Travel report: Serbia

Country ranking by area: #111
Country ranking by population: #104

Date of visit: May 2016

Serbia – my third ex-Yugoslavian country

A weekend trip to Belgrade got country #37 off my list: Serbia. It was the third ex-Yugoslavian country I travelled to after Slovenia and Croatia. Serbia was also the first country in which an exorbitant scam happened to me.

Serbia is the largest ex-Yugoslavian country by area and population. It’s also a country that had to endure a lot in recent years. When I was a kid, Serbia was constantly in a war, whether it be the Yugoslavian War or the Kosovo War. Nowadays, you can still feel the scars of that either by seeing bombed buildings in the country or more importantly by speaking to the Serbs. Most people in Serbia have relatives who fought in the war. As Serbia ended as the loser of the Kosovo War after the intervention of NATO, Serbs are not as pro-Western as the citizen of other European countries.

Weekend trip to Belgrade

Visiting a country with a local is always a good thing. In my case, I went to Serbia with Vanja, who lives in Switzerland but visits Belgrade 8-10 times each year. So he is almost a local. I had just been in Stockholm with him the month before and as he constantly was raving about his hometown, I was more than happy to visit Serbia with him together. It was also his birthday and he organised a party for the weekend.

I went from Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon, which is a bit short, given the fact that the capital of Serbia is the largest city from the Balkans. But better short than nothing. Vanja was already in Belgrade, as he went there for more than a week. He and a friend of his waited for me at the airport and took me to the city centre.

I had my apartment very close to Knez Mihailova ulica, which is the main pedestrian area of the city. It’s arguably the most beautiful and liveliest area of Belgrade. Vanja showed me around. There are many cafés and restaurants around Knez Mihailova ulica. It’s indeed a lovely district and different from others. Although Serbia’s capital has some really nice spots, it might not have the charm of other Balkan cities such as Split or Ljubljana. However, it compensate this with a unique vibe.

Belgrade seems to be a dodgy city, even criminal for European standards. Average salaries are low in Serbia so that a few people try to make an additional income. Sometimes at the expenses of tourists. “Don’t speak German in the taxi!” Vanja said. “They could try to do some kind of rip off, even if I speak Serbian.” Taxi drivers  in Serbia can be the worst breed of human beings, especially when driving tourists. I followed the words and kept quiet.

Nightlife in Belgrade

Going out in Belgrade was great. Most venues are so called splavs, nightclubs on rafts. It’s a bit posh, as people dress up and it’s usually more or less like each group has a table with bottle service. It was even that posh that Vanja advised me to buy new shoes in order to get in. 🙂 Nightlife in Belgrade has the reputation of being among the best in Europe and the first night certainly delivered. We celebrated Vanja’s birthday with his friends in a bar first and headed to a splav called Sindikat afterwards.

I arrived back at my apartment at 5 AM, when suddenly something very bad happened. My key fell into the elevator shaft. As it was an apartment and not a hotel, there was no reception and obviously I coulnd’t reach the owner of the apartment that early in the morning. I called Vanja, but he did not answer his phone. Damn. Fortunately, he called me back after 15 minutes and I could come to his apartment, which wasn’t far from mine. We slept only 4-5 hours, and luckily the owner of the apartment got me another key the next day.

Fortress and football

The next afternoon, I explored Belgrade alone for approximately two hours and visited Belgrade Fortress. It’s a nice fortress that offers a great view over the Danube River. You can also see heavy artillery exhibited around the fortress. No idea why, but it is what it is.

I met Vanja after visiting the fortress, and we headed to Rajka Mitic stadium, home of Red Star Belgrade. It was the last game of the football season in Serbia. Red Star Belgrade was already champion, and celebrations would take place in the city that night.

The atmosphere at games of Red Star is just crazy. There aren’t many stadiums in Europe, where you can experience something like that. However, I cannot fully recommend going there, especially when you don’t know anyone. Things can get ugly in and outside the stadium. We were in the home fan zone. Red Star eventually won the game and we participated the march to the city centre. I was pretty tired, as the night was short and I have been walking the whole day.

Nevertheless, we visited another splav called Freestyler. It’s one of the most famous nightclubs in the city. It was even bigger than Sindikat from the day night before, however Sindikat was in my opinion the better nightclub. After approximately two hours, I was done. I said good bye and took a taxi back to my apartment.

Rip off in Serbia

I was sitting at the back of the taxi and almost fell asleep. It was a short ride only, maybe 7-8 minutes. Then it happened, and it was kind of a rookie mistake.

When we arrived, the taxi driver said “4’000 Dinar!” That’s about 40 USD and I remember that we only paid 6 USD on our way to the nightclub. “What? 4’000 Dinar? This can’t be true, I didn’t paid that much when I went to the club.” He pointed at the taximeter: “4’000 Dinar! I am the official taxi of the club” It was a fixed meter and I was so tired that I didn’t notice. Of course, it wasn’t the official taxi of the club, it was a nearly demolished car and the driver didn’t look trustworthy either.

“I don’t have that much money!” I lied. “Alright, then we have to go to my boss” he answered. I was in a similar situation in Beirut, when a driver asked for an exorbitant amount. Back then, I just left the car and gave the driver a fifth of the price he was asking for. I tried the same. “Okay, I can give you 1’000 Dinar, that’s all I have. Goodbye!” I wanted to leave the car, but the driver grabbed my wrist and didn’t let go.

The night before, I heard several stories about the crimes that happen in Serbia, especially in Belgrade. Vanja’s friends told me that many people carry a weapon with them. Having that in mind, I did not want to risk it just because of 40 Dollars. Nevertheless, my pride didn’t let me just accept that. “You know what? You can have the 4’000 Dinar, but you’re a fucking a******!” I said, before throwing the money at him and leaving the car. He didn’t react to that.

“Why did you pay?” Vanja asked the next day. “Yeah, what should I have done? I didn’t want to get shot or stabbed because of 40 bucks.” Of course, there would have been better solutions. I could have said that I need to get money from my friend and go back to the club with him. Back there, Vanja and his friend could have managed the situation by telling him not to rip off guests. Anyway, I’ve read a lot about fixed taximeters, but never imagined it could happen to me.

My travel experience in Serbia

My trip to Serbia was actually a normal weekend trip to a European city: sightseeing, nightlife, good people and… well, the first time I was really ripped off. Perhaps, the more you travel the more you think that something like that cannot happen to you. I hope this helps to make me a bit more humble in the future.

Anyway, at least something special happened to me in that trip. Even though not the thing I wanted. But apart from that, it was a great trip. I liked Belgrade, and I think it hasn’t been my last trip to Serbia. Sitting in a taxi without constantly checking the taximeter will not happen to me anymore though. Not in Serbia at least.

 

Find the travel reports of the other countries I’ve visited here!