I first traveled to Serbia during a solo Balkan trip in 2014. I recall looking out the window of my bus as it meandered through a large mountain pass on its route from the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, to the Serbian capital Belgrade in the late spring. We passed farmland, forests, then factories on our approach to the buzzing urban center.
Belgrade made a big impression on me and I was eager to return. Back then, I didn’t know that I would end up marrying into a Serbian family; Ivan, my partner, was born in Bosnia to Serbian parents before emigrating to Australia at the age of six. On our first trip to the Balkans together in August 2022, Ivan and I are eager to cover some ground and see more of Serbia and the former Yugoslavia on a road trip.
We book-end our trip in Belgrade. The city has an incredible energy; a pulsing underground arts and music scene and all the classic signs of a modernized metropolis against a backdrop of neoclassical, Art Nouveau and brutalist architecture. August is a popular vacation month, when many locals head to the cool rivers and freshwater lakes of the mountains, or Croatia’s coast. The city is quiet and hot, but the many parks and green spaces provide a cooling respite. On a sweltering summer day, we ride along the river to the bustling city beach of Ada Ciganlija. The island-like peninsula in the middle of the Sava is connected by bike paths. With a plastic deck lounge and cold beers close by, it’s hard to believe we’re in the middle of the city.
