The weather has been beautiful in Belgrade (with the exception of a few flash hail storms...), so we've been enjoying the outside. In one playground near our apartment they have an enormous blow-ups that you can use for 15 minutes for about $1.25 per person. The kids love it!
And there are plenty of other playgrounds for little explorers.
One of the coolest things about being here is all the work-related events that keep us busy and give us a chance to see lots of different things. This one was a smaller group of us at a place called Imanje 4 Pera in Perlez, Serbia, which is about an hour north of Belgrade. There was a private pool, lots of seating, BBQ and drinks. The pool was a bit chilly, but Burke still spent most of the day swimming. The rest of just enjoyed a super-relaxed day of sunshine, good drinks, food and company. One person described the day as "Belgrade Chill" and it totally fits.
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| Pool and bar |
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| Little loungers (don't be fooled by Holden in a swimsuit and in a chair, he put his toes in and said "no way!") |
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| A delicious BBQ with lots of different salads, chicken and cevapi |
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| Lots of space for lounging |
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| Cow crossing on the way back to Belgrade! |
We regularly pass by a couple of buildings that were
bombed in 1999 by NATO. Most of the buildings that were impacted have been repaired / rebuilt, but there are a few places throughout the city where they haven't been rebuilt because of disputes over ownership and lack of funding.
A larger farmer's market called
Kalenic Market is a short walk from our apartment and has a great selection of in-season fruits and veggies, a bunch of fish markets, fresh flowers, and... shower heads? Hmmmm...
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| About $1.82 per KG (that's less than $1 per pound of strawberries!!) |
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| Don is REALLY excited to buy some cherries |
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| Little bakeries and shops line the outside of the market |
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| Fish is very expensive compared to other foods because the country is land-locked so everything is imported |
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| It's like I always say, it's not a proper farmer's market if I can't buy a shower head... |
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| These enormous tomatoes were about 10 cents a piece! |
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| Lunch post-market! Šopský salad: tomato, cucumber and red onion with delicious cheese. |
One of the best parts of living in the city center these past few weeks has been exploring restaurants. This one was super good - it's a B&B called
Smokvica (or Fig). There was a gorgeous garden to sit in, but unfortunately they allow smoking and it was pretty overrun with smokers, so we ended up inside to avoid it. The food was still delicious.
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| Beautiful garden |
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| I loved the inside of this restaurant! |
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| Cheers! |
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| Steak (and it was delicious!) |
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| Still craving burgers :) |
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| Yo, yo, yo - I'm Holden. Word. |
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| There are TONS of little bakeries and sweet shops (no wonder I'm loving this city!). This one we stopped into after dinner for a little gelato |
In a fun turn of events, we looked at a house where the landlord said he owns one of
Tito's Mercedes'... super cool!
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| We tried to negotiate the car into the house lease... I'm pretty sure this thumbs up means we have a deal?!? |
The time zone has proved a little challenging, but we're not letting it get in the way... Let's Go Pens!
