Belgrade (white city) is big, especially compared to boutique capital Ljubljana, but also to Zagreb. After driving through brutalism ‘new city’ at the other side of Danube river, I arrived in the old part which has buildings of many epochs.

In Ljubljana, there were cyclists all over the place but here due to hilly areas its more of a cars and pedestrian city together with trams and trolleybuses. Belgrade was the southernmost capital of Austrian Hungarian Empire and place of many wars with the Ottomans. To see a bit of the earliest history I went to the castle hill with walls from the Roman era. Despite the hot summer sun it was a very nice afternoon walk in the area which lead me to the best vegetarian restaurant here so far – Radost. It’s basically inside a flat with very friendly staff and selective interior.

 A beer from local local brewery:

Because I was really hungry no picture of the main dish, which was vegan burgers in homemade buns. Tip: get both kinds, I better liked the one I would’t have chosen.

Dessert was a mint cake with cashews and chocolate:

Belgrade is famous for its nightlife, so I started the night at the Kafanas for different kinds of rakija, a fruit distillate beginning with the ‘default’ bersion, a good homemade plum rakija. Later, everybody goes to the party boats which provide fine clubbing until the morning. Daylight again and music was done so I crossed exhausted the bridge back to city.

Next day I attended the free city tour. The guide spanned the history from Romans and Celts over to Yugoslavia and now Serbia while showing landmarks. Afterwards I went to the small Nikola Tesla museum where not only exhibits are shown but also an ‘energetic’ live demonstration of different apparatus including Tesla coils is given.

The next vacation approaches, I’d like to visit the Balkan region, in particular Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro and Albania.

The initial trip was from Munich via Austria(Karawanks tunnel) to Slovenia where I want to stay 2 nights in Ljubljana, the capital.

Planned so far:

Southernmost location will be the camping area at Lake Shkodra resort. And maybe a drive to Thethi valley, let’s see.

Afterwards back to Montenegro and Croatia for relaxed vacation.

The original homepage was a bit rusty and not well-maintained and now it is upgraded. The most important topics I’d like to write about are presented as pages.

Cheers, Oliver

Let’s start big: after my final work mail we’re going to board the huge Airbus A380 on the way to Malaysia.

The flight with the A380 was great. State of the art board entertainment including my favourite Battleship. Even in the economy class enough seat space for tall people. Sense for the detail concluded in a coherent environment.

In Dubai we had to move from Terminal A to C which was done by a minibus (only every 30mins).

The flight between Dubai and Kuala Lumpur in a Boeing 777 was not that luxurious and in the last hour a little baby right at my side tried to get some attention.