Serbia Trip!! Arriving and First Day

My sister has at last gotten everything lined up to go to Serbia to visit Dad. Lothar and I found out about it, and he said, “Why don’t we join them?” And so we did!

Visiting team:
> Maria (sister) and Paul
> Simon (14) and Claira (12)
> Lothar and me
Home team:
> Dad and Slavica

Let’s start with the journey. I’m too cheap to pay extra for business class, so Lothar, exasperated, upgraded both of us. Well! I must say, I’ll put away some extra so that in future, I can “allow myself” to accept paying for the upgrade without feeling “over the top”.

Our first flight from Bermuda to New York was delayed. This is a quick pic of some sinkhole damage at the Bermuda Airport. There’s been a huge amount of rain, so it’s understandable, but it’s still sad because the airport is only 2 years old now!

The second flight was delayed too due to bad weather in Belgrade delaying the incoming plane. We had a nice relaxing time in the prime lounge at JFK airport. 

The best part of the flight was the fully reclining seats.  We essentially had beds to sleep on for the overnight flight to Belgrade.  The food we got was also amazing.

We met up with my sister and family at the baggage claim since they were arriving from Canada via Vienna at the same time.  It took a while for our bags to arrive, but then we were through. 

We had a shuttle to the apartment, and Dad met us there.  It was an awesome reunion! The room wasn’t ready yet, so we left our bags and went for lunch.

We went to a light lunch at Moscow Hotel. The kids didn’t manage to sleep on their overnight flight, so were very tired, but also super excited to be here in Serbia, be all together, and to not miss anything! So they pushed through like real troopers.

We enjoyed a chuckle about Dad’s tiny smart phone. He loves it small because it doesn’t fall out of pockets. Here it is compared to my Pixel.

Then we walked through Belgrade to Kalemegdan park and enjoyed the views of the Sava and Danube rivers from the fortress.  Walking through some parts of the fortress actually reminded us a lot of Dockyard back in Bermuda.

We went back to the hotel, got checked in and refreshed.  On the way, we stopped through the main farmers’ market at “Zeleni Venac”. There’s everything – fruits and vegetables, meats and cheeses, all fresh.

Because it was raining, we took a taxi to go down to Skadarlija.  It’s a lovely cobblestone street, with restaurants and folk music bands playing from table to table.  We went a bit early plus it’s wet, so not crowded. It’s one of the hilights of the trip that I was looking forward to, and it was wonderful!

The restaurant was Tri Sheshira – ‘Three Hats’, and even the ice cubes were shaped like little top hats! We had a “Serbian board for 2”, but it pretty much fed all of us!  Well, along with salads, excellent bread, drinks and desserts.

And that was the first day!