Sights around Belgrade… outside of the hospital

We got to Belgrade on a Thursday night and even midweek, the streets were lively with music coming from the restaurants and people dancing on the sidewalks. The old town, Stari Grad, where we stayed, was bustling with people going about their lives — it felt busy and happy and very unpretentious. We heard their happiness all night long outside of our apartment most nights!

I think Belgrade would be a very liveable city if it weren’t for all the cigarette smoke. Smoking in restaurants is still allowed in most of the Balkans, which boggles our minds. (We could even smell smoke in the hospital restaurant–which had no smoking signs!!) On our second night, we ate at a restaurant that was really good and had multiple rooms with amazing musicians playing fun, festive music in each room… but as the rooms filled up with people, so did the smoke. We loved it at first but were all miserable by the end.

Our time in Belgrade was atypical to us, with a surgery, exploding shower door, and constant drenching of cigarette smoke, but we found the city and its people to be very inviting and would love to come back.