I started the day off right with Serbian pastries (one cheese — good cheese: salty, tangy, and not so much firm as it was taut — and one cherry) and some coffee in the Bohemian District after a restless night in the hostel. The guy in the bunk beneath me sounded more pug than human.
Bloom Cafe is a short walk from the Bohemian District. I headed there for coffee number two. Situated on a corner with wide-open floor to ceiling windows, Bloom is a fantastic place to sit and watch the city go by. Some of its signage (“Bloom where you are planted”) is defeatism disguised as motivation. Where’s the courage in that? Some places suck and you’d be better off blooming elsewhere. But don’t let my cynicism discourage you. Bloom’s coffee is really good and the staff is friendly.
After Bloom, I made my way to Republic Square where the free walking tour met. The tour was good with a caveat. It took me through the fortress, past the French Embassy, back down the bohemian street, and pointed out the city’s lone mosque, which I had missed earlier. But the guide only talked about Serbia as a victim. There was no mention of Milosevic or the country’s role in genocide. Others on the tour thought maybe the history was too recent to bring up. I don’t believe that being dishonest about history now or waiting to talk about history until it is more convenient ever makes it easier to speak the truth later on. America’s inability to confront its own role in the genocide of the native people comes to mind as an example of such cowardice.
The walking tour ended near Mayka Veg Restaurant, which I recommend. I ordered a Serbian red wine and the Belgrade Steak.
The steak was impeccably seared and seasoned. Its marinade includes just a touch of sugar that carmelized to create a magically savory-sweet seitan slab.
This taste of sugar kicked off a craving for a bonafide sweet so I ventured over to Poslasticarnica Suma. If you go to Belgrade without stopping here for a treat or six then you’re are the worse for it. The vegan Forest Cake, a chocolate cake with marzipan and a forest fruit jam, is fantastico. I ordered an almond praline too.
The co-owner of the shop is a friendly woman in her 20s whose name I didn’t catch. We had a nice conversation about her business, the heatwave, and Belgrade’s…lacking…bike infrastructure.
The next time I hear, “NYC isn’t Amsterdam” in response to calls for improved bicycle infrastructure I’ll respond, “And it isn’t Belgrade either!”
Back to the sweets. The almond praline had orange zest that took it to the next level.
Ever a glutton for stomach aches, I decided that upon finishing my cake and praline the only sensible thing to do was to order the obscenely decadent vegan chocolate carob cherry cake—Ooey and gooey and tart and rich and delicious.
After staying a while at Poslasticarnica Suma to recover, I snapped out of my prediabetic coma and caught a second wind that carried me to the Serbian National Museum. It’s worth a visit if you’re interested in the region’s ancient history or if you want to see Serbia’s largest public art collection.
The museum’s four or so floors somehow gave me the illusion of hunger despite the 10,000 or so calories I’d ingested just a couple hours earlier. So I mosied over to Tel Aviv Hummus for what I expected to be a quick dinner.
At dinner, I met a former Russian figure skater with a big chip on his shoulder and a college student named Tali, from Brooklyn who studied in LA. The Russian Jimmy MacElroy mercifully left after explaining that he had a really cool place to be.
Then Tali invited me to the pub crawl at her hostel. Not one to turn down an opportunity to relive the hostel pub crawls of my college days, I said, “Let’s do this.”
A wretched shot of rakija and the pub crawl was off and running. I recognized a few of the guys on the crawl from this afternoon’s walking tour, We shared a couple drinks and me some other characters along the way. One was an American guy named Josh whose “parents went through shit in China” and who “speak[s] Mandarin and doesn’t take shit” and who, apparently, really likes cocaine.
The pub-crawl’s penultimate stop was near my hostel so I peeled off and finished the night with what else but a pastry.
Today’s Miscellany
Make sure to take out some cash in Belgrade. You’ll need it tomorrow and there aren’t any ATMs on the route.