We rolled out of bed around 4 am, which is a normal time for us at home but a little early for vacation. Still not sure why we got so much sleep, but as usual we should probably listen to our bodies. The first shower in 50+ hours felt very nice that morning, and then we decided to hit the road early and beat the crowds to the sightseeing spots.
The streets were pretty empty, but we did find a bakery open and stopped there to try the burek – a flaky pastry that contains rolled up cheese and other fillings. Ours was excellent – filling and a little salty but it hit the spot. That coupled with a drinkable yogurt and we were set. Luckily we had the cash available to pay, but the staff spoke excellent English.
From there we walked to see St. Mark’s cathedral, which was just catching the morning light. The park surrounding had some nice views, and having the place to ourselves was great. Nearby we saw a government building that was being renovated, with big signs (in Chinese characters) saying that the improvements were being done in partnership with the Chinese government and Chinese companies. Interesting!
We walked through cross streets and eventually made our way to St. Sava, a beautiful Serbian orthodox cathedral that has a dramatic design. We needed to kill some time so we walked around the park, filled with owners walking their dogs (unleashed). The dogs would play with each other and beg for treats from other owners, and it seemed like there would be more fights or trouble but I guess they are peaceful dogs.
While we walked around I ended getting another allergic reaction – itchy hives around my scalp, back and some on my legs. This is a mysterious condition that seems to happen to me every 2-3 years – still unsure of the trigger. We thought it might be food related – but there is no reproducible effect that we can figure out. The only common thing is I always get it while walking around outside. After about an hour the hives faded away, and I was fine.
We had arrived to see inside when the cathedral opened at 7, but at 7 we discovered a sign outside that said they would open at 8. Oops! Instead of waiting for another hour we decided to come back later and so we headed back towards the center of town and our hotel.
On the way some government buildings caught our eye so we took a side trip to check them out. There was a surprising monument to the bombings of Belgrade by NATO forces – they left the remains of the government buildings that had bombed as a reminder of how they were treated. Lots of signs claiming Kosovo around here, and it was an odd feeling to be there in a place that is not so friendly to the USA and NATO.
We did a little supermarket shopping on the way back, picking up some wine, yogurt, cheese and crackers. The self checkout had an English menu setting, but the credit card machine was only in Serbian so it was a bit tricky to use. Because we were buying wine the staff had to come approve, and they were all busy. Finally we got it figured out.
We had our (official) breakfast at the hotel, with a simple buffet in a large dining area making up the corner of the old building. Because it was Sunday they had a special menu and besides the buffet stuff we had some eggs (that needed a little salt) and these came with a large uncut hamburger bun. WTF? While we dined another group staying at the small hotel came in – an older woman sort of collapsed while waiting for her coffee from the machine, her partner sorted her out but it was a bit of morning drama at the hotel breakfast.
After a bathroom break in our room we decided to go out and try to find a place to do some Serbian wine tasting. We settled on Wine Passage, a small wine bar and shop that was situated in an open passageway between two large historic buildings. We talked with the guy working there and explained that we wanted to try some different local wines, and he improvised a wine tasting for us, complete with English explanations. We tried five wines, along with a big plate of cheese – there was a hair discovered in our cheese cubes but we ate around it. The best wine of the bunch for me was a Chardonnay called Babaroga – really well made.
While we sipped wine the staff was outside hanging out with his friend, we enjoyed people watching as more and more people came out to enjoy the day, and I was struck by how few bras were being worn by women walking by. The price of the tasting was very reasonable, and it was good to try a variety of wines instead of one or two glass wines in a restaurant.
We strolled through town, bought a suitably cheesy keychain, and because of the warming weather a scoop of ice cream. They had a cookie called Plazma there, and the ice cream that contained that kind of cookie was really good! Later we tried the cookies but the ice cream was much better than the namesake cookie.
Back at the hotel I managed a short nap, we opened up the windows in our room that looked out over the main street below, and watched people walking by while we sipped more Serbian wine. The way the room was designed was like a tachinomi in Japan, you could set your glass on the counter and enjoy the view. I had expected the wine we bought at the supermarket was a sparkling wine but alas it was still – that’s how it goes when the label is in a different language.
Later for dinner we went to the historic neighborhood called Skadorlija, full of quaint little restaurants and outdoor cafes along the cobblestone streets. We ate at a Serbian restaurant called Boem, that had an old Serbian-made tiny car parked in front. We sat near the car and I think we were included in most of the pictures that people took while passing by. The table was a little wobbly but I found a shim nearby and made the adjustments. Kuniko had veal sausages, I had a veal meat patty (quite a large one, too), and a shopska salad on the side that was really good – topped with a really mild but delicious soft white cheese.
After dinner we walked back towards St. Sava to go inside, and were surprised by lots of people driving around waving Serbian flags, honking their horns, and celebrating something. Later the hotel staff said that Novak Djokovich had just won the gold medal, and so the celebrations and noise from that went on pretty much all night.
St. Sava was open when we arrived, and it wasn’t packed with people, either. Despite a sign banning short sleeves and shorts they let everyone in – most of the locals were wearing shorts inside. The interior was mainly accented with gold, with quite modern images of saints and the holy trinity. It looked like they spent a lot of time and money recently to modernize the interior – it was beautiful. I had heard the basement contained some unique murals, but when we went down there it was not so different from the upstairs so I’m not sure it was worth a special visit. Throughout the cathedral were some religious “stations” where people could make a prayer – and to see people kissing each station just after the pandemic was pretty surprising.
After enjoying the interior we walked across town back towards our hotel, with zooming cars full of celebrating Serbs and more and more waving flags. There was a lot of pride in the tennis gold medal win for the city. We took the rest of the evening in our hotel to sip some wine, write in this journal, and relax a bit. About 25,000 steps today!
