First Days in Belgrade

My first few days in Belgrade have been nothing short of AMAZING!  I have already seen and experienced so much.  Honestly, I do not know why more tourists don't visit this city.  It has EVERYTHING!  There are great cafes,  wonderful people watching, and beautiful architecture.  Belgrade is a perfect example of mixing the new with the old.  

Many people of Belgrade feel that if Serbia joins the EU the city will loose some of its untouched charm.  

My experiences so far have been centered around sight seeing.  I have walked down so many streets, alley ways,  gardens, and parks.  I have also had the opportunity to eat  A LOT of traditional Serbian food.  Our first night we had a dinner of Serbian salad made from a creamy cheese, tomatoes, and cucumbers (delicious!), beans, and meat.  The restaurant had a lot of charm and character.  We even had the opportunity to watch some of the locals do traditional Serbian dances.   After dinner, we watched the sun set over the river Danube from a military fortress (a picture perfect scene).

There is this wonderful cobblestone street in Belgrade that comes alive at night.  At a resturante full of flowers on that street we had dinner our second night.  It was much of the same sort of Serbian food as the first night, but here  we were sung to by a sort of Serbian Mariachi band (best comparision I could make) .

And yesterday we had a feast in the garden center of ?.  Yes, ? is the name of the cafe.  It is the oldest cafe in Belgrade and I know why...... THE FOOD IS AMAZING.  We had an entire spread of food.  A feast fit for a king (haha).

So far we have only been to one meeting.  It was with a press officer for the US embassy.  It was nice to get an Americans view of Serbia and Serbian people.  He reinforced what we already knew - that Serbians are a proud group of people and nationalism is very important to them. 

I have to say my favorite part of the trip so far has been sampling the the street food and visiting the cafes.  It is so much fun.  Getting a coffee,  people watching, and snacking is my favorite!!

Well that's all I can think to right for now! I'm sitting at the Hotel internet cafe enjoying some fresh strawberries and cheese that I bought a the market :)

I'll update soon!!!