The original plan was to stay inBelgrade for two days. We were still planning to reach our friend on Cyprus before his holiday. However, a rainstorm abd delayed spare parts “forced” us to stay in Belgrade for an entire week. Our stove is broken and camping without the ability of producing a warm meal is a rather sad experience. The delay turned out to be a lucky coincidence, though. Belgrade has much to offer.
Belgrade is a multilayered city—quite literally. One can walk the nicest, modern shopping street, only to come across a rusty iron gate, half-open and unlocked. Being the curious person that I am, I couldn’t resist the urge to sneak in. I found myself in a dark passage, dimly lit by a flickering neon light, and surrounded by the smell of old basement. If it had been rainier, it could have been straight out of a dystopian cyberpun movie. Without the sound of rain I could only hear the buzzing lights, and rush of distant cars. The thrill of adventure was short-lived, however. The gloom atmosphere was dispelled by the sounds of a family walking through the passage, chatting happily. It turns out that such passages are all over Belgrade, running under streets and through buildings, and are actively used for pedestrian traffic. The closeness of modern city life and crumbling Yugoslav leftovers remains fascinating. Besides the underground passages and dusty tourism offices that still have “Visit Yugoslavia” posters on their walls, we found a row of gems hidden away in the nooks and crannies of the city.
Apart from all the hidden gems (which are somewhat less hidden now that I’m writing about them), Belgrade offers a large variety of museums, cafes at every second corner, and amazing, cheap food at just about every corner.
We stayed at Up Hostel with all its amazing staff, who kept us well-informed and entertained throughout our stay. When the hostel was booked out for one night due to a large group, they even let us camp in the garden for a night until we could go back to our room.
After a week of urban adventuring, barhopping & meeting other backpackers, we decided to hit the road again, and left mor the montenegrin mountains.
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