We entered Serbia twice. The first time was transiting through the south and east of the country while moving from Kosovo into Bulgaria. The second and time we properly visited Serbia was as we left Romania and visited on route to Bosnia. Each visit left us with a slightly different take on the country. Overall though I think we ended up quite liking it. Although maybe not as much as some of the other Eastern European countries.
When crossing into Serbia from the south we knew we had been to Kosovo and that there could be difficulty getting into
Serbia with a Kosovan stamp. However we had come via Montenegro to minimise this risk. When reaching the border however
we had made the crossing ok, but at the customs check the officer was very through and searched the car boot and then
proceeded to flip through the pages in my passport and question me about some of the hundreds of stamps we now have.
Thankfully the Kosovan stamp was near the back and well hidden within other stamps and the officer got bored before this
point. The officer did ask how much money we had and I said 1,000 euros to which he shrieked back 5,000 euros and I narrowly
got away with correcting him before we were subject to a tax / further investigation.
We were pleasantly surprised though by the south of Serbia as we drove through. More picturesque than we had imagined.
Also very flat though compared to where we had come from.
During our second visit to Serbia we came through the back route which led to us driving through little cobbled
street towns and farmers’ fields in the far east of Romania with single track roads and no cars. When we finally
did reach the border we thought there was a house built in the middle of the road and we only slowed down because
I thought it was a sharp bend. In actual fact it was the border point. The most rural and remote one we’d seen on the trip.
It took us so long to clear the border that we actually ended up having lunch at the border. I think we must’ve been the
first foreigners to rock up at this border point. It was a good laugh anyway and we were eventually allowed to cross.
We arrived in Belgrade at about 3 pm and were unable to find the hotels car park. The concierge informed us of where this
was, but we ended up going in the wrong one and up 5 floors while having the concierge chase us in 32°C heat.
Since we didn’t have a lot of time in Belgrade after check in we made the most of our time and simply headed straight out
for the citadel and grounds enjoying the views and laughing at the dinosaur park and military show. We then came back
enjoying the streets lined with bars and restaurants stopping for a couple of beers and some wine.
Belgrade had really changed our view of Serbia and helped us see why people might choose it as a place to visit. From here our next stop was Sarajevo, Bosnia.
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