Balkan chronicles: Chapter 1. Serbia

While being a tourist is great, being a traveler is even greater. What's a big difference, you may wonder. There is. While in the first case you manage to explore cultural and historical heritage, experience night life and taste local food, in the second case, being lucky enough, you'll get deeper to catch the spirit and find the soul of the country. Our trip is inside out: less museums and tourist traps (hopefully, but never sure) and more locals, contemplation and readiness to experiment.

Belgrade central avenue

Just two days before we left Zagreb to start our Balkan tour I met a Serb on salsa party in the club. The music was so loud that we could barely hear each other, thus, as it turned out later, he understood that Ukrainian girls: 1) drink vodka with lemon; 2) smoke joints; 3) go to church next morning after the club. 'Good start,' - I thought sarcastically. To tell the truth, this was the only Serb I held a conversation for the next few days: we got a ride with a Turk, hanged out with Bosnians and were hosted by a Canadian who invited his French friend to show us around. Answering the question what made them move to Belgrade, both answered in 1 voice: 'They have a soul here'.

2 Ukrainians, US Angel, Canadian and French in the center of Belgrade

It feels home in Serbia: the smell of meat everywhere, and though I heard that Serbs eat meat wrapped in meat and served with meat, I truly enjoyed tasting all these pljeskavice, kobasice and vešalice which added to a positive image I had.

Choosing between bela vešalica and pljescavica

Being absolutely reluctant to vodka, I still wonder how I let a guy on the market talk me into buying a liter of rakija which I had to carry everywhere and could hardly smell. My grandad would, however, strongly disagree with it.

A victim of rakija-seller persuasive skills

Deliberately avoiding tourist bars in Novi Sad we met midnight near a famous fountain behind the church where teenagers prefer to hang out, eavesdropping their gossips and everyday conversations while watching common people. We also managed to drop to a typical kafana to listen to some famous Yugoslavic songs performed live and mixed with Balkan turbofolk and almost suffocating by everyone smoking inside.

And yep, just to mention that surprisingly enough, our Serbian train departed bang on time but going backwards for two hours, it seemed we were riding a broken carousel in a theme park. Not everything at once, though, or as they say: 'polako, polako'.

Always moving 

Finally, lying in Kalemegdan park, we were listening to Balkan beats from the wedding orchestra and quietly singing 'Elaine from Ukraine made me insane', the song of our Canadian host which is telling his first love story with a half-Jewish, half-gypsy Ukrainian girl back to his 18. 

In process: chronicles will not write themselves

Anyway, while being skeptical about the country because of its Balkan spirit and recent history, it turned out to be different. Everyone will find something to meet their demands: culture freaks are recommended to visit Kalemegdan with its Roman well and awesome torture museum, sweettooth gastrolovers will find their way in Blaznavac i Crna Ovca, and eventually, party animals should start booking their tickets to Exit event with Tom Odell, Sigma and Manu Chao coming already in June.

Famous Kalemegdan  towers