Beograd, Srbija

Luckily, we were picked up at the airport, and we didn't have to struggle with the new language and the new alphabet (Serbia is entrenched in Cyrillic, and alphabet I somehow over looked learning--foolishly, it turns out) while we struggled to stay awake our first day of our trip to the Balkans. Bu once the driver dropped us at the doorstep of our hotel, we were on our own. Which initially seemed like it would be just fine. We have lots of experience on foot in foreign cities--it is our very favorite things to do--explore a new city on foot while we try to get in synch with our new time zone.

Belgrade posed some problems--not only were the street signs in Cyrillic, they were few and far between. We happily stumbled onto a protest in the New Republic Square and were able to orient ourselves on our map. The city is an interesting combination of new and old. It has been constantly inhabited for centuries but with one war and another over time, it has been leveled to the ground and then rebuilt again time and time again. The latest iteration is late 19th century and there are some very nice buildings in the old part of the city from that era.

The streets are full of people well into the night--it is a city that vibrates day and night--people have not abandoned it--and there are some pedestrian areas that are positively packed with people. I had been worried that I would feel threatened, that Serbia wouldn't feel safe, and that was definitely not the case. It was like walking in any European city. It felt as safe if not safer than cities in America. I didn;t see anyone I would cross the street to avoid.

The really odd thing that we saw was that Serbs have chosen not to repair buildings that were bombed by NATO--nor have they torn them down. They have left them, obvious shells of their former selves--with balconies that go well out into the street while the upper and lower levels are clearly damaged. That was scary. Much scarier than anything else--every time we were on the street under them I would unconsciously hold my breath until we were clear of them. Please don't come down on me. It must be important to Serbs to have this reminder of their recent past, I just never figured out what that importance was.