Friday April 7- Saturday 8, 2023
I lost this entire post, in draft, when looking up a stupid YouTube video. Another reason to dislike Baka Prase (explained at the end). Typing this all over again now...
Our flight over the ocean, into Amsterdam, was long. I can't sleep on planes. We had "comfort plus" seating, but the seats still didn't recline enough for me. Upon landing, we had to walk off the plane onto the tarmac and get in a bus. Weird. Two old babas had walking issues. One actually fell and hit her head while getting into the bus. Ouch.
The flight from Amsterdam to Belgrade was on a much smaller plane. Upon arrival, lots of people started smoking as soon as we got to the baggage area. Smoking is very common here and not looked upon with disfavor as in the US. Customs was easy and Jovana and Zoran were right outside the security area, waiting to drive us into downtown Belgrade. The traffic at the airport and into downtown Belgrade was crazy. I can tell this is where Deda learned to drive. Everyone jams into merge lanes from every direction, cars park in both forward and backward direction on roads. There is new construction everywhere, which doesn't help. It took us an hour to go 13km (about 8 miles). I started feeling carsick at the end, but we made it.
Then we were hosted by Jovana, Zoran and their kids, Dragi and Tara, for a traditional Serbian dinner, wherein the table is set for everyone, but the guests are the only ones who really eat. Everyone else just sits and offers more food and drinks to the guests. Two or three kinds of pork, potatoes, salad, bread, peppers - a lot of food. And limitless shots of rakia, a clear alcohol, distilled from grapes. Then beer (pivo). And dessert was a whipped cream cheese pie with strawberries. Yelena and I were full and tipsy by the time it was all done. Another observer of our meal was "Zuchko" ("Yellow Cat") who laid on the radiator and meowed whenever Jovana spoke to him.
Stumbling back to our Airbnb, we were temporarily trapped in our ancient, "3 person only," deathtrap of an elevator, when we couldn't figure out that you needed to push the door open, not just turn the knob. Also, keyholes in Serbia are horizontal, not vertical. All very challenging to the Rakia inebriated.
Due to either the Rakia or jet lag, we slept the next morning until noon. Jovana called several times, thinking something was wrong. I remember waking up with the sun in my face, but just not caring enough to get up.
After getting out of bed, we met up with Jovana and Zoran, got some local currency (dinars) at an exchange and got some bakery items for breakfast. There's a bakery on every block here and they are all excellent. We got the car, and Jovana's mom, from her apartment (20 minute walk), then drove up to the cemetery (north, overlooking the city). We buried some of Branko's ashes there, at his mother's grave. Branko's brother (Jovana's dad) is also buried there.
After the cemetery visit, we returned Jovana's mom and the car, then walked to the Sava riverfront.
We stopped at the "Buddha Bar," a trendy place on the waterfront. The manager was chasing off a bunch of kids, who were hanging around outside. We were visited by Tara, and her cousin Vuk, who came down from the city. Vuk (12) immediately recognized a famous Serbian rapper/YouTuber "Baka Prase" (Grandma Pig) who was there with his entourage. Vuk went and asked for a photograph, but was rejected. Baka Prase, don't be an asshole, give a kid a photo!
After the drink, we walked further into the city and had dinner at an Italian place, Trattoria Campania. Dinner for 4, with a bottle of wine and dessert was $75. Generally speaking, prices here are about 1/2 what you would pay in the US. On the way home, we stopped at a grocery store. We couldn't figure out how to generate a price tag for the bananas, but got a few things for the week at the Airbnb.
A lot of walking today. Tomorrow, the plan is to visit a winery in the countryside.
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