Belgrade Impressions...

After the little digression into the realm of retail therapy in my last post, here are some photos from the city itself. While probably not one of those places you must see before you die, although I'm sure locals would probably beg to differ, I really liked it and was particularly impressed by the friendliness of the locals. Unfortunately, the Serbians definitely got a bad PR as the baddies in Yugoslav war and are not the most popular species in the eyes of many of their ex-compatriots. My friend, known as "Snow White" here, who emigrated to Austria from Sarajevo in the 1990s raised an eyebrow when I told her my cleaning lady was Serbian and I had entrusted her with my key, saying she would never trust a Serbian... Speaking from my limited tourist perspective: nice locals!

Belgrade, and indeed most Balkan destinations might not be the right place for your if you are either of the following: vegetarian or sensitive to smoke. Vegetables and dairy products might be wonderful and offered everywhere, but you are bound to see large portions of grilled dead animals in every restaurant (me, I like the dead animals on my plate occasionally...) and will get way more than your fair share of passive smoking on any given day. In fact, I thought my contact lenses were going to pop out any second if I stayed wedged between my chain-smoking colleagues any longer...