The first thing that catches your eye as you approach is the Western City Gate tower, a huge and monstrous piece of Soviet Modernism / Brutalism, and by far the single ugliest building I've ever seen in all my travels. I didn't manage to take a picture but you can check it out here. The photo doesn't even begin to do justice to how horrible it looks from below, under grey skies on a drizzly October afternoon.
Indeed it stayed grey and drizzly for pretty much the whole of my time here. I don't really mind, partly because I'm more comfortable when it's cooler, and partly because I look marginally less of a pillock in jeans than I do in shorts. But it makes for some rather drab photos, as you see below.
I took in a football match at Red Star Belgrade. It's hard to believe that they won the European Cup as recently as 1991. The attendance was only 7,315 - not exactly impressive in a city of over a million people - and a decent chunk of those were tourists like me. As well as the club shop selling the usual pointless merchandise, there was a weird secondary outlet devoted to hooligan gear: gas masks, hoodies, unsavoury T-shirts, etc. Almost the whole of the real home crowd was made up of these burly ultras, with their constant chanting and flares and banners and firecrackers. It's telling that when Red Star scored their opener, late into the first half, the ultras didn't bat an eyelid: they just kept on going with their song about killing Kosovans or burning Bosnians or whatever else it was. There was no spontaneity or humour, all the songs being orchestrated by a twerp with a drum and another twerp with a loudspeaker.
Quite frankly it didn't feel like being at a football match. It felt more like being at a Nazi rally with a kickabout going on in the background. So I left at half-time. Apparently this lot will be joining the EU just as we're leaving it...well, ships in the night, and all that.
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| Kneza Mihaila, the main shopping street in Belgrade. I'm actually staying right on this street. But my room is at the top of many, many stairs... ...and in this case 'single occupancy' would be more aptly titled 'solitary confinement'. |
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| Temple of St Sava One of the world's largest Eastern Orthodox churches. If you squint, it does kind of resemble an old Greek guy with a beard. |
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| From the west bank of the Danube |
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| Red Star Belgrade This graffito relates to UEFA admitting Kosovo as a recognised national team. (Long story.) |
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| National Assembly of Serbia |
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| What The World Needs Now... |
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| Edd vs Food #66 Burrito Madre A fairly competent fast-food chain, exclusive to Belgrade. |
