I found a cafe in Belgrade that has perhaps the best name in the history of cafes: The Federal Association Of Globe Trotters.
I had read about the cafe and I went purely for the alluring name. I otherwise never would have found this place on my wanders. It is downstairs in a basement and the only bit of advertising out the front is above the door buzzer.
The Federal Association Of Globe Trotters
It is furnished with an eclectic variety of furniture and art work, much of it donated by friends of the place over the years. I fell in love with it immediately. If I had a home, this is how I would furnish it.
At night it transforms into a music club, which doesn’t suit my sitting in cafes writing kind of style, so I went in the early afternoon when it wasn’t too busy.
They have wireless internet but I didn’t have my laptop with me, so I used the time to write some notes. I would have left the place sooner but happened to be playing Dead Can Dance CD’s and I was just enjoying the place too much.
The Federal Association Of Globe Trotters Coffee
Visiting Belgrade
When I was growing up Belgrade was one of those cities that I had only heard of on the news. Just like the other Bel -Belfast – whenever you would hear about Belgrade it was always for all the wrong reasons.
Belgrade has emerged from the troubled breakup of Yugoslavia, and is now even making good news. In 2008 Belgrade made world headlines when it hosted the Eurovision Song Contest (though some might argue that that is making the news for the wrong reasons as well).
Hotel Moscow
Even with the years of stability and the “good news” of Eurovision, I still got some funny looks from people when I mentioned that I was going to Belgrade. Actually it was a similar look I got from people when I told them I was going to Belfast.
The great thing about travel though is that when people go somewhere with a dubious reputation, they come back and tell their friends how it really is. I had two friends of mine go to Begrade in 2007, and their description of what it was like really made me curious to go myself.
I know many of my readers who are seasoned travellers will be thinking what’s the big deal about visiting Belgrade – it’s not like I went to Mogadishu. If you step outside your circle of travel friends though you will be surprised of the reactions you get.
About Belgrade
Belgrade was built around a citadel which sits on a rock of land at the strategic junction of the Sava and Danube rivers. The old city is a mix of grand public buildings and apartment blocks like you would see in any classical European city, sitting beside communist style buildings.
The city makes its way up a hill to meet the citadel, with the pedestrian shopping street Knez Mihailova serving as the main thoroughfare.
Knez Mihailova
Belgrade is known for its cafe and bar scene, but it should also be known for its bakeries. There is a bakery of some kind on every street, and the size of the pastries would make any American bakehouse kneel on the ground and chant “we’re not worthy”.
Another big portion of food is the Pljeskavica, the Serbian hamburger. There are BBQ grills everywhere serving this and the meat patties are huge.
Speaking of big, worth checking out is St Sava Cathedral, the worlds largest Orthodox Church.
St Sava Cathedral - The world
Getting To Belgrade
Getting to Belgrade is easy enough if you are in the region as there are direct trains from all of the neighbouring countries. From Belgrade station there are direct train services to Budapest, Munich, Zurich, Zagreb, Sofia, Bucharest, Thessaloniki and Istanbul. (What an exotic roll call of city names – I love being able to say you can get a train to Istanbul).
There are only a few low cost airlines flying into Belgrade, but you can still find reasonably priced flights from London if you plan in advance.
Once the likes of easyJet and Ryanair start flying to Belgrade, the city will become a hotspot for European short breaks and the troubles of the past will be a distant memory.
I arrived in Serbia by train from Hungary, travelling from Szeged to Subotica. It occured to me when my passport was getting stamped that I can never arrive in Serbia for the first time again.
Being new in a country can only happen about 200 times in your life, give or take the number over a lifetime as unions are formed and regions break away to become new countries.
Serbia Country of Origin Sticker - SRB
Serbia is a prime example of one country becoming many, many times over. In 1991 Serbia was part of Yugoslavia. Since then Yugoslavia gradually split up to become Croatia, Slovenia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia (which for a while was known as FYR Macedonia), leaving just Serbia and Montenegro in 2003.
In 2006 Montenegro voted to end its union with Serbia and become a separate country, thus adding another nation to the world tally.
In 2008 the region of Kosovo in Southern Serbia declared independence from Serbia, and they too proclaimed themselves a separate country. Here is where your country count gets tricky. Serbia has not recognized Kosovo as an independent country as it counts the region of Kosovo as a historical and integral part of Serbia. Half of the world has recognised Kosovo as an independent country and half of the world hasn’t.
If you are on a quest to visit every country in the world and you ticked off Yugoslavia before 1991, you now have to come back and visit 7 countries, or 8 if you count Kosovo. I will expand on the every country quest in another post. For now though I am savouring that fresh “new country day” feeling.
