Party in Belgrade! Alcohol for breakfast, alcohol for lunch, and Beerfest party with my CS host and friends at night

When I got off the train in Belgrade, Serbia, old, dilapidated hostels on the main street greeted me.  Never did I imagine that beyond the rough exterior of the city was a beautiful, tree-lined, cobblestone street city center with one cafe after another, all with outdoor seating underneath umbrellas and hanging potted plants.  I walked up to the city center, found an internet cafe and was so surprised to find that Valentina had accepted my CS request!  I also got an reply from Ana, my old roommate from Nis Serbia, telling me what foods I should try.  I freshened up a bit in the restroom, and then went to the Republic Square where my free walking tour was to start.

The tour started at the Bohemian district, famous for its many kafanas.   Kafanas are like pubs and its very common and acceptable to dance on the chairs and tables.  And in some kafanas, you can even smash glasses if something bad happened to you and you are very upset.  

Our guide told us about rakija (pronounced rah-key-ah), an alcoholic beverage made from fruit, and in Serbia most commonly plums.  Serbs drink it for breakfast, lunch and dinner to kill any bacteria in the stomach.  It has about 40-60% content of alcohol.   My guide was amazing and actually brought us home made rakija  which she passed around in plastic shot glasses.  I could definitely taste the pulm!  It was very sweet but also had the strong taste of hard liquor.  

In front of the beautiful Bohemian district

We then went to a place dubbed the "Silicon Valley" but not for what you think.  Its called Silicon Valley because its the area where many girls who have silicone breast implants come to show off their silicone, (I mean, their body).  And a funny story, men who want to show off their cars even have been known to get into fights for parking spaces on the corner so everyone can see their car.  It doesn't matter if they live a couple of blocks away, they will still drive their car to the restaurants in the Silicon Valley to show it off.  They even started paying people to save parking spaces for them in advance.

Public water fountains

In front of a building with visible bullet hosle sustained during WWII

My guide explaining Rajakia

The fortress built and reconstructed alternatively by the conquering Ottomans and Austrians

After the tour, Valentina met me at a cafe.  We walked around the city together, and because she studied art history, and used to give tour guides as a volunteer, I had another professional tour of the city!  We stopped at a kafana where one of her friends works and had more rajika and a turikish coffee.  Not only is she very pretty and intelligent, able to tell me all of Eastern European history, we chatted about everything else.  She was happy to heal all my travels stories, and about my family's background, and my work and night life in NYC.

Rajika and turkish coffee for lunch

Rakjia served in a cone shaped flask on ice

After our lunch, we walked to her home in New Belgrade, which is across the river Danube.  We stopped for dinner at a local cafe and had pljeskavica, a Serbian hamburger.

After dinner, I took a nap.  Then Valentina, her husband Srbo (pronounced Sirbah) and I set off for Beer fest, which is a huge free annual beer and music festival.  The majority of the bands were Serbian, one was from Bosnia, which was fun to dace to music I didn't understand at all.  By far the most fun for me was at the end of the night when the Shapeshifters performed!  I probably would have never have heard this band without living in Scotland and going to so many techno and house clubs.  I love their song Pusher.  At one point I still had about a half can of beer that I didn't finish and wasn't going to.  Valentina told me I should "throw my drink".  So while everyone was jumping to the music, I spun my beer can around in the air and sprayed us all with my beer.  I was scared people would be upset but it actually made the guys cheer and take off there shirts!

When Shapeshifters started singing "New Day", I really let loose and sstarted dancing.  Valentina said to me, "Don't look behind you because there are 5 guys just waiting to make eye contact with you!".  If I could get that sort of attention in NYC I'd always be dating.

 Crowd and decorations at Beerfest

Having a great time with Valentina, her friend, and her friend's bf

A hilarious story about this guy on the and his outfit, which is from Senagal (except of course for the Mexican hat).  He was traveling in Paris and met a man.  He told the man he really wanted his outfit.  The man said, "I can't give it to you, its my clothes.".  He then offered to pay him 50 euros, and the man sold him his outfit.  He wears it every year to Beerfest and has become quite a hit!

A funny story about the guy on the left.  Hes the boyfriend of one of Valentina's friend.  A random guy came up to him, asked him something, then burst out laughing.  He couldn't stop laughing with his mouth wide open and pointing.  His gf asked him why the random guy was laughing and he said the the guy recognized him from a beer commercial he a year ago.  He asked us, "Why do you think I wore that huge beard for 7 months!  I had to disguise myself!"

And because I was the only black female in all off the festival, maybe even Belgrade, I got a LOT of attention.  I couldn't make it 10 minutes without being approached by another guy asking for a photo.  I really should have charged a euro for every picture.

Two of my good looking fans!

We stayed out until after 3AM.