end full of too much dinking, not enough sleep and wonderful Serbian people. I'm not sure what I was expecting from Serbia. In an unofficial airport poll of the 4 of us traveling to Serbia, the only thing we knew about the country was that our friend was from there. I couldn't tell you much else. I knew roughly where it was on the map, and knew that soon it will be going into the EU, but other than that I had no clue. Here's what I discovered:-The food is dynamic and amazing. Our first lunch in Serbia we had a great soup followed by lots and lots of meat. To finish it off, we had crepes with a yummy delight inside that was 
a mix between something chocolatey and fruity. Don't know. Don't care, it was scrumptious. Lunch is the big meal of the day in Serbia, so the dinners were more just cold cuts with pickles and this great bread that I could literally eat all day. We also tried a breakfast pastry that was layers of thin dough with feta cheese in the middle. We had that with drinkable plain yogurt. Sarma which is cabbage rolls back home was another meal. Quite yummy. We also had some amazing ham that had slow-cooked for 5 hours. Serbians know how to eat.
a mix between something chocolatey and fruity. Don't know. Don't care, it was scrumptious. Lunch is the big meal of the day in Serbia, so the dinners were more just cold cuts with pickles and this great bread that I could literally eat all day. We also tried a breakfast pastry that was layers of thin dough with feta cheese in the middle. We had that with drinkable plain yogurt. Sarma which is cabbage rolls back home was another meal. Quite yummy. We also had some amazing ham that had slow-cooked for 5 hours. Serbians know how to eat.- Drinking is big in Serbia. I don't think it is so much the alcohol though. My impression was that it was more about the social gatherings and being with friends than it was actually about getting drunk. Sure that is a side effect of staying out for hours upon hours and until 4am, but no one was angry drunk or just slamming drink after drink. Everyone seemed like they were enjoying themselves mightily. We saw a cover band on Friday night that played everything from Metallica and Rage Against the Machine to Katy Perry. Saturday night we rocked out to 80s rock music and had a great time singing along to songs everyone knows.
- We did get to try a pear flavored home-made liquor. We heard stories of other strong alcohols, but didn't have the opportunity to try much of that, so we didn't. We did learn though that the best stuff comes in un-marked bottles and from people who you have never met. I don't know this from first-hand experience. Just stories passed along.
- It is evident that Serbia is not a wealthy country, but you wouldn't know it by the people. Everyone was extremely nice and welcoming and made us feel like we were part of their lives from the minute we got there. All the younger people speak English, so thankfully we could communicate with them. We tried to learn some Serbian, but really only ended up with "Hello", "Thank you", "Yes", and "good". Other than that we had our friend translate for us.
- Compared to France and the US, everything in Serbia is super cheap. We changed money when we got there, I gave 30 euro to get turned into dinar. I spent 22 for the whole weekend. Now this is obviously due to people making me food, but also because beers cost 100 dinars=1 euro. Nice.
- We went into a Serbian Orthodox church and it was really cool. Very ornately decorated. The most striking thing to me was that there were no pews or chairs. I asked our friend and she said that everyone stands the whole time! That is 40 minutes of standing. Whew.
- Serbian
men are big. Granted I have lived in France for 6 months were the guys aren't exactly big, but I saw some really big dudes in Serbia. Tall, muscular and don't look like people I would want to meet in a dark alley if they were unhappy. Maybe these shoes that were on the side of the street belonged to one of them?
men are big. Granted I have lived in France for 6 months were the guys aren't exactly big, but I saw some really big dudes in Serbia. Tall, muscular and don't look like people I would want to meet in a dark alley if they were unhappy. Maybe these shoes that were on the side of the street belonged to one of them?- Best purchase of the trip was a pair of shoelaces from a vendor on the street. I broke a shoelace on my Pumas a few weeks ago and have been searching for new ones. My laces needed to be khaki color though and I could only find white, black and brown easily at stores. I walked around the corner while we were wandering the city and saw a whole bunch of colors and sizes of shoelaces. Bingo!
- The Serbian country really is beautiful. I can't pronounce the names of where we were. The hometown of our friend is called Zrenjanin and the other place we went to visit was cal
led Novi Sad. Novi Sad is a little bigger with more restaurants and such. They also have an old fort and the Danube runs through it. As we crossed the river, our friend pointed out the old supports of the bridge that had been bombed in 1999. It isn't like I don't realize that wars really exist and that people get bombed, I have just never known someone who lived through it. Our friend did. It is amazing to hear her and her mom speak about it. Her childhood was so far removed from mine. In this picture is a clock that was up by the fort. The time was 3:30. The clock is backward. Get it?
led Novi Sad. Novi Sad is a little bigger with more restaurants and such. They also have an old fort and the Danube runs through it. As we crossed the river, our friend pointed out the old supports of the bridge that had been bombed in 1999. It isn't like I don't realize that wars really exist and that people get bombed, I have just never known someone who lived through it. Our friend did. It is amazing to hear her and her mom speak about it. Her childhood was so far removed from mine. In this picture is a clock that was up by the fort. The time was 3:30. The clock is backward. Get it?I loved our trip to Serbia. Staying with a Serbian family was the real-deal, not some tourist glamorized view of the place. Our hosts were amazing and I think everyone should go visit if you get the chance.
No comments:
Post a Comment