Belgrade part 2, arrival to Novi Sad

Hey guys, since I last talked to you I spent two more nights in Belgrade and have made my way Novi Sad, which is Serbia’s second-largest city.

On Friday, I started the day by going to the historic street of Skadarlija, where there are many restaurants serving traditional Serbian cuisine. I picked one of the more famous ones, Tri Sesira, and had a good lunch to get the day started.

Skadarlija
Skadarlija
A type of stuffed pepper appetizer
Zlatidor chicken. Couldn’t quite finish it after the peppers.

After lunch, I took a ride to the outskirts of the city to see the memorial to the unknown soldier and the observation deck at Avala tower. It was about 30 minutes away from the city center, and the views from the tower were awesome.

Memorial to the unknown soldier
Avala tower, 700ish feet tall
Avala observation deck
We knocked the original one down in the bombing during the Kosovo conflict
Downtown Belgrade in the distance

After wrapping up at Avala, I headed back into the city to go to the Nicola Tesla museum. Tesla was a native son of Serbia, and his museum is the one of the top attractions in Belgrade. I had tried to visit before going to Avala, but found out that they only allow groups of 65 in, so I was too late when I arrived. I was doing my best to get back there in time for the last tour of the day, but by the time I arrived 20 minutes before the tour, there were already a bunch of people in line. I waited anyways, and sure enough, I was number 65 in line and was literally the last person they let in for the day. Got lucky again!

The tour was interesting, and they showed us a movie about his life and then demonstrated some of his experiments. Definitely was glad I got to get in!

Really didn’t think I was going to get in, but luck was on my side. The people behind me were pretty pissed when the cut off entry right after me haha
Introductory movie about Tesla’s life
Prepping for an experiment
Getting the crowd involved in the experiments
Everybody getting lit
Turning himself into a conductor
This guy got a little more than he bargained for
Tesla
Ashes of Tesla

After the museum, I went back to the hostel and grabbed my music gear to busk. I played for about 2 hours and made around 20 euro of Serbian dinars. Not too bad, but there were so many musicians out (it was a Friday) that it was tough to find a place to play. Considering the competition, I was happy with the take.

Friday’s set up
Friday’s take. It looks like a lot more than it is haha

When I returned to the hostel, I hung with a group from Ireland for a while and had some drinks, but they were headed to a rave at the fortress and that just ain’t me haha. So I parted ways with them and went with another guy up to the cafe I had been the night before, where I had made pretty good friends with the bartender, Mickey. Mickey is not his name, but since I couldn’t pronounce his Serbian name, we settled on Mickey haha. After the bar closed, Mickey and I went off into the Belgrade Friday night and I don’t remember a ton after that – other than that we had one hell of a time!

The Irish crew from the hostel, pre-rave
My buddy Mickey. He showed me a heck of a good time Friday night.
Mickey said I had to ride public transport to get the full Belgrade experience
Making early morning CD sales Saturday morning. This was my other new Serbian buddy from the hostel, Bogdan.

Saturday was a 100 percent recovery day for me, which was ok because I had pretty much seen all of the tourist stuff that I wanted to see in Belgrade in the days prior. In the evening, I had a few more drinks and went back down to Mickey’s bar, but nothing as crazy as Friday. He and a coworker came back to my hostel after the shift and just hung out some of the guests and took it easy. But Mickey is from Bosnia originally and is going back home in a few days for a week, so we have a crazy plan for him to book me a show in his town and have me come to Bosnia for a couple days then – I’m hoping that will work out!

Kicking it on the hostel steps Saturday for the after party

Today, I was basically a dead man walking from the two nights in Belgrade. I had booked an Airbnb in Novi Sad, which was only an hour away from Belgrade. I was thankful for the short drive. Upon arrival, I was very happy to find that my apartment looks out over the main square of town here, which will be very convenient for busking. But today, I basically slept most of the day, so the real exploring here will begin tomorrow. One great thing though – the owner of my Airbnb is a musician, and he set me up with a paying bar gig here for tomorrow night. So I’m definitely looking forward to that!

Novi Sad is in the Pannonian Plain, so the drive here from Belgrade was pretty unspectacular
Walking to my airbnb and realizing it couldn’t be in a better location (except if I could park directly at it)
Really nice place for $25/night
View from my window

That’s all I have for today. Tomorrow I plan to do some exploring around the city, busk in the evening, and play my 2 hour bar gig tomorrow night. I’m here for 3 nights total.

Talk to you guys soon!

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  1. Tom Needham

    Food looked very good, good luck with busking and the gig Zeb.

  2. Linda South

    Loved all the pics of the spectacular views! The food looked yummy and the Irish fellas looked downright ornery! Looking forward to hearing about your gigs. Your room looks super for $25 nightly,what a deal.

    1. Zeb

      Thanks, yes the Airbnb is really great here – especially for the price!