Sending off a few images from our first day here, and you’ll see I’ve scribbled a few words to you on the back of each (virtual) postcard. . . When you’ve read through those, I’ll show you a few pages I’ve filled in my sketchbook in just our first day here. . .
Hello friend,
We’ve landed in a great little apartment in Belgrade after an easy budget-airline flight from Rome — about six hours from when we left our place in Rome until we were dropped off at our new temporary address. There was some fussing with the key fobs and lockbox setup, but someone came to help us; we settled in, had a good night’s sleep, and did some happy exploring the next day. I thought you’d like this gorgeous stairway railing as much as I do! You know how much I’ve fussed (and continue to worry) about all the complications of this trip, and I do feel the stress of travel, but you were right and it continues to be worth it. xo, f
Dobro jutro, J____
I know you love a good breakfast of shakshuka, so I thought of you when I saw this postcard! Considering that we only picked this city (with some reservations) because it would take us out of the Schengen zone while also being more affordable than the UK, we’re feeling very pleased with our choice. Doesn’t hurt that we woke up our first day here to fabulous sunshine nor that our server at breakfast spoke excellent English and was very friendly. Honestly, I worried about visiting a place where we know no one (although it turns out I have a blog reader here — isn’t that amazing? what a connection!) and don’t speak the language (I feel almost dyslexic here as the alphabet is so different , the street signs hard to recognize when trying to follow Google maps). But friendly people, good food, sunshine, beautiful architecture. So far, so great! xo, f
Pozdrav A_____!
Thought of you immediately I spotted this turquoise tobacco package on a table near ours at breakfast our first morning here in Belgrade. You warned me that I’d be second-hand smoking as soon as we stepped out of the plane here, and you were right! Of the four tables occupied while we ate our shakshuka (so good!), we were the only ones not using the ashtray! I made quick sketches of our smoking neighbours — I’ll show you when I get back. . . So far, though, that’s our only small complaint, and when the weather’s so good that we’re eating outside that smoke’s not such a big deal. Not enough to distract me from all the gorgeous old architecture!
xo,
f
Dobar dan, B_____
Thought of you when I spotted this doorway, because you’re SuperB (get it? Super B? 😉 So many fabulous old doors here — I’m “collecting” a bunch of them to sketch when I find some time, maybe when I get back home. Although I’m pleased to say that I’m managing to sketch everyday — it’s a really good way to stretch out a morning without having to walk too many kilometres (we’ve been averaging 7 or 8, and that feels like enough after so much walking in Rome, and especially that walk in Cornwall). Hope all’s well with you. Wish you were here — I’d buy you a gelato or two!
xo, f
‘bro jutro, F_____
I’m sending you this postcard ’cause I thought if you were here, you could help me spot and count all the spires and clock towers and domes that stick up (most of them with crosses on top) all over this old part of Belgrade. This one is the Church or Temple of Saint Michael the Archangel, and it’s pretty amazing inside. Do you remember lighting a candle in a church quite a few years ago when your dad drove us somewhere in L_____? So many people have lit candles here — long, skinny candles, and then they stick them in a long metal box full of sand, so many flames burning at once. The churches are different than the ones we visit in Italy — no pews to sit in, a large open space inside, and very beautifully decorated. . . I’ll show you oodles of photos when I get back.
xo,
Nana
Ciao K_____
A quick postcard to reassure you after our WhatsApp videocall the other day. I can’t deny that the stress of travel has got to me a few times during this long period away from home, especially since I couldn’t plan it ahead of time the way I usually do (too much depending on other people’s schedules, as you know, and with this Schengen-zone limitation bumping up against the date of our flight home). But I’m finding pleasure, daily, in pursuing curiosity around a corner, in observing patterns and rhythms, watching the season gradually change in new places, soaking up the atmosphere of local culture (without trying to analyse it too much yet). Some of what I see makes me better appreciate what I have at home; some aspects make me wish I could stay here longer or bring a few objects or practices home (most especially, the visual stimulation, ubiquitous architectural richness). xo, f
Pozdrav, S_______,
I think you need to grab your sketchbook and paints and come join me here in Belgrade! I mean, look at these doors. So many of them! And when we’ve added three or four to our pages, we can stop for a gelato (I’ve found a few good places!). Or a beer. I think you’d love the pedestrianized area near where we’re staying — wide streets full of people, no cars (although, Whoa! cyclists can be dangerous — we’ve had a couple of close calls, bikes whizzing past, missing us by inches!). Buskers playing traditional instruments, mimes, comics, all drawing crowds. Tables set up under canopies all down both sides of the streets, kids running ahead of their parents toward a fountain — such a happy energy, at least under the blue sky we’ve enjoyed so far. Wish you were here! xo, f
Okay, so I’ve sent those off in the (virtual) mail; I hope you’ve received and enjoyed them.
And now we can sit together (you’ve come here to join me, or I’m back home and we’ve met for a coffee) and I’ll show you what I sketched yesterday, my first day in Belgrade.
Quick sketches I surreptitiously scribbled while suppressing the coughs triggered by secondhand smoke at breakfast. Sketching people is hard, but I won’t get any better if I don’t make myself do it, right? And there are characters here that make my fingers twitch for a pen. . . (From now on, though, I hope I remember that if a hand is up at the face level, palm on cheek, the thumb is towards the back — sheesh!)
I’ve been trying to use pencil crayons (water-soluble ones) more often . . . and I’m trying to grab important shapes. What’s most important for me is the slowing down, the observation, that sketching demands. And that’s often enough — it really supports the idea of Slow Travel.
I have so many more photos to share, postcards I could send. For now, though, rain’s begun falling on the skylights in this cozy apartment — there are two right above the bed, and I’m looking forward to being distracted by that delicious sound while I try to read my book. Best lullaby ever, right?
I haven’t been good at responding to comments while we’re travelling, but I really appreciate reading them. So if you got these postcards, maybe give a wave in this direction . . .
xo,
f
Wonderful post! So fun to join you vicariously through your writing, photos, & sketches.
Author
Aw, thank you! It’s good to have company 😉
Looks wonderful, Frances. Makes me long to be on the road.
That “SuperB” comment made me laugh. One of my work friends was speaking to her husband about me one evening when we’d first met. She kept saying “Sue Burpee” but quickly, running the words together. Finally her husband stopped her and said, “Who in the hell is Super Bee?”
And as these things go, she told me the story over lunch in the teacher work room, in front of several colleagues, and I was Super Bee from then on. Sometimes I still get called that at reunion breakfasts. It always makes me smile.
Author
That’s hilarious, Sue — what a great way to get a nickname (and you are pretty Super, you know! xo
Thank you so much for giving us such a great post . I’ve not been to Belgrade but now I feel as though I know it just a little bit – well a flavour of it anyway . I can understand your weariness , wonderful though travel is , the constant stimulation of your senses is tiring . Even when you are resting , I imagine your mind is still jangling with excitement . Perhaps sketching is a good way to clear your mind & give your senses a break ? Plus you have some very personal memories recorded for ever .
Author
Ah, you’re such an experienced traveler, you do get it! It’s true, the mind continues to jangle even when I try to rest — similarly to the way my body continues to buzz with a train, plane, or boat’s rhythms for hours after the voyage ends. And I think you’re right about the sketching as well; I do find it calming, the focus on observing and just making the best marks I can on the page. . .
What gorgeous postcards – such a creative and delightful theme for a blog post and you have a gift for warm, and captivating writing. I enjoyed learning about Belgrade, a city and country of which I have little knowledge. The architecture is so rich and pleasing. Sydney is in the throws of a housing affordability crisis and the state government has overturned planning rules to secure more affordable housing. The problems are real but the solutions will see multi storey apartments replace beautiful Victorian and early 20th century homes that have fabulous, large gardens. Such a shame, and so unnecessary, as a more nuanced approach could increase housing without the loss of heritage.
Your sketches are evocative and delightful and there’s more fluidity of line, especially in the final sketch. Bravo!
Slim candles in trays of sand are also a feature of Greek Orthodox churches, but they have pews, unless the buildings are very small, x
Author
Thanks for the kind and encouraging words. I’d never seen those slim candles in the sand before — and I’m interested to know they also feature in the Greek Orthodox churches.
Ah, that is a thorny issue, the balance between conserving architectural heritage and diversity AND meeting the need for affordable housing. My city, Vancouver, has been struggling with this for a couple of decades now. No easy answers — at least not when money/the market is allowed to be the determining factor. . . As you suggest, doesn’t have to be either/or, does it?!
Dear Frances,
Thank you so much for sharing these postcards from Belgrade! You model attitudes and behaviors that I aspire to myself. . . I need to get back to sketching, for goodness sakes. I did do some on our last trip, early in August–we had a family with my husband’s family (his 92 year old mother, her partner, the 3 siblings and nieces and nephews, and our own children with with their families (we are the only ones with grandchildren.) The extended family met up on the west side of the Grand Tetons, where one of my brother-in-laws and his wife live. I did manage some sketching there.
But after that long weekend, we went back to Tucson to finish packing up our sold condo and to supervise the movers collecting our belongs. Then we left our hometown of 35 years for our new home in Oregon. . . We’ve been working so hard on this process since we returned from Italy at the start of June. What a whirlwind this has been! Glad that we are nearly all unpacked and settled now in Corvallis. I was just giving myself a talking to this morning, about getting out my art materials this week. . .It has been too long!
Author
Oh my, Linda, I think you need to cut yourself some slack! You’ve done so much over the last year or so (and for years before that, adjusting to life with your beautiful grandkids). You’ll get back to your sketching as you finish packing and start to settle into your new home. Enjoy this stage — you’ve earned it!
I wish I was there to help you with the alphabet. And to enjoy the liturgical music in the Orthodox churches (which have no pews because congregants stand throughout services). Hoping you decide to visit more Balkan countries and cities in the future, Leslie
Author
It’s very intriguing, Leslie, and yes, it would be good to have a guide to some of the cultural aspects. We’ve visited Croatia a few times, and appreciate the rich history, culture, and geography of the Balkans.
What a wonderful homage to my city, Frances! You met Belgrade at its finest, early autumn on a sunny day, but Sunday brought a big disruption to the weather, not conducive to much walking.
Belgrade is a strange mix of East and West, ex-Yugoslav special breed of socialism and early capitalism we are still grinding through (someone mentioned a housing crisis, I could write novels about that). People call it the New York of the Balkans and while I think this is taking it too far, it does cover some of the cosmopolitan feel, a penchant for art and cinema, great concerts, and a relentless night life in clubs and restaurants, giving it the aura of a city that never sleeps.
People are warm and welcoming, almost everyone speaks English (we had to learn, not many speakers of Serbian out there 🙂 and we actually use bot the Cyrillic and Latin script in writing, but due to some potentially misplaced language conservativism/puritanism and lingering nationalist tendencies from the 90s, most of our public signs are in Cyrillic…
Sorry for the lengthy comment and do enjoy whatever time you have left here!
Milena
The ‘tabagisme passif’/passive smoking! It’s quite a shock to be plunged back into that when coming from and mostly visiting countries where it’s no longer an issue. Shades of the ‘non-smoking’ (haha) section on planes. That was one of my stand-out impressions in neighbouring Kosovo (not that the two countries are at all neighbourly, sadly). I came home from working there exuding cigarette smoke from every pore!
It’s handy to have a non-Schengen haven on an extended stay, and having just read up on how accession is progressing for all the candidate states it looks as if it will continue for a while. Of the candidate states Serbia has the lowest pro-EU rating among its population, and then there is the closeness of its president to Russia.
Author
Yes, as you say, such a shock to remember so forcefully what we used to tolerate in the way of secondhand smoke — and how relatively quickly that’s become untolerable. I’d forgotten what it’s like to come home with my clothes reeking of smoke when I don’t indulge!
Your postcards have aroused the desire to travel, along with a catalog of river voyages which arrived on the same day, and a note from a friend inquiring if I might be interested in a trip to Portugal someone she knows is putting together. We shall see!
Author
Oooh, what fun to be thumbing through those catalogues and dreaming and planning. . . .
Your photos and your sketches made my day! Thank you
Thank you for your post. It is great to see Beograd featured in something positive!! My late husband was from Beograd and we visited several times. I loved the country, the city, and the people. And ohhhh, the food!