With abut 4 weeks till we have to get to Frankfurt, D and I took an overnight train to Belgrade on our way down toward Montenegro. Belgrade is a city that really isn't on the travelers circuit in Europe but that probably should be. It's known internationally for its techno and house music scene and a popular destination for the infamous British stag nights.....oh yea and one more thing, it is the capital of the now defunct Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia antonagized the west throughout the 90's and less than 10 years ago the US led a NATO peacekeeping force that bombed Serbia for 90 days to stop the "ethnic cleansing" of Kosovo. The results of the bombing campaign are seen in Belgrade with several burned out old government buildings. It was amazing to see the pinpoint accuracy of the bombing campaign. In one instance a former Milosevic era government building would be completely destroyed while directly next to it a civilian building would be unharmed. As an American I was proud to see that we had such a capable military who could accurately destroy the military targets with minimal collateral damage but I felt remorse at the fact that this attack ever had to happen. It is tragic to see how extreme people can hijack a country and take it towards ruin.
The Serbian people we met in our short time there were hospitable and warm. Our hostel owners at the "Happy Hostel" were great hosts and seemed to have no interest in reliving the past. In fact, the only person we met who wanted to discuss the war was an older Japanese traveller who kept telling us that "he was going to go see the buildings that the Americans destroyed" (he also brought up how he remembered the US bombing raids from WWII on Osaka where he lived at the time). Serbia has its problems for sure, corruption is still an ongoing issue and the average citizen distrusts the police. Interestingly, Donielle and I had to carry around a card stating that we were registered with the police. The owner of the hostel told us that he has to make two trips a day to the police station, one in the morning and one in the evening, to "register" his guests. If we were caught without our cards we could be detained at the local police station until it was sorted out. Organized crime is also an issue but our hostel owners have high hopes that an eventual Serbian entry into the EU will help the process.
Interestingly enough as I write this blog the pro EU Serbian government arrested Radovan Karadzic. His extradition to the Hague war crimes tribunal will certainly help Serbia's entry talks. Though after meeting and talking with the younger generation I am hopeful that the worst is behind this country. As one of the owners of Happy Hostel said, "It is difficult for Serbs to travel in Europe as we are met with distrust and seen as terrorists, even though we are like everyone else". I didn't think too much of this comment until days later when we were watching a British spy TV show in our Montenegro hotel. The main villain in the show was a former Serb commander who goes rogue and decides to commit acts of terrorism against the British for their opposition to the Serb war in the mid 90's. It's going to take years to change that stigma, but I am confident it will happen.
Link to blog for Happy Hostel (Alexander and the girls were super sweet!):
http://belgrade-happy-hostel.blogspot.com/
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