Hello, hello, hello! Things have been quiet as of late for a couple of reasons (maybe probably most likely because I’ve been working 55 hour weeks, but no matter!), the most prominent being that I’ve been keeping a secret. Not very well, because I’ve told quite a few of my upcoming, secret travel plans. But hold your breath no more – because I’m here to announce…
We’re going back to the Balkans! Again!
On Saturday!
So, around six months ago, when I was at my former job and just beginning my obsession with the Eastern Bloc, I decided it would be wise to sign up for a Lufthansa credit card to help accumulate miles – especially as Frankfurt seems to be the hub for getting anywhere in the deep east of Europe. With that credit card came a companion ticket. So, many hours of research and phone finagling with Lufthansa representatives later, I had booked tickets to Belgrade for the week after Christmas. And I decided to not tell my husband about it either, under the guise of it being a surprise! Well, and, I didn’t want to share the fact that I may have made a rather hasty financial decision without consulting him first.
We weren’t married yet, then, so whatevs.
So, we’re taking off on Saturday, flying in and out of Belgrade via Frankfurt. We’ll be there a total of nine days, and, per our marathon travel habits, be seeing a lot in those nine days. Here are our tentative plans…
We’ll spend the 27-30 based in Belgrade. Two of those days will be dedicated to the city of Belgrade. I can’t remember being this excited about a destination before – the city seems to have everything I’m in to: a fascinating history (both recent and distant), yummy looking food, and a metric shit ton of brutal concrete architecture. We’ll be cruising for kitsch in the city’s markets, exploring Novi Beograd’s concrete behemoths, and eating a lot of meat (me, at least – I think David may be in for a tougher time as the vegetarian of the couple). Almost everything I read about Belgrade is effusive in its praise – take this example from Silvia at Heart My Backpack.
We’re also planning on taking a day trip up to Subotica to see some Hungarian Seccesionist architecture – this town caught my eye way back in July, and was one of the reasons for booking the trip in the first place. The town houses some truly fantastical examples of the Hungarian style of art nouveau that I’m keen on photographing – especially the Raichle Palace and the Subotica Synagogue. We’ll be touring the town with a local, thanks to the Subotica Greeters program. Kami at Kami and the Rest of the World has covered the town in an article you can find here.
On the 30th, we’ll be taking a quick Air Serbia flight from Belgrade to Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, where we’ll be based from the December 30-January 4. We’re planning on hopping a bus to Mostar on the 31st and staying overnight there for New Years, then returning to Sarajevo the day after (though Megan Starr may have opinions on that particular decision…). In Sarajevo, we have no concrete plans, but I’m using Kami’s Guide to Alternative Sarajevo as a guide of things to see. We’ll also be joining a local running group for a 12k run through the city on the 2nd, which, given how great our Sofia Run Tour was, should be a treat.
And, of course, we’ll be finding a way to Sarajevo’s bobsled track, abandoned since the 1984 Olympics. Both Nate at Yomadic and Silvia at Heart My Backpack have written about this awesome place.
We’ll then hop back to Belgrade for a night before returning to Seattle. It’s a packed trip, but we’re very excited to get out of the country for a week and change. Now we just have to keep our fingers crossed that those Kosovo stamps in our passports won’t make the Serbian immigration officials too salty…
Updates to follow!
