MONDAY, August 4th: After spending two nights in Sarajevo and doing a tour of that city called "Times of Misfortune", I was really hesitant to come to Belgrade less than 24 hours later, thinking about the atrocities that this nation inflicted all throughout the Balkans in the 1990s as part of a greater war of expansion and ethnic cleansing. To be completely honest, the only reason I had chosen to come here was because the city makes for a much easier connection back toward Slovakia, Poland, and the Baltics. With that being said, I AM glad I came here, if for no other reason than to try to learn from other people and experience another culture and country. Granted, I spent a mere 16 hours in Belgrade and I cannot fairly assess or form an objective opinion about a place in such a short time, but I did learn and see a few cool things.
First off, compared to Sarajevo, during the Balkan Wars, Belgrade got off easy. I am using the term easy for comparative purposes only, because one civilian casualty is one too many. I just spoke to a woman on the train I am on who lost family in US-led NATO bombings took place here in 1999 and my heart breaks for her and everyone else who lost loved ones and property as a result.
Now, in my short time spent here, I had an opportunity to tour a fort, have some great food, and meet up with an American friend who I had met on another study tour four years ago in Korea. He has friends who live in Belgrade and I was able to go out with them last night. It was there that I really also tried to learn the perspectives from Belgrade natives on the Balkan Wars and the NATO attacks here. Some of what they said I do not agree with, one comment being "There is no such thing as a Bosnian". To me, I saw that as an excuse to somehow justify the tensions between Bosnians and Serbs. The bottom line is, these are all just labels anyway. I mean, can someone, just by looking, really tell the difference between an American, Canadian, or Brit? I think such an analogy is important to trying to understand the Balkans.
What I did find myself agreeing with was the perspective on the NATO bombings, just for NATO to try to show the world that it was doing something when Serbia tried to ethnically cleanse Kosovo of Albanians. The bottom line is, similar to an intense number of casualties inflicted in Sarajevo, there were thousands of innocent Serbs killed here, and hundreds of thousands more whose lives were permanently destroyed. There can NEVER be a such thing as "collateral damage" in war because to me, that trivializes human life.
Okay. So, yeah. I was going to spend another full day in Belgrade and take an overnight train tonight but decided against for three reasons:
1) See my post from July 27th about my experience with night trains and see if I want to experience that again.
2) Not to trivialize the importance of the Balkans at all, but, I am feeling "Balkan fatigue" and am ready to explore Slovakia and Poland.
3) I am also just tired and don't mind spending the next 10 hours on a train to recover a bit before my final 10 days in Europe.
Last thoughts too on Belgrade and the countries in the former Yugoslavia.
• Like Croatia, Bosnia - Herzegovina, and Slovenia, Serbs still LOVE Tito! I wanted to go to his mausoleum but could not justify spending another full day here just to see it and the 6:45 train was the only one leaving for the North.
•Despite all of the fighting and perceived hatred that has existed in this region for over 2000 years, people here are incredibly friendly!
• Finally, traveling in this region has opened me to brand new cultures and perspectives in ways no other part of Europe had done for me thus far.
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