Belgrade again!

Again and again i come to this city! Even though i love it and come regularly, this time it also because i have to. I have to pick up a letter (a new swiss sim card replacing the one i lost in the madness of exit festival and some sweet words) and also bring my camera to maintenance so that they can clean the captor, full of dust and dirt making some dark spots on the pictures. Besides my blog which needs feeding, this gives me a lot to do today.
This time i am staying at Jeremie's place once again but it is not the same place. Since Stephanie moved back home, he had to leave the flat and he is now living in novi Beograd with the father of a Serbian friend from Switzerland. I will have the pleasure to meet him tonight. We leave the flat, Jeremie goes to work, i get busy. After finding a wifi cafe, updating a bit of my blog and writing numerous mails, i meet Jeremie for lunch. We go for a nearby small kafana and eat one more rich Serbian portioned meal. I have goulash and red peppers if i remember correctly. It is red peppers season, they are everywhere, sold in big huge bags on the road side to bottle them or make ajvar for the winter. O and a beer of course! Delicious and cheap as always. Lots of things to talk about with Jeremie as usual :)
In the afternoon i just run all around the streets of Belgrade, go for the camera shop but they send me to the Nikon maintenance center. Then head back on the other side of the bridge to delta city mall where i meet Mina's brother to pick up the letters. The mall is packed, people are getting from shop to shop or simply walking around checking out each other while they get their nails done or have coffee. I hate this temples of consumerism, all these well presented shop with their “marketing concepts”, the sterile environment: white neon light, ultra clean windows, shinny floors... The bad music and the security service forbidding me to take pictures for security reasons on top of that... It is still fun and i do manage to take a couple pictures.
As i get back to the flat, Milan, Vlad's father, is sleeping resting from a long day of work. He works in a clinic as a radiologist, taking early or late shifts. His living room is full of a huge collection of records, mostly rock. When he wakes up, he shows me his video about Vienna, so funny to see my city on tape, so many places i recognize! We then go down to the local restaurant and have out evening meal, a supper of beer please! Even thought Milan is from a different generation then us, he seems so young. Both his face and his word make me think he is in his early 30s. We joke around, laugh a lot and cheer all the time. Giveli! Soon it is midnights, the restaurant closes, we get a couple more bottles and head back up to the flat. We start to be quite drunk and start a skype conference call with Judith and Vlad. More fun and laughter. Even though they might not understand everything that is going on on this side... Milan takes out his accordion and starts to play... Mythique! We shoot a couple pictures before going to bed, drunk as ... Milan wakes up tomorrow to be at work at 7... i am happy i don't have to and that I can sleep a little longer.

3 is ok, more would be to much

Third day here, the sound of trumpets is everywhere, the smell of roast is in the air. A little (humhum) hangover from last night so the day is pretty quiet one for me, sleep and swimming pool are the main activities.
Today is the main day of competition, bands play and the best wins the golden trumpet. This the original reason for this festival. The competition takes place in the afternoon and we listen to most of it from the swimming pool right next to the scene. At night everything goes on in the streets of Guca, madness, like the previous days. There are less people and no more trumpet fanfares in the street, just the bars playing the same songs over and over. To kick of the night we have a couple cafes bucheron, special recipe by Manon. we then join the crowd at the various stands after buying a couple souvenir t-shirts. Lorin is on fire tonight, jokes, crazy sentences to the waiters, trying to bargain everything. On lache rien ce soir! Niko is not around, to busy somewhere else. PJ goes to sleep pretty soon, Judith follows a bit later. We go on at the place with most people, with our neighbors from the camp, Lorin, Marcel, Jeremie and I. I ll try to picture the madness since i have no pictures of this day. My camera is down and Judiths out of battery. A simple example of what was going on that night: a car comes in and tries to drive down the street where we are dancing to the 3-4 track play list. The blond chick dancing and hypnotizing most men around gets in front of it, to the pleasure of the driver. Lorin gets on the car, rolling over the hood, then shaking his beer at the windows. Others occasionally shake the car itself and when the car goes 5 more meters we realize it is pulling and empty trailer, people start getting into it, dancing like mad, shaking the whole thing, including the car... Same for all cars passing and when a bigger semi truck passed it is shaken even harder.
This mayhem is not of the polices taste witch will escort all the cars from now on. And one or two policemen are efficient enough to keep the crowd away. They are a bit to efficient also when diving through with their own cars,, going as far as hitting random people in the crowd. Our friend Sarah makes the painful experience...
Later at one o'clock sharp, the police turns off the music and closes the bars. General disappointment but the previous force demonstration calmed everybody and the crowd accepts this intervention without a word. After a while, Marcel gets into discussion with some drunk people asking him what he thinks of Kosovo. we decide it is time to leave. Back at the parking which is now empty, some motivated people make a small fire to heat up. It got real cold tonight... We squeeze into the tent, 5 people and way to many bags... Three days were definitely enough!

More trumpets and meat at Guca

Sleeping under the stars

I will try to be more brief in my writings, i said this a thousands time but i hope i ill now stick to it and relate only events of interest and sometimes my mind state...
We finally slept a night out under the stars and Judith used her mat and sleeping bad :) looking back, I don't think she specially appreciated it. We get the morning ferry out of the tourist main roads and head to Lastovo, a more or less wild island i also visited 2 years ago.

Written updates.

Enjoying the ride
Summertime, the living is easy.

In Ubli, we catch a first bus ride to the main town, get down for a swim at the beach were we find pure real crystal clear water. It is said this island has the purest waters in Croatia and judging by its color it should be right. The Island and its surrounding were turned into a national park since last visited it.

Lastovo town cats, muscled agile, quite wild.

Lastovo roofs.

I remember very well the camping where i stayed a couple nights and had the best fish along with 100% local vegetables. I hope i wont be disappointed like in Korcula. Slightly sunburn, we catch the next bus ride to the camping. I realize i am not hitchhiking so much any more. Am I getting lazy and comfortable? It looks like it and it feels quite good. But might be slightly more boring to you readers, no more crazy drivers, improbable encounters and unexpected rafting rides.
The camping is more crowded and after a slight disappointment, we find a nice spot. Since we have no tent and count on good weather we get in the very back of the camping where we find a little privacy. A little higher, surrounded by the remaining of walls we have a nice flat spot under an olive tree. It is getting late and we are hungry and quite looking forward to the owners fresh fish! Unfortunately we will have to get the fish elsewhere since it is necessary to reserve because it is so frequented at this time of the year. Opusteno, We have a beer and head to the next restaurant.
There we have a massive fish and squid meal along with some prawns, salads and a bottle of surprising vine. Of course we are no longer in Serbia and the prices have changed quit a bit, from a 10 pp euro meal it jumped to almost 50. The walk back to the remote camp is beautiful, the stars are so bright. No light pollution on this island, the moon is not up and we can see the milk way and all those bright stars. We fall asleep under this beautiful stars vault.

Eating fish and getting to Kurcula.

As planed i get up around 6am to go buy some fresh fish, just brought in by the fishermen. A 800 gr. nice fish. Again the day, until lunch time is simple. Rest in the sun and swim in the clear waters of Croatia.


After eating the delicious fish is in great amounts, we check out. I realize my Serbian is not so good since i understood 30 a night and it was in fact 40... anyway it was a nice resting stay and the nice newly furnished flat was worth it, especially in Croatia in the highest peak of tourism.


We then easily get to our next ship that will take us to Korcula. The driver is another nice army guy. He is responsible for linkage between NATO and Croatian army. A dedicated swimmer he tells us about challenges to swim to islands and how great his sons are :) And according to him, Korcula is one of the greatest places in world for sure! Of course he speaks of the island not the main ctiy which has the same name and is overcrowded with tourists at this time of the year. It is a bit of a chock after quiet Trpanje.

Getting into Korcula town.

Windsurfers are well served with a nice wind today.

An other beautiful sunset!

We check into the backpacker i visited two years ago, the One Love Hostel. It was one of the great places i visited in Croatia and i thought i d check if the owner, Zlatko, winner of some south African Big Brother, would recall my face... And he did! What funny times i had there with Fran and Carlyn and the Aussie cook. We made a bit of a mess that night in one of the dorms and that is the reason he remembers us... So we check into the two last available beds. As we get into the dorm first surprise, the price has almost doubled, once about 70 or 80 Kn it is now 130kn ... As he said, business is running man! And the beers down in his small bar are the most expensive in town as well... The place remains packed, mostly with Aussies, Kiwis, Englishmen and girls and rare other backpackers... Whatever, we go for a walk and i realize it was much much nicer in the end of September... we ll get out of here tomorrow first hours.

A day of nothing in Trpanje

Today is THE day of nothing... except for burning on a quiet beach, swimming in crystal clear water, reading On the Road again (J. Kerouac, excellent book) not much happening today :) After being a little to much in the sun, i spend the afternoon blogging in an internet cafe.



As i get out, the sun is reasonably low and Judith is up for a cocktail :) The combination of nice setting, sun, sea and Long island Ice Tea gets me in an excellent mood in no time! We try to find a fish for dinner but of course this s done in the morning hours. I will wake up early tomorrow and get some fish! So tonight we content us with pasta with fresh self made tomato sauce and local vine.

Tea and salad

After a too short night we are woken up by the sun. I hear Micheal moving around next doors and go check for him, it is 10 am and i slept mere 4 hours... But feel incredibly good, must be the Garlic :) We start chatting and go out for coffee, just 50 meters from the old center we find a cafe filled with older man, reminding the men drinking tea and playing checkers in Turkey. The price is 4 times lower the in the old town. We then check out the room and go for lunch, Cevap, Sarajevo style. They are supposed to be the best worldwide and for sure are the best for me so far. We then join Micheal for some tea in a back yard chicha cafe.


This man amaze me, he has been around so much and still is amazed by any new information, even or person. We dig the young girl who comes to ask for some change. Pola marka, pola marka (half a mark)... He plays with her and his umbrella, she wants to exchange here worn out umbrella for his new one. She finally gets her pola marka and then wants the 2 marks of the bill... she goes of, sorta chased away by the cafe owner. Our neighbors offer us the end of their chicha, and by lifting it by the top, the bottom glass part loosens off and brakes... The owner comes out, smoking his cigarette, casual like... and charges them 50 Euros... I go around to check out the pries of chichas in the tourist shops... you get new chichas, complet, for 60 euro, turist price. We all agree she should fight for it and not pay it... Who ever payed his broken glass in a bar?? As Micheal says, you are a tourist, they want to get every last dime out of you and you have to resist. This is most important in India and you learn it very fast Michael tells us :)

Finally a little clear sky if you can call this clear...

Posers

Sarajevo old center.

We head up the hills, using the clear sky for the first time today to have a small pick nick with the rests of the vegetables we got in Cacak. Tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, little hot peppers and olive oil. The excellent local bread makes the whole thing just delicious. We then have to say goodbye to Micheal heading for Ljubljana and then Bologna where he wants to settle down a bit. Sad one, once again, this was a great encounter.

We go to sleep our last night at Zlatko and Bilja‘s were we have a quiet night, drinking tea, and beer :) and watching Guca the movie by Emir Kusturica to prepare for the real festival.

View on Sarajevo from their balcony.

The war cemetery, there are buried all the people who died during the occupation.

Our happy hosts.

They have been so nice and welcoming. Made us tast the special Bosnian caned food, showed us movies, played us music, hosted us and most important shared a great time with us. They were a real life enjoying compagny and i can still remember all those hysterical laughter with Zlatko!

Steaks Dejan Style!

Dejan and Katrina are most welcoming us two poor lost souls in the hills. They offer us hot tea, a place to dry our cloth, soaking wet. Soup, Bread and grandmas Pita. Later we get crackers of all sorts, beer and delicious vines... And Dejan gets out some nice meat out of the freezer for later dinner. It is 5 pm and we jut had a great meal... Dejan is a warm, always smiling baker who speaks little English. Between my poor Serbian and his basic English we understand each other pretty well. I have to laugh every time he is searching for a word and makes big gestures and speaks out some Jebote and other words i wont translate. The girls go to sleep and watch a movie while we keep talking and drinking spritzers :) is this the modern role of men and wife? he he just kidding, small joke regarding yesterday...
Around midnight, the meat has unfrozen and Dejan prepares a whole bunch of schnitzel and an omelet with delicious bacon. This bacon is nothing like what you find around our supermarkets, it is almost completely white, excellent, tasty fat! We literally explode our stomaches and roll to bed after a little Rakija and more Vine.

Chef at work, faster than light when it comes to slaming schnitzel!

A bit of seasoning...

and here you go, Schnitzel for two!

with omelet...

Ludilo Cacak

This translates into crazy Cacak, the town were we land after a long, slow day of hitchhiking. After getting up late, as usual thees days, we struggle to get a ride for some 20 kilometers with an other mixed origin (Serbian/Bosnian) emigrated visiting his family and relatives in his now divided home country. He speaks German with a strong almost incomprehensible schwab accent. The real back country type of accent which i struggle to understand. After visiting a monastery, he drops us at a crossing, fortunately shaded as we will sit there for 3-4 hours, holding up our Cacak sign in turns...

The Monastir and my camera going on an acid trip, purple Hendrix style...

Waiting, patiently...

Not so patient ???

Still here, same spot, same sign..

Finally, as Judith is getting desperate and loosing hope, an Autoslep stops. After seeing their phone number all over the rocks on the side of steep roads in the whole Balkan, i finally get a ride in one of those car pulling trucks. Actually it is a sorta improvised one, a big jeep pulling a tow with a white Peugeot 306 police car on it. The dude is sorta boring, not much to say but he takes us to Cacak and drops us in a surprising, exciting spot were we will quickly meet the most interesting people!

The crazy bunch

Ziiiveli Braaaateeee!

Across the road a bunch of men are having a couple beers, you can see in their eys it is not the first one and this is their daily hang out :) It is about 5 in the afternoon, we sweated on the side of the road in todays heat and a refreshment is very welcome so we don't hesitate when they invite us over, smiling, yelling something and franticly waving their hands. The cold BG beer is delightful. So is the second one and the smiles on everybody face. This encounter is one more proof of the Balkan hospitality and their curiosity when it comes to strangers.
After a couple beers everybody is friends and brothers. Brate or tebra as they say here, i thus learn that Serbians also us Verlan, this form of speaking so common amongst young French people consisting in inverting syllables. This is the beginning of a long evening of drinking Rakija as we are soon invited to come to Belco‘s home, meet his wife and taste her delicious coffee and more of his home made Rakija. We are welcomed like kings in Belco‘s garden, under a fruit tree sitting around a low table on low chairs, surrounded by tomato, cucumber, onion and paprika plants. The coffee is delicious like everything we get. A berry jam, sopska salad out of fresh garden vegetables, lots of Rakija and coffee. Communication is not easy but the mood is excellent and we challenge each other for who is to eat the hotter pepper. Hot Hot Hot!
Soon, as i play more stupid games and talk nonsense with my new mates, Judith gets a little upset by something i did not notice or rather did not feel so strongly, the men are sitting outside, laughing and drinking while the wife is inside, preparing us food, coffee and washiing up. I guess this is still more anchored in Serbian society and Judith's west European feminist side jumps up to this.
After enjoying more Food and Rakija, and i have to say there that is most probably the best Rakija i drank and will drink in Serbia. Easy, delicious, strong, and shared with my brate! Well after that we head of, carrying the 4-5 kilos of vegetables we get offered. Tomatoes, Cucumbers, onions, plums and of course some real hot peppers of all kinds. Purple, green, red, small and big they are all different tons of HOT :) O and also a huge jar of wild cherry jam.

Fresh Organic Fooooood

We head for the cheapest hotel in town and i slowly come down from my little clouds, this time around my brothers was honest, warm, fully lived, a little crazy and very welcome after today ride, mearly half of our way to Tara.

Routine in Belgrade??

Writing the following made me realize i slowly got into my routine in Belgrade... Only and fortunately broken by the presence of Judith. Today, we go for classical late Serbian Burek breakfast (always with yogurt!), do laundry, go to the colorful markets and wnder around.

St Sava Church, the bigest orthodox church in Europe.

From inside, still in construction.

Belgrade benches... and this is the comfortable one :)

This is th other option :)

Atnight, we meet at Jeremies for a French apero. The cheese Judith brought from Switzerland and France makes everybody around smile, long time since we last tasted this flavors... With some Serbian salami and a Montenegrin bottle of red vine it is just perfect. Mina and Natasa join use lat after one more of their over book busy days... Those two, like any decided Serbian citizen who want to be able to do what he dreams, never stop, work, work, coffee, work, friends, mobile... A friend of Stephanie joined use and Mina happily distributes advice about a short trip to Montenegro to them. One more roof of Serbian hospitality and helpfulness. I write this after coming back from Rainbow where i was reminded once again how one sided and extremely brutal the Serbs were described by the media in Europe and the world. Maybe i shoul include a little history lesson?? Actually i will one day.