I was in Paris and had only a couple of days to leave the Schengen Zone before my visa expired. Having no clue where to go next, I did what any aimless twenty-something would do with a three-figure checking account balance… I went on Skyscanner and set my destination to ‘flexible’. I booked the cheapest flight I could find.

Twenty-five Euros got me a one-way ticket to Serbia.

Twenty-five Euros got me a one-way ticket to Serbia.

I knew nothing about Serbia. I had maybe heard the name before… but I also could have been mistaking it for Slovenia… or Syria… or Somalia for all I knew. My geography wasn’t all that great at the time.

And I was playing with Pokémon cards and Batman action figures when the breakup of Yugoslavia and subsequent conflicts were happening in the nineties, so I really knew nothing about Serbia or the surrounding region.

But nevertheless, I was going.

A gloomy arrival

It was raining when the plane touched down in Belgrade. The brutalist rectangles I had seen during the descent, along with the very ‘functional-looking’ airport, were a far cry from the romantic architecture I had parted ways with in France.

I got a taxi to my AirBNB with surprising ease, and my host was there waiting to let me in. He was, and still is, one of the best hosts I’ve ever had.

I remember his son was with him as well; he said that he wanted to ‘see what an American looked like’.

With my scraggly hair and baby face, I’m not sure I fit the ‘Travis Kelce’ archetype that I’m sure he was expecting… but oh well. I guess I was, and still am, an American.

This was the first time that I had been able to afford a private space during my digital nomad adventures. And given that I had just left a rat-infested frat house in France that would have been an insult even to the word ‘dilapidated’, some fresh drywall and a little privacy was very welcomed.

I remember there was a basket of individually wrapped chocolate croissants and instant coffee… both of which I went through in a matter of days. The ‘stove-top’ was built into the top of the microwave… something I’d never seen before, and there was no oven.

But I had that ’early-twenties’ metabolism, so my body was more than capable of surviving off the many possible assortments of the pan-fried ‘breakfast sandwich’. As a matter of fact, I could probably do a cooking blog entirely built around breakfast sandwiches I’ve concocted with mystery meats and cheese (because I couldn’t read the packaging).

TLDR: Serbian breakfast sandwiches: 10/10.

First impressions

I quickly realized that Belgrade did in fact have a, quite lovely, historic district. I don’t know if that’s the right word for it… that’s a very American thing to say. We love to group things into ’new’ and ‘historic’. But regardless, Belgrade has some beautiful architecture… paired with winding cobblestone streets. I didn’t pay enough attention to Art History in college to tell you what kind of architecture it was, but I’m going to pull something out of my ass and say ‘Gothic Revival’. Though that’s probably wrong… this is a “no AI” blog… so go look it up for yourself.

This part of Belgrade had a ton of bars and cafés, many of which morphed into high-energy, ‘boots-and-cats’ clubs that comprise Belgrade’s ’not-so-famous-but-should-be-famous’ nightlife. But I’ll get into more of that in a bit.

But all of that to say, Belgrade does have a very large (and beautiful) historic district. And it was just about a fifteen-minute walk from my AirBNB.

One thing that caught my eye were the banners condemning ‘NATO aggression’ in front of the city hall. I didn’t know much about NATO… I had only just started paying attention to the news when my country elected a reality-TV star to the White House (the first time). And as mentioned, shiny Charizards trumped watching CNN in the nineties. So, I figured maybe I ought to read up on some of the history surrounding this ‘S’-country that I had found myself in.

The area around my AirBNB was nice as well– a bit more residential, but still city-like. It was, of course, walking distance to everything I needed and Nenad was kind enough to lend me a bike to zip around the city a bit faster.

My day-to-day in Serbia

I fell into a daily routine pretty quickly. Of course, I was still working remotely, but found plenty of time for leisure and exploration. Nenad and his son frequently took me on biking tours of the city, showing me around and explaining some of the history. Some standouts were the Nikola Tesla museum (he was Serbian), an Eastern Orthodox church, floating house boat bars along the Danube, and Novak Djokovic’s personal training facility.

Almost every morning, Nenad and I would have coffee and a cigarette at a table outside (his house was attached to the AirBNB). It was always Turkish coffee (which is strong and has the grounds at the bottom of the cup). But being a life-long advocate for black coffee, I loved it.

On a few occasions, these cups of coffee were paired with a shot of Rakija… an incredibly strong plum brandy. I don’t know the precise alcohol content, but if one ever needed to exfoliate their stomach lining, this would be the way to go about.

Nenad (jokingly) said that Serbians would take a shot of this in the morning to prevent sickness. I can’t speak to the scientific validity, but it does make the rest of the day a lot more fun.

I can’t speak to the scientific validity, but it does make the rest of the day a lot more fun.

He told me all sorts of stories… the history of Yugoslavia, personal travel tales, where his family vacationed… it was great. And educational!

After our coffee, but before starting work, I would go down to this bakery at the end of the street. They had this delicious pastry that was like a pizza, but with sour cream instead of tomato sauce. It was big, and it cost me less than a dollar. Not the healthiest thing in the world, but again… twenty-something metabolism conquers all. And at this point in my financial journey, calories-per-cent superseded nutrition.

My dinner, on more than one occasion, was not much healthier. Pljeskavica still holds a place as one of my ’top-five’ street foods of all time. It’s like a hamburger, but made with three different types of meat (pork, beef, lamb) and then stuffed inside a pita with some veggies and sour cream.

Pljeskavica still holds a place as one of my top-five street foods of all time.

In terms of the ‘calorie-per-cent’, this dish took the cake. And the rest of the pantry too. So delicious, but god, I’m sure there’s still residue from these guys in my arteries.

The nightlife in Belgrade is a standout

Those floating house boat bars I mentioned? They were like something out of a James Bond movie. Each one had a wildly different vibe. Some were dive-y, some were exclusive.

“You should be on the list to enter,” I remember a scary-looking, black-suit laden bouncer saying to me (in an Eastern European accent that could have just as easily uttered the words, “Mr. Bond”).

The ones I could get into were fun. “Houseboat-hopping along the Danube” is a very niche bucket list item, but it’s one that I have checked off.

‘Houseboat-hopping along the Danube’ is a very niche bucket list item, but it’s one that I have checked off.

I also went to the first, and maybe only, Irish Pub in Belgrade. I think I’ve been to an Irish pub in almost every country I’ve been to. Ireland claims they’re not up to anything, but with their proliferation of Irish pubs, I think they’re laying the groundwork to be a future Superpower. (Kidding, I love Ireland.)

I went on another pub crawl. You’d think I would have learned my lesson after Japan, but if you can exercise just the slightest bit of restraint, they are a good way to meet people and socialize when you’re traveling alone.

There ended up only being like five people on the crawl, including the tour guide and his brother. We met in this very bohemian part of Belgrade… very walkable, several streets that were closed to cars, and a lot of other people out enjoying the nightlife.

This was almost ten years ago, and many drink were had… but I remember it being a good time. We went to several different places, and at one point ended up at a bar/club that used to be a governor’s house? I’m not sure of the accuracy there, but there was a tree growing through the floor.

The basement of one of the places was painted like outer space, and had a stationary motorcycle in the center of the room. And in another place, there were some artists doing a political demonstration wherein they chopped the head off of a mannequin that was dressed as some current or historical character.

I realize this is sounding more like a fever dream than a pub crawl, but I swear it’s rooted in truth.

The tour guide was a real character. He was probably a few years older than me at the time. He was telling stories about this and that, and I remember him saying he was engaged, and I also remember him saying that in Serbia, if you wanted to marry a woman, you had to shoot an apple off the roof of her father’s house.

That can’t possibly be true. But it would make for a movie subplot!

In any case, that was a genuinely fun pub crawl… and I ended the night with all of my money (minus a modest sum for the drinks consumed).

Heartfelt hospitality

One of the most heartwarming instances from my time in Serbia was when I mentioned to Nenad that I wanted to try some traditional Serbian food. He gave me some restaurant recommendations and that was that.

But then a couple of weeks later, he knocked on my door holding a tray of home-cooked food. He had mentioned to his mom that I had wanted to try Serbian cuisine, and so she took it upon herself to make me a tray of Sarma (mince meat and rice wrapped in cabbage leaves).

After so many junk food dishes and stove-top breakfast sandwiches, the home-cooked meal was a welcome change. But what’s more is that she took the time to make it for me… that really filled me with the warm fuzzies.

I think places become infinitely more charming when the people there are excited to share their culture with you. And I think that’s what made Serbia have such a lasting impression on me.

I think places become infinitely more charming when the people there are excited to share their culture with you.

From the coffees with Nenad to the bike tours around Belgrade, it all made my time there so much more memorable.

I still have a lot of places left to see, but there are also a ton of places that I’d love to go back to. And Serbia is right at the top of that list.

živjeli!