17-5-11 @ 6:30a
Hotel Royal, Belgrade
Excited. That’s the one word I feel coming from everyone last night. Yes we were all tired, but as soon as we got in the plane to Belgrade the excitement became palpable. We took off with no issues and the flight was smooth…for a puddle-jumper. Lynnette and Stacia really impressed me today, on both flights. The puddle-jumper was a little shaky taking off, but no more than normal for a small plane in wind. They both took it in stride and kept on smiling.
We landed with no issues and took a bus from the Airport in Neo-Beograd (New Belgrade) to the city proper. It was really interesting watching the architecture a we travelled closer and closer to the city center. Neo-Beograd was built during Tito’s Yugoslavia and the general architecture reflects a utilitarian approach – “This needs to be built so it will be built, no need to get fancy.” For the most part, this held true until we crossed the Sava River and entered Belgrade proper.
In Belgrade, the utilitarian motif still remained, but it was infused with the ancient architectural forms of the city. We got off the bus, and headed towards a central square to catch a couple of cabs. A few of us decided we wanted to walk to the hotel, so we sent the others on their way in a cab and the rest of us (Dennis included) walked to the Hotel Royal. Just as we were about to take off, a lady of about fifty years approached us asking if we needed a taxi. We declined, but through talking to her we came to find out she was a Canadian citizen (though originally from Serbia). She was extremely kind and warm to us, and promised us that the Hotel wasn’t far at all.
We started by walking through a tunnel under some streets and we came above ground in an almost warren-like area. The first thing I noticed is there are shops EVERYWHERE. And they are tiny. None of that department store crap (though some of them look just a primped and “fancy”), just small specific stores. It’s refreshing. As we walked up hill and onto the ped mall proper the fusion of architecture became readily apparent. Fanciful stone work meshed with utilitarian complexes and were overlaid with a splash of capitalist appropriation. It was cool. Everything I’ve seen only furthers my desire to explore this city and its people (and Europe for that matter!).
After a short walk, maybe thirty minutes, we arrived at the Hotel Royal and an fun surprise – Katie was at the Hotel to meet us. It was nice to see a familiar face in a foreign city – especially one who knew the city! I should digress for a second here: Katie a Coe College graduate who is currently studying with Theatre DAH in Serbia on a Fulbright Scholarship. In fact, it was this exact class four years ago that inspired Katie to apply for a Fulbright. She has been here since September and will be spending portions of the trip with us.
We quickly settled into our rooms. I’ll be spending the trip with Lucas and Keegan, so this should be a fun and interesting room! We each took a quick shower and then went to exchange our USD for Serbian Dinars. Lucas and Keegan managed to exchange all of theirs, but I was only able to exchange $50 before the three of us entirely cleaned out the booth’s reserves. C’est la vie.
Some other students wanted to exchange some money still, so Dennis led us to a nearby booth for them to exchange at before leading us around the block to Hotspot, a local internet café that has been a common hangout for student in the previous two trips. On our way, we passed Student’s Park and a couple cool pieces of artwork (I’ve uploaded photos of them). We finished walking back around the block and towards the Hotel…which we passed with no explanation. Dennis had decided to lead us to a gourmet chocolate shop that was just down the block. The chocolates were delicious and quite inexpensive (a trend I am noticing around here…). I tried two: A chile and a ginger chocolate. They cost about 44 dinar a piece – 64 cents.
At that point, it was about time for our dinner reservation at a pizza place just up the hill from the Hotel – we had actually passed it on our way to Hotspot. It was a nice restaurant and had a great atmosphere. I split a pizza with Keegan and just about everybody kicked back a beer or two. I ordered Nikšićko Tamno, a dark beer that had been lauded by the previous trip.
After dinner we walked through Kalemegdan Park, which we will explore more today. It started raining part way through though, so we hurried back to the Hotel. We went back to the room and had thoughts of going out, but weren’t sure if we wanted to in the rain. I actually ended up heading to sleep since I was getting bored (exhaustion and all that…) but I believe Keegan and Lucas bought a bottle of pear rakija (a local alcohol…it’s a type of brandy). I woke up fairly early this morning, but that’s to be expected with having gone to bed early too. Tonight will be phase two of acclimatization to the new timezone.
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