what a funtastically fascinating country! belgrade is a big, graffiti-filled city that never sleeps. it also seemingly has more than its fair share of gothic, over-tattooed young people who subsist off death metal and cocaine. it was also more than 40 degrees C when i was there (as well as everywhere else for the rest of the trip as well). because i showed up a day late, the nice hostel i booked (which was playing the most recent arcade fire album in the restroom and had lockable lockers) had cancelled my reservation because it was the busiest night of the year (because the infamous exit festival, one of the largest music festivals in the world, had just let out in the next town over). did you know that belgrade was recently rated the #1 party destination in all of europe? anyways, ultimately, through a long, unfortunate series of events i ended up at a place called the hostel from hell. actually it was called hostel centar. the owner managed to accost and completely sketch me out on the street before i even got to the place, i don’t think they’ve washed their sheets since the communist era, and, despite my best efforts to be nice, i became the new enemy of an intoxicated homeless serbian man who was sleeping at the base of the ladder that was the only access to the unbearably hot attic where they had me sleeping.
overall though belgrade was great: the city is sprinkled with beautiful serbian orthodox churches that are filled with amazing icons. all except one – the st. sava temple (one of the largest orthodox churches in the world) – which despite being under construction since 1931 is still an empty shell inside. and there was a castle! and i couldn’t leave without paying a visit to the largest mall in serbia, the ocse center!
then took a bus through the beautiful mountains of southern serbia into… kosovo!