Bayram in Belgrade

Last week, Turkey celebrated Kurban Bayram, also known as "Feast of the Sacrifice".  This holiday honors the story of Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son as God commanded, before God intervened and provided Abraham with a lamb to sacrifice instead.  

In Muslim countries, many people sacrifice a sheep or cow and give the meat to neighbors and the poor.  It's also a four-day national holiday in Turkey, although I'm not sure if Abraham had anything to do with that.

Having already witnessed a sheep sacrifice a couple of years ago (not as bad as you'd think), I decided to leave the country for a few days and went with my roommate Erkin to Belgrade, Serbia.

Here I am in Republic Square.  The National Museum in the background was under construction and not very impressive on the inside, but this was my best hair day during the whole trip, so deal with it.

Rakia is a fruit brandy and the national drink of Serbia and it burns going down.

We started our vacation with a fantastic free walking tour. I can't say enough good things about walking tours. They're a great way to acclimate yourself with the city and get advice from a local. This one was especially great, because our tour guide provided us with free honey rakia shots! Nothing like hard-liquor at 11am. 

It was fun to see the cultural differences between Turkey and Serbia.  

The call to prayer heard five times a day in Istanbul, was replaced by hourly church bells.  The tentative Turkish couples, perpetually in a state of almost kissing (see Nicholas Sparks book covers), were traded for passionate Serbians openly sucking face in the middle of the street.  The mangy, yet lovable street dogs of Istanbul were swapped for obedient purebreds on leashes.  Another trade-off was the Cyrillic alphabet for the familiar Latin.  While most things were also printed in the Roman alphabet, a lot of the street signs were only in Cyrillic.  

Traffic was perhaps the most noticeable difference.

Istanbul traffic is high-functioning chaos, where every pedestrian, moped, bus, and car is on its own unique zigzagging course.  It would be impossible to get anywhere in the city without jaywalking, horn honking, or rude hand gestures.  If a person followed all of the Istanbul traffic laws, they would die of old age before getting from point A to point B.

I couldn't get enough of the exquisite detailing on the buildings.

In Belgrade, things were noticeably more orderly.  Pedestrians always waited for a green walk sign before crossing the street, even when there was nary an automobile in sight.  In the absence of a traffic light, cars slowed down and yielded to pedestrians.  This shocked both Erkin and myself and we stared dumbly at the drivers, who were patiently waiting for us to cross the street.

The National Assembly

The tour guide explained that Belgrade has been bombed more than any other city in history.  For this reason, it has been rebuilt numerous times.  So in contrast to many other European countries, most of the streets were mercifully constructed in a grid pattern.  

This magical dish is called Karadjordjeva. If it were legal to marry food, I would marry Karadjordjeva.

Before leaving Istanbul, Erkin and I agreed to abandon our low-carb diets and devour as many carbohydrates as possible during our time in Belgrade.  As pork is pretty scarce in Turkey, we also vowed to consume as many pig products as possible.   

I’m fairly certain that when I threw up the morning after my 22nd birthday, I expelled my metabolism along with the tequila.  It only took me three years and moving up two dress sizes to come to terms with this.  The turning point was when a 9-year-old student pointed to my stomach, and said “Teacher, you baby?” while making a (rather exaggerated) gesture for pregnant.  I hated that kid, but I digress.

CARBS. Notice the Cyrillic?

While I can no longer eat the way I ate when I was twenty, I can’t justify not sampling the local cuisine when I’m traveling.  Although, I’m not sure if bacon burgers and blueberry cheesecake qualify as Serbian delicacies. Whatever.  What's done is done.

We spent a lot of time within the walls of the Belgrade Fortress, Kalemegdan, which overlooks the confluence of the Sava river into the Danube.  The fortress was first built in the 3rd century and over the years it was damaged, rebuilt, and fortified by Byzantines, Romans, Ottomans, and basically everyone else with a sizable army.  Today, it's a beautiful area with stunning parks and a myriad of other attractions. 

I am truly shocked that the majority of Belgradians aren’t short a few digits.  

We visited the Belgrade Zoo within the grounds of the Kalemegdan.  It was a little sad to see some of the conditions the animals were living in, but I couldn't help but be in complete awe of these creatures.  I even did an involuntary dance when I saw the kangaroos.

I grew up going to the Toledo Zoo, where there’s a 30 foot gap and an empty moat to keep you separated from the animals that could easily crush your skull with their jaws. In Belgrade, they decided a chain-link fence would be sufficient.

Owls are awesome.

The whole time we were there, I had the weird and irrational fear that I might impulsively stick my index finger through the wires into the enclosures, left at the mercy of the ferocious beasts within.  I somehow resisted. 

While I most enjoyed seeing the otter and monkeys, Erkin's favorite part was seeing a wild brown squirrel scurrying about the zoo grounds.  As there aren't any squirrels in Turkey, he gleefully yelled, "Take a picture!  Take a picture!"  

While I managed to keep my phalanges to myself, many visitors were feeding the animals popcorn and other human food.  I kept looking around for reprimanding zookeepers, but they all seemed unperturbed by the behavior.

Notice Robin Williams?

Since moving to Istanbul, I’ve become a huge fan of local street art and Belgrade didn’t disappoint in that area.

If you can't tell, the teeth are buildings.

All of the locals we encountered were lovely, impeccably dressed, and super in shape.  We were always first addressed in Serbian, but upon seeing our panicked faces, the Serb would slip effortlessly into English, without a trace of exasperation.  

Roomies!

On our third night, I surprised Erkin with a bottle of champagne to celebrate friendship and his impressive recent weight loss.  We went to the aptly named Student Park and enjoyed the open intox, while people watching drunken university students.   

The amazing (and often unrecognized) inventor Nikola Tesla, is the pride of Serbia.  He's best known for his design of modern alternating current and pretty much anything else involving electricity.  The guy was amazing.  Today, he can be found in Belgrade on keychains, mugs, magnets, and the 100-dinar note.  They even named the airport after him. 

They did lots of hands-on demonstrations using electricity.

At the insistence of our friend Aylin, a complete Tesla maniac, we visited the Nicola Tesla Museum.  It was AWESOME.  

  

Erkin in front of the Church of Saint Sava, which was completed in 1989.

All in all, it was a fantastic trip.  I highly recommend going to Belgrade.  But, I've got to get going, party people.  This time-travel romance novel set in 18th century Scotland isn't going to read itself.  I'll see you next week, when I blog about trespassing on Burgazada.