost everyone we spoke with was either polite or
indifferent to us. All that Macedonian we’ve studied proved
very helpful here--in fact it was the only way we could haggle
with the bus company and ensure our way back – one hour longer and sweatier still than the ride up. Don’t let sweat or politics deter you, though. Belgrade is a perfect city for a weekend
of wandering around—bring your sense of history and some
flexibility.
If you are not interested in an inexpensive, easy, close, safe trip
to a stunning saltwater beach, read no further. If you are interested but have motion problems, I recommend that you also
proceed to the next article. The trip described poses distinct
challenges to the carsick-prone.
Follow these directions from Macedonian soil and within
nine hours your feet will be immersed in immaculate, gentle,
blue water. This nine-hour journey costs approximately $22 via
public buses. Sound good? It is magnificent and remarkably
simple. Though speaking Albanian would be a plus, neither of
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