Arriving in Belgrade
Up until this point on our tour, we had been very lucky with our intercity transport. On this day, however, our lucky streak ran out. When we turned up to the bus station in Budapest we found out that the bus was delayed by two hours, which eventually turned into well over four hours by the time the bus finally arrived. Unfortunately there was very little to keep us occupied at bus station and the local staff were not particularly helpful in providing useful updates, so needless to say this wasn’t the most enjoyable 4+ hours of our trip to date.
The long delay for our bus trip meant that our eventual arrival in Belgrade would be quite late at night. In addition to this it also turned out that Serbia was the first country we had visited so far in Europe where our phones roaming wouldn’t work, and we had not managed to procure any of the local currency before arriving. The combination of these three things lead us both to feel slightly uneasy about how we would get to our accommodation once the bus arrived. This feeling was not helped when we started chatting to one of the locals next to us on the bus, who informed us that taxi drivers in Belgrade are notorious for ripping off tourists by driving around town in circles for hours, racking up extortionate fares, and pretending not to understand English.
Thankfully our Serbian acquaintance turned out to be very friendly and offered his assistance to arrange a taxi for us to get to the Air BnB so we didn’t fall victim to the scam. Unfortunately this didn’t completely solve our issues as we still didn’t have any cash, so I messaged the Air BnB host asking if she could help us out. She graciously agreed to meet us at the accommodation and pay for the taxi on our behalf, with the promise that we would pay her back by leaving the sum behind at the end of the stay. We are so thankful for the kindness and generosity of the locals, otherwise our arrival into Belgrade could have been much more stressful.
Walking Tour, Tito & Tesla
Our first day in Belgrade started with a bus ride into town to join a free walking tour of the city. This helped us get our bearings and figure out exactly what we wanted to do whilst we were here. It also provided some good background on the war which broke up Yugoslavia back in the 1990’s, it’s quite amazing to think that such a devastating war in this part of the world happened so recently. On the tour we met a two Australians, who we got on well with. At the end of the tour they expressed an interest in heading to the museum of Yugoslavia and the house of flowers, a mausoleum for the former communist leader of Yugoslavia, Josip Broz Tito.
Upon our arrival at the state grounds housing the museum and mausoleum, we were struck by how much of a revered figure Tito was in this part of the world. Being from a western education system we are always skewed in our belief that democracy is the righteous path and communism is evil and repressive. However from extravagance of the house of flowers, which houses Tito’s Tomb, and the positive orientation of all of the information housed within the museum it became clear that Tito was clearly well admired by his constituents during his time as leader of Yugoslavia. One such example of this admiration was the extraordinary collection of batons that were on display – every year on his birthday (A National Holiday in Yugoslavia) Tito was presented with the baton in Belgrade after it had been on a relay journey that started in his birth town of Kumrovec (Croatia), and ran through all the major towns and cities of the country along the way. The baton carried in it a birthday message and pledge of support supposedly on behalf of all of the youth in the country.
Unfortunately all this admiration meant that, aside from some interesting information regarding the formation of Yugoslavia after WWI and its inception as a socialist/communist state following liberation from Germany after WWII, we really didn’t find the kind of historical information that we were after. It was obvious that, regardless of what the truth about Tito may be, the people of Serbia are determined to create an enduringly positive memory of his leadership.
Feeling equal parts frustrated and fascinated by the mornings activities we made a group consensus to head back to town for some lunch. We ended up settling into a table at a traditional Serbian restaurant for some local fare, and a few beverages with our new friends. After a nice long lunch we parted ways with the aim of catching up the next day for more sight-seeing.
The next day Trent met up with Tait (one of the Australians we met on the walking tour) to check out the Tesla Museum. When they turned up, the next available English speaking tour wasn’t for another couple of hours, so, they did what any guys would do and headed to the nearest pub for a couple of pints whilst they waited. I will let Trent tell the rest… The museum turned out to be worth the wait – it wasn’t overly large in size and scope, but the 20min guided tour was well put together and showcased many of Nicholai Tesla’s inventions in working order. These included his early version remote control boat, and of course, the famous Tesla Coil. After the guided tour you were allowed to stay behind and browse the rest of the museum at leisure. As mentioned earlier the museum is not particularly large, so a quick look around and a viewing of Tesla’s ashes housed in golden orb shaped urn within the museum, was all it took to complete the tour. Despite being a relatively short experience, both of us agreed the Tesla museum was well worth the price of admission.
Exploring the Belgrade Fortress
On our last day we walked back down to the old fortification which we had visited briefly on the walking tour, eager to explore it further. After a little while wondering we came across a museum exhibit of old tourture instruments housed within one of the fortress dungeons. Feeling brave we decided to pay the fee and have a look around. It was every bit as grim as you might imagine, the torture devices once used back in medieval times were horrific but really also morbidly intriguing. After a little while I started to feel a bit queasy, I wasn’t sure if this was because of the graphic images and stories from the museum or just the fact that I hadn’t had any water for some time. Craving some fresh air I went back outside to wait for Trent to finish examining the remaining exhibits.
Military Museum – After getting some refreshments, and managing to rid our minds of the gruesome images of tourture, we wandered on further through the old fortification and came across another museum focused on Serbia’s military history. Having been craving more knowledge on Tito’s communist reign over Yugoslavia, and the following series of wars that lead to the breakup of the block, we decided to give the museum a go. Disappointingly once again there was little of the information we were after, I guess to be expected given positive representation we experienced on the first day at the Tito memorial. Nevertheless there was still plenty of other good information presented on the history of the area, from the first settlement of the Slavs in the region 14 centuries ago – to the Balkan wars in the early 20th century which played a pivotal part in uniting the individual regions into the country of Yugoslavia. Overall although it didn’t provide all the info we were seeking, the military museum was still worthwhile.
Belgrade was certainly an interesting place to visit, we enjoyed exploring the city and its museums, meeting new friends, and trying out the local cuisine. We gained a greater understanding of the influence Tito’s leadership had on this part of the world and a longing to know more of the grittier details of his time in power. We also were hopeful that, throughout the remainder of our tour of the Balkans, we would be further enlightened on the war that ravaged this part of the world in the 90’s. Even though we generally enjoyed our time in Belgrade, we both admitted that we were excited to leave since, after over a month in the stifling inland summer heat of continental Europe, our next journey would take us by train to the Mediterranean coast for a much needed refreshing ocean swim!
TWO TRAVEL AS ONE 