Once I finally actually left Sofia the plan was to meander my way to the UK where I would fly out of Glasgow at the end of May to return to the US for the weddings I would be attending in the summer. I had several of my stops already figured out, as I would be meeting up with several people that had offered me accommodation (most of them people I had met over the past few months). My first new destination was going to be Munich, but before I arrived there I had a couple stops that I was going to revisit along the way. So, a couple weeks after leaving Belgrade I arrived back and due to the fact that the hostel I had stayed in for most of my previous visit was full up, I ended up staying in my third different hostel in Belgrade.
As I mentioned in my last post Mr. Toad and Portia were in town because Portia had a work thing, so after getting settled into my hostel I hit up Mr. Toad and we met up and went to get lunch. We went to one of the restaurants I had eaten at a couple of times on my previous visit and we both got a ten-piece cevapi. I accompanied mine with a shopska salad and a glass or rosé while Mr. Toad had a beer. After lunch and an unsuccessful attempt to meet up with Wylie who was back in town for the weekend, Mr. Toad and I walked over to the Belgrade Fortress and sat on the top of the wall enjoying the view and people watching. After a couple lazy hours we left the park. On our way out Mr. Toad spotted a couple of Portia’s coworkers and they let us know that Portia was heading that way. So, we found spots in the shadows of the entryway to the inner fortress and waited. When Portia arrived in the tunnel Mr. Toad jumped out and scared her. We chatted for a little while before parting ways. On our way out of the fortress we stumbled across a wide assortment of weapons and then a dinosaur park. It was a bit random.
We then walked over to the hostel I had stayed at last time in town where Betty was still a guest. We got buzzed in and chilled in the common area for a little while talking to the staff until Betty arrived back from working at the refugee camp where she was a volunteer. Once she arrived back and got ready the three of us headed out to get some dinner. We went to a restaurant across the street that I hadn’t been to before but that Betty recommended. I got a shish kebab with pork, leeks, and peppers along with some potatoes, mushroom and broccoli soup, and a glass of rosé. The table we were seated at was quite interesting. It was a high bar table situated in an archway between two different rooms and immediately to my right there was a bookcase with a real random assortment of shit including garlic, binders, old mail, what appeared to be medication for dogs against fleas and ticks, and other items just as peculiar. After we had finished eating we walked a little way down the street to a bar where we had a drink before we said goodnight and went our separate ways.
The next morning I met up with Mr. Toad who gave me sunscreen that he couldn’t take on the plane with him when he left that afternoon. The two of us then walked down to the breakfast place that my old hostel had the deal with to meet Betty who was taking advantage of said deal. After we ordered the elusive Wylie showed up and joined us for breakfast. I ordered the same meal I got my last time in town of a delicious mix of eggs, sausages, cheese, tomatoes, breads, and other such tasty items along with a mint lemonade. The day was already getting pretty warm so before leaving the restaurant all of us except Wylie put on some of the sunscreen that Mr. Toad had given me. We then said goodbye to Mr. Toad who needed to head back to his hotel and then catch his plane.
Betty, Wylie, and I walked over to the bus station and I attempted to buy my bus ticket to take me to Zagreb that night. They couldn’t accept cash at the ticket office so before we went in search of an ATM we walked around the corner to the refugee camp that Betty was working at so that she could say goodbye to some of her fellow volunteers as well as some of the refugees, as she was going to be leaving town in two days. Being at the refugee camp really made me appreciate my luck of being born a white man in the US. I occasionally find myself wishing that I were not a white American man, as that is generally not my favorite demographic of people in the world, but meeting people in this camp that were really no different from me other than the circumstances they were born into certainly made me thankful for the advantages I was lucky enough to be born into.
After leaving the refugee camp we went and found an ATM and I got my bus ticket with only a little problem with the language barrier, which resulted in getting a ticket for the wrong time on my first attempt before Wylie helped to clear things up and get me the correct ticket. From the bus station we chatted as we walked along the river. The day was really starting to heat up, so after passing a couple bar/restaurants that didn’t really give off the vibe we were looking for we found a little spot that you could apparently come to by boat as there were stairs in the middle of the establishment that went down into the water. Wylie had a water while Betty and I both got strawberry lemonades. After chilling there for a while and cooling down a bit we headed back into the heart of town to get some ice cream at a place that was supposed to be pretty delicious. The ice cream shop was packed, but we worked our way in and I ordered a cone with a scoop of cinnamon and a scoop of salted caramel. We ate outside and then I reentered and got a second cone with a scoop of blood orange and a scoop of raspberry. The place lived up to its reputation and was in fact delicious.
We then parted ways with Wylie who had other things to attend to and Betty and I headed off to the fortress where we sat along the wall as I had the day before with Mr. Toad and enjoyed the view and watched the sun begin its descent towards the horizon.
We didn’t stay long enough to actually watch the sunset because hunger got to us first and we went off in search of dinner. We went to a restaurant that I had eaten in with Jack my last time in town. We sat outside which was fine as far as the temperature was concerned although it was a bit windy so it took a concentrated effort to make sure our menus and napkins didn’t fly away. I got the pork wrap similar to others I had had in the Balkans, along with a bowl of tomato soup and a glass of wine. After we had finished eating we crossed over to the jazz club that we had gone to my last time in town and I had a couple of margaritas while we listened to the musicians. Like my last time in town I was leaving Belgrade in the middle of the night, although at a little more reasonable hour, right around midnight this time. So, after leaving the jazz club I walked back towards my hostel, saying goodbye to Betty along the way and then gathered my stuff and headed off to catch the night bus to Zagreb.