We were up around 07:00, and unlike yesterday’s sunshine, it was cold and rainy outside.  Crystal did yoga, then listened to podcasts.  Justin checked out our photos from yesterday.  We met the group around 09:00 and headed towards Zemun, a suburb with an Austro-Hungarian vibe.  Along the ride Martin told us that Belgrade had the oldest McDonalds in the Eastern Block, built in 1988.  Today was Orthodox Easter Friday, so everything was empty.  As we drove through town, Martin pointed out evidence of NATO bombing in 1999 that was in response to Kosovo.

New Belgrade, on the west bank of the Sava River, was built after World War II.  Before then, the entire west side was just fields and swamps.  We passed by several Yugoslav-era buildings, some of which were enormous.  Once we arrived in Zemun, we realized that it’s where Gardos Tower is.  In Zemun, we went along the riverbank for a bit.  On our walk we saw swans flying…and landing, both of which were pretty hilarious.  Martin informed us that Zemun was the southernmost point of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, right across the Sava River from the Ottoman fortress in Belgrade.  Well, technically it wasn’t right across the river, as there was an island we’d seen both yesterday and today that was uninhabited, and Martin confirmed that it was a refuge for birds.

In Zemun we walked through a small farmer’s market, full of giant fruits.  Martin gave us 15 minutes of free time, and we tried to get to Gardos Tower, but there wasn’t enough time.  Gardos one of 9 towers built by the Hungarians for keeping tabs on the city (and the Ottomans).  After getting back together in the van (a Mercedes Sprinter, which could hold 20 people, far more than we needed), we drove back into Old Belgrade on the east side of the Sava.  We went past the stadiums for Partizan and Red Star football clubs, which were extremely close to one another, before arriving by St Sava.

Martin was telling us about St Sava, and also Nikola Tesla, but we were mainly focused on 3 dogs running around, hiding near our legs in a game of hide-and-seek.  St Sava was emptier, but also much darker, than yesterday.  Then we went downstairs, which we hadn’t visited yesterday (mainly because we didn’t know about it).  It was interesting, but not nearly as interesting as the main level.  Martin told us that the Tito museum was closed today in preparations for an event honoring the anniversary of his passing (44 years), so we went to the National Museum instead.  We had 45 minutes to look at stuff.  This was a perfect amount of time for us, as although it was a nice enough place, art is not really our thing.  We saw a bunch of paintings and thought aloud “I wonder when we’ll see some decapitated heads” and sure enough the next room had about 3 paintings of headless people.  We also saw a painting of a guy that looked remarkably like Christian Bale.

When we exited the building we realized we were right next to the horse statue and scaffolding that we’d passed several times the last couple of days.  It was a short walk from there to lunch at Klub Književnika.  We were the only people there, in basically a huge greenhouse.  Thankfully there was the glass roof, as it was raining pretty good.  The place was fairly fancy, and lunch was nice enough, but seemed a lot less authentic than the places we’d eaten the past two days.

After lunch, we walked towards the fortress.  Near the Belgrade Cocktail Club we passed by a statue of Karl Malden, which was about as random as the Colombo statue in Budapest.  But apparently Karl Malden was Serbian, so there was at least that.  We also went by the Question Mark bar.  Because of a name dispute, the owner had to remove the former name, and put up a question mark in the hopes that people would recommend a better/newer name.  But after years of nothing jumping out, and the question mark getting more recognition, he just kept the question mark as the name.  The fortress was way emptier than yesterday, but the weather was way worse.

In one of the tunnels there was a giant puddle that we had to pass through, and everyone helped everyone else out along the rocks so as to keep everyone’s shoes dry(ish).  We walked past the Monument of Gratitude to France again, and stopped at a viewpoint over the rivers that was nice even with the cruddy weather.  We wrapped up around 16:30 along the main pedestrian street, and hoofed it back to the hotel.  Even though we got back rapidly, it didn’t matter, as the key didn’t work, nor did the second or third.  Justin kicked the door, and thought he broke his foot in the process.  Someone eventually replaced the battery in the door, and we were free to go back out.

We decided to go to Druid Bar, kind of near Belgrade Cocktail Club.  We could hear people inside, but they wouldn’t open the door.  There was a note on the door to call a phone number, but we didn’t want to take phones off of airplane mode just to enter a door where we could knock.  So after we unsuccessfully knocked multiple times, we just gave up and left.  We headed over to Riddle Bar, which was about to open up (at 18:00).  We got there just before opening, so we walked up and down the pedestrian street, and ran into Drago eating dinner at one of the restaurants.

Riddle Bar had some great cocktails, a large menu, and some flare with the shakers (although that’s not really our thing).  But then after we’d been there for 30 minutes or so, a guy sat down right next to us, and proceeded to go through 5 cigarettes in 30 minutes.  No cocktails are worth that.  Perhaps they will realize they’re losing more money by turning off non-smokers than by attracting smokers.  Or perhaps not.  Anyway, we were a bit hungry, so we went back to Idol, where we’d seen the menu last night.  It was Szechuan food – yes, you read that correctly, a tiki bar with Szechuan food in Belgrade.  We shared Spicy Beef Noodles and also some dumplings.  Crystal got a Mai Tai, and Justin got a Zombie.

After one round, we headed to Null, a bar right by the hotel, that we’d passed whilst walking to Zavicaj our first night.  Crystal had read the reviews, and they were all 5 stars, so we wanted to give it a shot.  We also hoped that there would be no smoke.  Not only was there no smoke, the drinks and the vibes were excellent.  Justin sang Foreigner with one of the Russian bartenders (I Want To Know What Love Is), and there was also Dr Dre, Cypress Hill, Blondie, Black Keys, and more.  We chatted with the bartender for a bit, and he had emigrated from Russia.  He said he liked Belgrade, but “there are too many Russians” – a bit ironic coming from a fellow Russian.  Then again, if a bunch of Americans moved to Tenerife, we’d probably have the same sentiment.  The bar wasn’t “officially” open, so they were still getting the final touches ready.  One item was little cards with hello, goodbye, and cheers in several languages.  English, Spanish, German, and Hungarian were already accounted for, and we couldn’t think of how to say cheers in Hawaiian, or goodbye in Tagalog. Oh well.  We wrapped up and were back in the hotel around 22:30.