As we came into Belgrade we noticed a couple of old, abandoned apartment buildings that had gaping holes in their centres. A sad reminder of the turmoil this country has been through in recent years. As we made our way to the center of town, the city looked like it was in great shape.
We had our lunch at a cafe on the pedestrian street. We were surprised to see burritos and nachos on the menu. We couldn’t resist, but we all agreed it was a bit strange to be eating Mexican food as we sat half way round the world from Mexico, in Serbia!
We browsed through the shops along the walking street, but didn’t buy anything. The architecture is very strange. At one end you have concrete block, kind of ugly buildings, and at the other end is old, ornate buildings, and in between is a mix of this and that.
We’ve now made it to Novi Sad. We have a friend in Ottawa who arranged for us to stay in her mother’s apartment. The apartment was vacant while our friend’s mom visits Canada. We arrived at the apartment where we were to pick up the key from the neighbours. We had the last name of the neighbour, but on the buzzer it was written in Cyrillic! Luckily, Nadim was reading road signs that had the city name in both Cyrillic and English and he happened to be trying to figure out which letters made which sounds. Sometimes I think he’s a bit odd, but today his strange behaviour saved the day!
We met the neighbours who were very kind and let us into the apartment and offered us a coffee / coke at their place. We had a nice little visit. Language was a slight issue, but we managed quite well. It’s really very nice to enjoy the comfort of a home again, even if it’s only for a few days (Thanks Sanja and Mama Galin!).
CM
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