Turkish Baths and Sziget

Turkish Baths and Sziget
Wednesday, August 12, 2009

As we had all bit a bit under the weather, and Yaron and Marko had been inching closer to the light as they had the plague, we figured it would be a great idea to go to the medicinal baths. While there are quite a few baths on the tourist map that we were using, and the hostel directed us to one that couldn't have been more than a mile from where we were, nobody had any idea where the baths were. At this point I'm not sure if it was people being unfriendly or just clueless but we went on a goose chase to find the first one, then after failing went in the complete opposite direction to get to another one.

Once we got there everyone was hungry so we crossed the river and walked down one of the main tourist streets in search of food. While the first place we passed was a kebab joint, we didn't pass any more quick service places aside from a Burger King thus highlighting the lack of easy food in Budapest. After a long walk and the purchasing of some fruit we got the kebab and headed back to the bath.

The bath itself was impressive and dated around the 17th century. The room was fairly large with 4 pools on the corners then a large one in the middle and they all had varying water temperature. It was definitely refreshing, and while it did not cure Marko of the plague, it was still appreciated. From there we headed back to the hostel and said our goodbyes as Ron and Mitch caught a train to Munich for their flight back to the states.

Marko and I then met up with Tjiana and Edena and a bunch of Edena's friends to head to the huge festival that was going on. Although Marko and I were interested in attending, we were both deterred by the $60 pricetag. Luckily, the locals had some sneaky methods of getting everyone in for free. First we headed to the main exit where they cut wristbands off people who were leaving the festival and sized them up for everyone as we joined a pretty large group. Once we were out of plain sight they super glued the wristbands on so it seemed as if they were using their original adhesive. Then we headed over to a boat where we could reach the festival by another entrance that had much less security.

The festival was massive with tons of stages, booths, and as it was a huge campground also, tents. As Marko was feeling terrible we ended up spending much of the night searching for the first Aid tent which took over an hour to find as (much like the baths) nobody knew where it was even though it was on the map. Eventually Marko took a cab home early and I stayed and had a blast cruising around with everyone else.

Terror Museum and Hipster Bar

Terror Museum and Hipster Bar
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
3:03 PM

So after initially being told that we only would be able to have our hostel for a single night because the place was packed, we found out the next morning that we would be able to secure it for another night. Interestingly enough although there were six beds in our room, and the place was still supposed to be packed, nobody new checked in so the four of us had a room to ourselves. They also stiffed us on the bill charging us roughly a 20% premium to the night before, but at that point we were researching parks to sleep in as no hostels online had space for four people.

As that was settled we headed down to the Museum of Terror. Around WWII Hungary was first taken over by Nazi's, then it was Soviet until 1989. With those influences came all the paranoia and negativity that accompanies them. The museum was housed in the former headquarters of the secret police where a lot of torturing and intimidation took place. If you've been to the Museum of Tolerance in LA or DC this was in the same vein.

Most of the exhibits didn't focus on specific sights but rather on video or audio clips with artifacts accompanying them. Unfortunately almost everything was in Hungarian aside from hand-outs that sought to describe the relevance of the rooms but really lacked on information. We still enjoyed our trip through the museum but it could have been done much better.

After that we went back near our hostel and asked where we could get a fairly classic Hungarian sit down style meal. The suggested restaurant ended up being right next to the kebab place we had eaten the day before. Hungary's most famous food is Goulash, a soup with meat and potatoes. We ordered two kettles that came with flames under them and they were herby and delicious. The salad, like every other salad that has been ordered in Eastern Europe, was heavy and although considered a 'vitamin' salad, was full of a mayo based sauce and had no lettuce. Although we all ordered different meats, everyone was terribly confused on what was actually what. Marko claimed that he knew which was which, then decided that him and Mitch had the wrong dishes about half way through and proceeded to switch. Everything aside the food was great.

From there we tried to join up with a pub crawl that had been advertised at the hostel but ran far too late after it had taken the customary two hours to eat dinner. We tried to trace the steps of the pub crawl but were unsuccessful and we ran into a UCLA Alum that suggested we go to the same bar that our friends happened to be at. When we got there we were all taken back by the sheer size and style of the place. It was very hipster-ish, in that the surroundings were interestingly grungy in a stylish sort of way. Marko and I ended up talking about how hipsters would love this bar but we came to the conclusion that they would not have fun because everyone was too easy going and friendly. Surely enough two hipster girls from Florida came up to talk to us and lamented about their experience as 'nobody understood them or knew what music they listened to and if they tried to describe it we wouldn't understand' - priceless indeed.

Budapest

Budapest
Monday, August 10, 2009
3:00 PM

We got in at about 5AM and Tijana's friend from school in Germany, Edena, picked us up. We went to her apartment and crashed out as we were still pretty spent. When we woke up we had a little breakfast then headed down to our hostel. Budapest has a great bus and subway system that although a little antiquated, gets you around the city comfortably.

Budapest is actually a combination of the two cities, Buda and Pest, on each side of the Danube. They were combined after the bridge was built but distinct differences still exist between the two. Pest, where the train station was, is considered to be the poorer, newer side, and the side where people actually live. Buda, where our hostel was, is where all the old things are like the castle and citadel, and where the rich old people live.

Regardless, both halves of the city are absolutely gorgeous, and we all agreed on that. The architecture is classic, there are landmarks everywhere, and the streets are wider than any European capital any of us had ever been in. Considering Hungary was under Soviet control for so long it was a pleasure to see that the town was not overrun with ugly soulless concrete buildings, but I'm guessing we just didn't run into them. Once we were situated in our hostel we went in search of food. After about an hour of walking down the streets near the Danube we had passed a total of 3, all sit down, restaurants.

This would come to be Budapest's great failure, simple quick service street food is few and far between. We ended up heading to a kebab place near our hostel which was delicious but still fairly pricey for the portions. As we were all used to Serbian portions $4 in Budapest bought a wrap that was half the size of anything we were used to eating in Serbia. After that excursion we headed back to Pest to meet up with Tijiana and Edena and had some wine with coca-cola on the lawn near a jazz club called Gora. The atmosphere there was great as the whole area was packed and everyone was having a good time.

Novi Sad to Budapest

Novi Sad to Budapest
Sunday, August 09, 2009
2:02 AM

The girls headed out early that morning and said bye while we were half asleep. We decided on taking a night train to Budapest so we spent the day wandering around Novi Sad. Marko insisted we visit the Jewish quarter and we found a massive Synagogue that was pretty damn cool, Yaron snapped a few pictures. After that we found ourselves with a bit of time to still burn and everyone feeling pretty tired and in need of a relaxing activity so we went into a casino.

We all threw 200 Dinar, or about $3.50, into an electronic roulette machine and entertained ourselves for a few hours. At first everyone played conservatively but the Rondog invited a piano player technique for betting that made things even more interesting. I would assume that the people that were working in the place hated us as we were really loud the entire time and speaking in our 'chacaron' Serbian accents. I'll try and upload a video soon to emulate it but I'm sure plenty of you have a feel for it already if you've ever heard anyone impersonate Marko.

After that we headed back to the hostel and grabbed our gear and went to catch the train to Budapest. Marko assured us that it would be late and it was a solid 30 minutes late. We were told that we didn't need reservations because there would be plenty of space on the train but the ticket lady didn't consider the fact that Sziget, a 20 stage festival, was starting the next day. We spent the first half of the night train ride standing as it was too packed. On the train we met up with Tijana, a friend of Marko's who we had all known from the states. We eventually got our own car for the 5 of us and put most of the seats flat and had a comfortable ride.

Cacak to Novi Sad

Cacak to Novi Sad
Saturday, August 08, 2009
1:42 AM

So Mitch and Ronnie's days were numbered and we all wanted to go to Budapest but instead of heading straight there we decided to spend a night in Novi Sad, which is about an hour or so out of Belgrade and the second most populous city in Serbia. The girls had a flight out the next day but wanted to check it out so they came with us and grabbed a really early taxi the next morning.

Once we got into the city it struck me how pretty it was. It wasn't a huge city like Barcelona, Turin, or Belgrade but it wasn't a smallish town like Cacak. The downtown area was absolutely gorgeous and after we settled in we walked up to the fortress that, like all towns on the Danube, was on a hill and overlooked the river. Once we got to the top of the fortress there was a great restaurant that looked expensive but was actually reasonably priced so we all sat down and had dinner. Although I've complained about the two hour meals in the past this one was perfect. The place was packed so the chatter was perfect, the view of the city was absolutely amazing, there was great live music and everyone agreed that the food was delicious.

Probably the strangest thing about Serbian food is what they consider a salad. While I did not discuss it when we had dinner before the second night of Guca in Cacak we were told that the café had the absolute best Greek salads in town. That salad consisted of no lettuce. When we ordered a mixed salad to start at the fortress I figured it would have lettuce, it did, a single leaf. The salads are delicious but they end up being really heavy and built much more like a potato salad than what Americans would consider a salad.

After the great dinner we wandered around and took a lot of pictures. On the way home we headed downtown and grabbed a drink at the market and spent a bit of the evening people watching on the steps of a store. All the bars were situated in one narrow alley and it was jam packed. Once we decided to venture into one (that was playing Journey no less) it got shut down as it was too late, and considering the musical taste of the bar it was surely for the best.

Monasteries, the Spa, and more Guca

Monasteries, the Spa, and more Guca
Friday, August 07, 2009
1:14 AM

After a solid nights rest we got together with the girls and headed out to see some of the Monasteries in Cacak. These were some of the most famous in Serbia and were places of refuge during the numerous times that war raged throughout the region. The first one was quite a bit off the beaten path and very peaceful. It had two large buildings and a chapel, but only two people lived there which was surprising.

The large areas were for services and over a hundred people came out to the monastery every Sunday. Mala, Aleks' sister, even had her wedding there. The chapel had been rebuilt numerous times since it was first constructed in the 1400s and was beautiful. The second one was up in the hills and was actually a bit larger. When we arrived we were initially told to look at the chapel very quickly because a christening was about to take place. We ended up watching the majority of the ceremony that felt a lot like a Catholic ceremony in Latin with the priest seeming to mumble almost all the words. The second site was especially well known because the current head of the Serbian Orthodox Church was once a monk there.

A spa/hot spring was right down the road so we stopped in to relax a bit before Guca. Everyone wanted to get massages but they were booked so we got jacuzzis. To our surprise the jacuzzi didn’t go over 34C which is lukewarm at best. We were pretty frustrated but still surprisingly refreshed. Mitch and our 'tour-guide' Dargan had a few rousing games of ping pong then we got what we planned on being a quick dinner downtown. That quick dinner, like anytime you sit down, especially in Eastern Europe, took almost two hours.

We got back to the hotel and headed out for another night of Guca. Although we were with a much smaller group this time as it was the weekend the festival was quite a bit different. The crowds were out in full force and we spent quite a bit of time dancing around at the main stage. Guca really is the most anything goes place I've ever seen, we had a blast.

Red Star Game

Red Star Game
Thursday, August 06, 2009
1:13 AM

Thursday signified the end of our adventures with Aleks' buddies as they all headed back to the states. The morning was a rough patch for almost everyone. After a really late night at Guca we finally realized that Marko had gotten Yaron, Mitch and I all sick. When confronted the conversation went something like this:

US - Marko are you sick?
MS - Huh? What are you talking about no I'm not sick
US - Are you sure you aren't sick?
MS - Well I've been feeling kinda shitty for 3 weeks. I've been coughing a bit too but only at night
US - Are you serious? Doesn't that mean you're sick?
MS - I said I've only been coughing at night that doesn't count!

After spending most of the day feeling like the death I sacked up and jumped in the mini-bus and headed to the Red Star Beograd soccer game. The trip went smoothly aside from a few suicide lane car-passing moves by the daring driver to keep everyone on their toes. 14 of us were dropped off at the stadium and met up with another 10 people to make a pretty healthy group to go cheer on Beograd's finest vs Dinamo Tsibili from Georgia.

Red Star has been in the pits lately and as a result of an earlier loss needed to win the game by 3 goals to advance to the next stage of the tournament they were playing in, and after a first minute goal by Tsibili, the odds of that happening weren't good. The stadium was half full, but of the 4 sections, the South (the visitor fans area) was completely empty, the east and west, where the 'regular' fans sit were half full, and the north section, where the ultras and hooligans sit was completely packed.

The north looked like a student section on steroids, regardless of the score they stood, jumped, cheered, and sang, the entire game. By the entire game I mean half-time included. There are actually people that stand up in that section and watch to see if people aren't standing and singing the songs. If they don't then they either get beat up or kicked out of the section. At the end of the game riot police are out in full force to ensure nobody gets out of line. We walked down to the center of the city and saw plenty of people celebrating along the way, after which the mini-bus picked us up again and we headed back to Cacak.

Guca

Guca
Wednesday, August 05, 2009
1:12 AM

I woke up Wednesday morning feeling pretty drained although Tuesday had been really relaxing. While the rest of the group took a trip into downtown Cacak to walk around and get lunch Mitch and I stayed behind. Mitch delved deeper into Harry Potter and I caught up the blog like I had been meaning to. I've been carrying my beloved IBM ThinkPad around and doing my best to write posts in OneNote as I'm traveling in between places then uploading them in bunches whenever I have a good WiFi connection.

While I have no problem cranking stuff out on planes or trains, in Serbia we've spent a lot of time on busses which I have a lot more trouble getting focused on. My biggest shortfall recently has been doing single picture posts as although when I post to the blog everything is already written finding the pictures and uploading them to the posts tends to be the tedious part that gets rushed. In the earlier posts when I had a bit more time work with and less competition for time on my laptop I really liked having multiple pictures because it tells a much better story than anything that is written down. On that note, if there is anything you'd like me to share/focus on, or any questions/suggestions about anything please shoot me a Facebook message or email and let me know.

While that was a fairly long detour as far as writing was concerned, my afternoon was actually spent napping. After everyone got back we all cleaned up to head out to Guca. As far as trumpet festivals are concerned Guca is, like many things in Serbia, the #1 in the World. Miles Davis once said that "I didn't know a trumpet could be played like that" and Marko had built it up pretty huge for us. The Festival itself doesn't have any tickets and is held in a very small town in the mountains about 5 miles outside of Cacak. Our bus had a police escort right into the thick of things and we looked like great tourists with the entire group wearing 'Jelena and Aleks' Big Fat Serbian Wedding' T-shirts.

Once we began walking through the streets sounds of brass bands could be heard from everywhere. To say the atmosphere was wild would be a great understatement, but with a few thousand people in a tiny area and 2 Liters of beer costing just under $3US do your best to grasp it. We danced a bunch then were rounded up for a live interview of Jelena, Aleks, and their entourage for a local television station. After asking the group a few questions we all danced the Kola for the cameras which I'm told by people who saw it, went well. Once I get a hold of the video I'll link it up for sure.

Visiting the Village

Visiting the Village
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
4:13 AM

So while Cacak was Aleks' family town now, the real place was a village roughly two hours outside of Cacak, which was already two hours outside of Belgrade. We jumped back on the bus and Steve (Aleks' Father) gave us a great history of the region during the trip. Once we veered off the main road we were on a small, windy, mountain road that passed through numerous hillside farms. Steve said the village had a population of 8 which seemed pretty ridiculous after driving through all these towns but where we needed to go was definitely not on any paved road.

Once the paved roads stopped the bus parked at the bottom of a canyon and Aleks came up in a Trooper and started shuttling people the 2-3 miles to the actual village. There were about 25 of us so he took as many people as he could and everyone else walked. The walk was a pleasure, the entire valley was absolutely gorgeous and we even saw the schoolhouse that Aleks' Mom went to when she was a child. I was in on the last car ride and we had 5 people inside the car and 3 outside. Hanging off the side was wonderful and at some point I'll upload the video as it was pretty entertaining to go through the mountain dirt roads hanging on the side of the car.

When we got to the village I believed the 8 people statistic. It had quite a few houses but most of them were no longer in use. Only grandparents still lived there as everyone young had chosen to move away. They running water, a repeating phone line, and electricity were all fairly new additions (within the last 20 years when the locals were in their 70's). Every building had been built by hand by Steve's granduncle and everyone farmed the land, milked the cows, and of course distilled the raijka. It was great to get a taste of true country life and everyone was incredibly warm and welcoming to us. I'll echo again how beautiful the land itself was, I can't think of many places aside from the Japanese countryside and the Eastern Sierras that feel better for the soul.