Belgrade, Serbia: bring a ladder.

Belgrade looks like a fully functioning war zone.

There are still bombed out building scattered around the city, but people are well dressed, smiling, and going about their daily routines as if there were nothing amiss. It is rather surreal.

The city itself is really quite easy to navigate, just don’t expect to use any street signs to do it. This was one place where my Lonely Planet book was really worth the money. I just followed the street maps and made it quite quickly to my temporary home; the Manga Hostel.

I loved this place. Sadly, I didn’t spend many days here.It’s easy to get to from the train station. just follow the tram tracks east, then turn left at the park. you can spot it on any map.

Igor, who I called Ivan the whole time I was there and he never corrected me, is a coffee master. If you are hanging around the hostel he will offer to make you Turkish Coffee. Go for it. He is an interesting looking cat with a heart of gold. When you ask him what matters in this world he replies simply, “The soul.” What a stud.

There is a great feeling of fun and family at this place. I recommend you check it out. There are some good parks nearby and I got some running in while I was staying here and I must say, wow. These people are tall.

My boy Justin is always saying that he finds tall girls attractive. I have never seen a larger collection of women over 6 feet tall (that’s just over 1.8 meters) in my life. Whether they were attractive or not is, I suppose, a matter of personal taste. My friend Will seems to think they are.

Oh, yeah… Will.

Will and I ran into each other a few times in the days I was in Serbia. On the day I was planning to go look for tickets to Sofia, he just happened to have a spare one in his pocket and saved me a few Euro. So, with all my homework done for me and a few hours to kill, I wandered off to go check out the castle.

The have taken parts of the old castle and turned them into tennis and basketball courts, which I thought was a great idea!

And of course as soon as I saw this sign I knew I was heading in the right direction.

Just take a walk around the city and you will see some great stuff and a thousand popcorn stands. This is certainly a place I would like to come back to.

So Will and I embark on our great journey, or possibly rather mediocre journey, to Sofia: Land of Mediocrity.