Eating and More Eating in Belgrade
We have been in this apartment for a week… liking fresh air, we leave the French doors open while we sleep. Mosquitos have been sneaking in, eating me to pieces! Bites on my arms, shoulders and face, I have had slightly restless sleeps (which is probably why I’ve felt so tired). Yesterday while we were out, a maid came in and cleaned and changed sheets. (Of course, I cleaned up in preparation). When we returned, we noticed she had left the French door open at the top and the screen was closed. Ohhh that’s right! The screen! So last night, we finally got a bug free sleep! What a relief
Yesterday, while out on the New Belgrade side of the city, we picked up some wine. We will enjoy this in our apartment… probably on the balcony. Definitely there will be “pork candy” involved!
After Bailey’s and Coffee (we aren’t kidding… every day), we watched a movie or two and then headed out to have lunch. Purchasing coffee for our French Press was on our “to do” list… the coffee store is all the way at the end of the Pedestrian area so we figured we could find a spot on the way. And that we did! Barry had a pizza (which he hasn’t had for a few days)… said it was very good. We split a Greek Salad, as we have been just about every day. With my limited diet, the only thing I could really have was the risotto. Well worth it!
This little corner cafe had indoor and outdoor seating. It was a bit too chilly for me so we ate indoors. Pizza Snezana had quite an extensive menu. The funny part about eating here is that as our food was served, the waitress asked if we minded if our plates were photographed. We laughed since I was about to take my own pics! The restaurant had hired a photographer to get a shot of everything on the menu… After he walked away, I took my own!
With bellies full, we continued our quest to purchase coffee. Something must have happened in the shop because there was a monitor at the door limiting the number of people who could enter the store. Last time, the place was full of patrons… it’s actually the first restriction we’ve seen since we left the USA. Anyway, homeward bound once we had our coffee beans ground and paid for our bag. Once home, we played “Christmas”! Tanja and Marina’s Mom had sent a package of surprises… and it was time to check it out! We each got a t-shirt, which was much appreciated because I packed as though I was going to the North Pole and the weather has been very mild. Every day I’ve considered buying a couple of tees… but now I have one! Nikola Tesla on mine and Novak Djokovic, the famous tennis player, on Barry’s. We LOVE them! We also got coasters with Serbian highlights on them. Perfect for us! We also received a bottle that we used google translate to learn about it… if I am understanding correctly, it is a blueberry wine sweetened with honey. There is so much information on the process of making the wine. It turned out to me my learning lesson for the day… I’ve tried to learn something new each day relating to where we are, whether food related, historical or cultural.
The perfect gift! This refrigerator magnet has a picture of the pedestrian area we have walked each and every day since arriving! It will always be a memory to us and now we can put this in our kitchen and have daily reminders of our trip to Belgrade!
After doing basically nothing all day… we went to eat again. Walking several blocks, we ended up at Alfredo Mediterrano on Strahinjića Bana. Upon our arrival, the restaurant was near empty but it quickly began to fill up once we were seated.
Quite a unique concept… as we sat down, the waitress said to “push the button”… we didn’t know what she meant. It turned out that when we pushed on the top of this round thing, a seal broke releasing a small round disinfectant towel. Pretty clever! We were presented with a “gift” from the chef. In this case, teamwork was necessary… I can’t eat bread, so Barry ate our bread… warm and delicious. He doesn’t eat fish so I ate the salmon spread that was meant to go on bread but that I ate with a fork.
Served in a wooden box with gravely rock, our starter was a cheese and prosciutto platter. We had ordered a nice red blend… this was the perfect compliment.
Still full from lunch, we were careful not to over-order. Barry had chicken and I had a tuna filet. For the first time since we left America, I didn’t have to set anything aside… this plate had beets, asparagus and pine nuts. Very good!
Cute sign over the bar… “Come Rest in my Nest”…
A simple but delicious pair of desserts. We shared a baked fruit with honey and mint ice cream… and a basil ice cream with olive oil and pistachios. Great combo
In the mid-50’s, we decided not to take too long getting back to the apartment… but veered slightly out of the way to walk down Skadarska. More active than the last time we walked here, the lighting changed the mood completely. This is a special part of Belgrade!
Biggest accomplishment of the day was locating Duro Jaksic! This famous poet, artist, writer is Great, (Great?) Grandfather of Tanja and Marina! When we have mentioned him to anyone we meet, they are very familiar with the man. He has an interesting past. If the research I found is true, Mr. Jaksic was the son of a Serbian Orthodox priest. The Revolution of 1848 altered his plan to continue studying fine arts in Vienna and Munich. Duro never returned to his studies after fighting because he was injured. He then moved to Belgrade, where he became a school teacher. Mr. Jaksic wrote 40 short stories, painted 200 paintings and sketches dedicated to his true love, Mila.
This statue stands before the house Duro Jaksic lived in. There is a plaque on the wall of the house but… it’s in Serbian so? Very cool to see an interesting part of history in the middle of the famous Bohemian district and realize he is a relative of our friends! Love it!
