From today on I'll start posting here several blog entries I wrote a couple of months ago, when I was still in Serbia. I didn't put these entries online by the time I wrote them because my time on the computer was always kinda short: our apartment in Belgrade had 2 computers for the 6 of us, you can figure how tough it was to stay online for some time.
I'm back to Brazil now, but I've got a lot to tell! :)
Friday, 29 October 2010
Monday, 9 August 2010
Off to the coast
The cool news?
Saturday we will be heading to Montenegro: Go East collective will be performing @ EKO Fest, in Herceg Novi!!!
Can't wait :)
Saturday we will be heading to Montenegro: Go East collective will be performing @ EKO Fest, in Herceg Novi!!!
Can't wait :)
Friday, 6 August 2010
A day in Zagreb
I was at the supermarket with my friends when I got this message from Neven saying that when earlier that day he invited us to go to Zagreb with him, he meant it. "Are you guys coming?", he asked.
It was 9 pm and Neven said he and his friend planned to leave around midnight. We would get to Zagreb on the next day`s morning, stay there until late afternoon/early evening and then back to Belgrade. A 4 hour journey from Belgrade until Croatia`s capital.
I really felt like going - I mean, it`s not everyday that you get to be invited to spend a day in Croatia! I asked my friends if any of them would like come with us that evening, but as Marina and Ju had just arrived from Rio that very same day, they wanted to rest a little, eat something relax.
It was half past midnight when I met Neven and his friend Njego at buregdzinica Sarajevo and we got on our way to Zagreb. After one hour in the car, a heavy thunder storm reached our car and stayed with us for a couple of ours. A little while after we passed the Serbian border Njego - who was driving - stopped at a gas station, where we got a few hours of sleep.
When we woke up it was around 7 and the day was on - still a bit cloudy after the heavy rain on the previous night, but looking like it was gonna be a bright summer day within a couple of hours. On the road, Njego showed me some houses/constructions by the side of the road, destroyed during the war. Is still weird to think everything happened almost yesterday. I mean, 15 years might feel like a life-time to me, someone who`s turning 26 now. But 15 years is nothing, really...
After one more hour and something driving, we finally arrived to Zagreb! Njego dropped me and Neven nearby the city center and took his way - later that day we would meet up with him again and to go back to Belgrade.
Neven and I had a quick - but really good! - sandwich for breakfast and then we went for a walk around the old city. We visited the Cathedral, passed by an open air market and then we stopped for a tea with krempita on a really nice cafe called Mala Kavana, on Trg Bana Jelačića (Ban Jelačić Square), Zagreb`s main square. Really beautiful place.
After that we split ways: we agreed on meeting around 5 at the square`s statue: that would give me around 4 hours to do whatever I wanted in Zagreb and to explore the city as I wanted.
Don`t know if I mentioned here before, but I love wandering alone in a city I`ve never been before. Wandering with friends is great too, but when you`re alone you take your time, you pay more attention to certain details you probably wouldn`t if you had your friends around.
So, with a map and a couple of brochures I got at the city`s tourist council I had everything I needed to start exploring the old city of Zagreb!
I took a couple of walking tours one of the brochures suggested, and it was totally worth it: lots of cute little streets decorated with flowers, beautiful 17th, 18th and 19th century buildings, churches, gardens, lanes and so on. It felt like I was in some movie set and at some moments it felt a little bit like some spots I`ve been to in Vienna as well.
After those 2 walking tours I visited two museums: the Zagreb City Museum and the Art Naif Museum - both really nice and worth a visit.
After that I stopped by a shopping center, sat a on a café for a cold soda and then headed back to Ban Jelačić Square, ponctually at 5pm.
The 3 of us met up again, had another cold drink. The cloudy, gloomy morning had turned into a bright, warm summer afternoon and the colours on the square were so bright it kinda felt like I was inside a painting.
We were now ready for another 4 hours on the road until home. Until my Belgrade.
It was 9 pm and Neven said he and his friend planned to leave around midnight. We would get to Zagreb on the next day`s morning, stay there until late afternoon/early evening and then back to Belgrade. A 4 hour journey from Belgrade until Croatia`s capital.
I really felt like going - I mean, it`s not everyday that you get to be invited to spend a day in Croatia! I asked my friends if any of them would like come with us that evening, but as Marina and Ju had just arrived from Rio that very same day, they wanted to rest a little, eat something relax.
It was half past midnight when I met Neven and his friend Njego at buregdzinica Sarajevo and we got on our way to Zagreb. After one hour in the car, a heavy thunder storm reached our car and stayed with us for a couple of ours. A little while after we passed the Serbian border Njego - who was driving - stopped at a gas station, where we got a few hours of sleep.
When we woke up it was around 7 and the day was on - still a bit cloudy after the heavy rain on the previous night, but looking like it was gonna be a bright summer day within a couple of hours. On the road, Njego showed me some houses/constructions by the side of the road, destroyed during the war. Is still weird to think everything happened almost yesterday. I mean, 15 years might feel like a life-time to me, someone who`s turning 26 now. But 15 years is nothing, really...
After one more hour and something driving, we finally arrived to Zagreb! Njego dropped me and Neven nearby the city center and took his way - later that day we would meet up with him again and to go back to Belgrade.
Neven and I had a quick - but really good! - sandwich for breakfast and then we went for a walk around the old city. We visited the Cathedral, passed by an open air market and then we stopped for a tea with krempita on a really nice cafe called Mala Kavana, on Trg Bana Jelačića (Ban Jelačić Square), Zagreb`s main square. Really beautiful place.
After that we split ways: we agreed on meeting around 5 at the square`s statue: that would give me around 4 hours to do whatever I wanted in Zagreb and to explore the city as I wanted.
Don`t know if I mentioned here before, but I love wandering alone in a city I`ve never been before. Wandering with friends is great too, but when you`re alone you take your time, you pay more attention to certain details you probably wouldn`t if you had your friends around.
So, with a map and a couple of brochures I got at the city`s tourist council I had everything I needed to start exploring the old city of Zagreb!
I took a couple of walking tours one of the brochures suggested, and it was totally worth it: lots of cute little streets decorated with flowers, beautiful 17th, 18th and 19th century buildings, churches, gardens, lanes and so on. It felt like I was in some movie set and at some moments it felt a little bit like some spots I`ve been to in Vienna as well.
After those 2 walking tours I visited two museums: the Zagreb City Museum and the Art Naif Museum - both really nice and worth a visit.
After that I stopped by a shopping center, sat a on a café for a cold soda and then headed back to Ban Jelačić Square, ponctually at 5pm.
The 3 of us met up again, had another cold drink. The cloudy, gloomy morning had turned into a bright, warm summer afternoon and the colours on the square were so bright it kinda felt like I was inside a painting.
We were now ready for another 4 hours on the road until home. Until my Belgrade.
Thursday, 5 August 2010
More 2 friends over
Ju and Marina - another two friends from Brazil - arrived here in Belgrade a couple of days ago.
Sol and Chica went to pick them up at the airport but Ju and Marina showed up at the gate with a 1 hour delay: they were bringing mandioca flour from Brazil (to make a traditional brazilian side dish, called "farofa") and the airport police thought it was cocaine and held them for almost 1 hour, hahaha. They soon realised it was really flour and allowed them to go.
As soon as the girls finally arrived to our apartment we took them for a typical Serbian lunch at Srpska Kafana: sopska & srpska salata, bread, grilled meat, stuffed paprika with cheese and so on.
After lunch we took them for a walk throughout the city center: Trg Republike, Knez Mihailova and, of course, Kalemegdan.
Once in Kalemegdan we met up with Neven who, coincidently, was passing by the fortress too. Once we were all together, we decided to go for a drink at this place called Cinema*, where we watched the susnset and had some nice talking before coming back to our apartment.
*Cinema is this really nice café-club placed in Kalemegdan, facing the Sava and Danube river. They have a nice variety of drinks (the drinks we tasted were delicious!), a nice, friendly staff and some great music concerts every now and then. I highly recommend you people to go there to have a drink while watching the sunset - it`s incredably beautiful!
Sol and Chica went to pick them up at the airport but Ju and Marina showed up at the gate with a 1 hour delay: they were bringing mandioca flour from Brazil (to make a traditional brazilian side dish, called "farofa") and the airport police thought it was cocaine and held them for almost 1 hour, hahaha. They soon realised it was really flour and allowed them to go.
As soon as the girls finally arrived to our apartment we took them for a typical Serbian lunch at Srpska Kafana: sopska & srpska salata, bread, grilled meat, stuffed paprika with cheese and so on.
After lunch we took them for a walk throughout the city center: Trg Republike, Knez Mihailova and, of course, Kalemegdan.
Once in Kalemegdan we met up with Neven who, coincidently, was passing by the fortress too. Once we were all together, we decided to go for a drink at this place called Cinema*, where we watched the susnset and had some nice talking before coming back to our apartment.
------------------------------
*Cinema is this really nice café-club placed in Kalemegdan, facing the Sava and Danube river. They have a nice variety of drinks (the drinks we tasted were delicious!), a nice, friendly staff and some great music concerts every now and then. I highly recommend you people to go there to have a drink while watching the sunset - it`s incredably beautiful!
Monday, 2 August 2010
Tango & kolo
Although we had plans to spend the day in Ada Ciganlija (more on what`s "Ada Ciganlija" later), we ended up giving it up: we read on the newspaper that the Beotango Orchestra - a band that plays tango with a balkan flavour - was gonna play for free in Kalemegdan that night.
As we reached the fortress, we realised that something far more interesting (at least more interesting to me!) was going on: Belgrade`s International Folk Dance Festival!!!
I just couldnt believe it, really. I`m a huuuge fan of folk dances in general, serbian dances more than anything.
We ran to the stage, took our seats and watched - for hours in a row - folk dance groups coming from Serbia, Belarus, Greece, Italy, Israel, Poland, Scotland, Costa Rica and so on.
I can`t put on words how special it was for me to be there, with my friends, watching all that. I will never forget it, for sure.
After the festival we went to Skadarlija, had some spritzer and then we went home.
Such a wonderful evening :))))))
Saturday, 31 July 2010
Uma noite normal em Belgrado
Saímos de casa pouco antes das 22h pra ir ao bar Brod, no Bulevar 29 Novembra, bem perto do meu apê. Eu havia marcado de encontrar um amigo croata de origem sérvia lá, o Neven, e com o Nikola, um DJ daqui de Belgrado que toca em algumas noites nesse bar. Quando chegamos ao Brod encontramos com eles 2 e também com o Djordje, amigo do Neven e também croata de origem sérvia. Ficamos ali bebendo cerveja e spritzer, entre conversas mil e rodadas no fliperama do Indiana Jones.
Por volta de meia noite nos despedimos do Nikola e decidimos ir dali pra algum outro lugar, preferencialmente com música ao vivo - queríamos ir a uma kafana. Pra nossa felicidade, o Neven e o Djordje nos deram a sugestão que queríamos ouvir: "que tal irmos ao Blek Panters?"
O Blek Panters, ahh, o Blek Panters... A 1a. e única vez que estive lá foi em outubro de 2008, com a Valerie e umas amigas sérvias e aquela foi, de longe, uma das noites mais divertidas que já tive em Belgrado. O Blek Panters é um dos zilhões de splavs (bar/club flutuante) que margeiam os rios aqui de Belgrado. É conhecido como um dos melhores - senão o melhor! - lugar de Belgrado pra se ouvir música ao vivo cigana (tocada pela banda homonima ao bar).
Pois bem: nos dividimos entre o carro do Neven e do Djordje e seguimos rumo ao Blek Panters. Assim que entramos no splav - que por sorte não estava muito cheio, pois era quarta feira - fomos colocados em uma ótima mesa, bem ao lado da banda, que tocava hits daqui: kolos mil, música de kafana, clássicos ciganos e, é claro, os hits da própria banda, como a Kakvu zenu imam (que eu inclusive toco em todas as edições da Go East). Estávamos eufóricos com toda aquela música, as pessoas dançando loucamente pelo restaurante todo, convidando a gente pra dançar também, brindando e etc. A música era tão contagiante que em um determinado momento dançamos kolo com um cara que nunca tínhamos visto na vida, enquanto esperávamos na fila do toalete!
Emocionante demais estar ali com a Sol, Chica e Andrei, sentados ao lado do Toma (cantor, líder da banda e nosso ídolo!), com a taça sempre cheia de spritzer, dançando e cantando - foi um momento incrível!
A nosso pedido, o Neven comentou com o Toma que éramos do Brasil e adorávamos muito a música da banda dele. O Toma abriu um sorrizão, veio nos abraçar e dizer que ama o Brasil, dançou conosco, tirou fotos e etc. Um amigo dele (por acaso o cara que dançou kolo com a gente no banheiro) logo chegou perto e começou a dançar também, quis me dar o relógio dele, abraçou todo mundo e etc. Estava torto horrores, muita Jelen Pivo na cabeça.
Lá pras 3 e pouco da manhã a banda parou de tocar e o bar encerrou as atividades. Enquanto o povo se levantava e deixava o splav ficamos conversando com o pessoal da banda e acabamos recebendo um convite inusitado: o cara que quis me dar o relógio convidou todos nós pra irmos dar uma esticada na kafana que ele tem no bairro de Kosutnjak, chamada "Kafanica"(lê-se kafanítsa, que significa "kafaninha"). Ficamos meio sem jeito de aceitar o convite, mas ele insistia muito: disse que seria uma honra cozinhar pra nós algumas especialidades sérvias. Acabamos aceitando o convite e mais uma vez nos dividimos em carros diferentes, dessa vez rumo a Kosutnjak.
Quando entramos e nos sentamos na Kafanica é que a ficha caiu: o cara que nos convidou estava abrindo a kafana dele no meio da noite exclusivamente pra nós! A decoração do lugar era linda: arte naïf por todo lado, móveis de madeira rústica, coisinhas étnicas, mil detalhes nas paredes e até mesmo galos e galinhas andando pela kafana. Quando o dono do local colocou a trilha sonora do filme "A Vida é um Milagre" pra tocar, o quadro estava pintado: era como se estivéssemos mesmo dentro de um filme do Kusturica!
Mal deu 5 minutos de que havíamos chegado e sentado, a comilança começou: além da bandeja com dezenas de copos de cerveja ultra gelada, nos trouxeram uma super tábua de frios e antepastos típicos daqui, como salame, bacon, ajvar, (uma pasta feita de pimentão e berinjela) e pães quentinhos, recém saídos do forno. 10 minutos mais tarde chegaram 2 pratos enoooormes de linguiça caseira e carne de vitela feita no gril. Um banquete divino, as 4 e meia da manhã!!
Conversávamos e ríamos muito, e a cerveja não parava de vir: eram tantos copos que não havia mais espaço na mesa!
Ganhamos vários brindes: quadros de art Näif daqui (feitos pela artista que fez todas as pinturas do vilarejo étnico do Kusturica), CDs de kolo e quase ganhamos galinhas também - não fossem nossos apelos dramáticos, o dono da Kafanica tinha abatido uns frangos pra nós ali mesmo, com a pistola antiga que ele guardava em cima de uma estante que decorava o restaurante.
As 5 e meia da manhã (dia claro aqui já), pegamos os carros novamente: muito embora a gente já não aguentasse nem ouvir falar em comida aquela altura do campeonato, agora o dono da Kafanica queria muito nos pagar uma rodada de burek no que ele disse ser um dos melhores bureks de Belgrado. Por coincidência, a burekeria na qual queriam nos levar era nada menos do que a Sarajevo, que fica exatamente em frente ao nosso apê.
Quase morremos tentando comer burek, pra não fazer desfeita. Acabamos levando quase 1 kg de burek pra casa, também por insistência do nosso host empolgado. E apesar dos protestos por parte dele - que ainda queria nos levar pra uma volta de barco pelo rio Sava - a noite acabou ali. Precisávamos desesperadamente dormir e absorver tudo que tínhamos vivido naquela noite totalmente surreal, mas típicamente sérvia.
É por essas (e muuuuitas outras) que amo tanto isso aqui <3
Sunday, 18 July 2010
Music in the air
I was going to the supermarket this afternoon when, while passing through Vlajkoviceva Street, I saw this old man practising some serbian tunes on his accordion by the window. I sat on a car in front of his window and listened to his accordion for 5 minutes, before following to the supermarket. Magical.
Thursday, 15 July 2010
Moj Beograd
Welcome to "Wish I could reach you in Belgrade 2010" :)
After a week in Serbia, I`m finally blogging here again - and I`ve got lots to tell! Airport facts, first day in Belgrade, Exit Festival and Novi Sad and more and more Belgrade. Within the next couple of days I`ll be taking care to update here with the past 7 days facts. Stay tuned ;)
For now, I`ll leave you with the_view: Kalemegdan, ladies and gentlemen!
After a week in Serbia, I`m finally blogging here again - and I`ve got lots to tell! Airport facts, first day in Belgrade, Exit Festival and Novi Sad and more and more Belgrade. Within the next couple of days I`ll be taking care to update here with the past 7 days facts. Stay tuned ;)
For now, I`ll leave you with the_view: Kalemegdan, ladies and gentlemen!
Monday, 12 July 2010
A quick 1st update
Whenever I come to the Balkans it always takes about a week for me to sit and write my first blog entry about it. You know how it is, too much going on, too many people to see/meet, lots to do and so on. It`s beem almost two years since I last put my feet here in Serbia, so no wonder why I still didn`t manage to sit and write anything.
Anyways, here I am now!
Today is my 6th day here in Serbia. I arrived in Belgrade last tuesday, after the longest hours of my life waiting for my flight to Belgrade at the airport in Rome.
After one and a half days in Belgrade, me and my friends (Sol, Chica and Andrei) headed to Novi Sad, where we performed at the Exit Festival. It was SO, so great!! The 2 other days of festival were awesome too (pictures and videos coming soon, promise).
And today - after 3 days in Novi Sad - I`m leaving back to Belgrade. As soon as I reach my apartment there I promise to post all the pics and videos I shot so far :)
Til soon!
Anyways, here I am now!
Today is my 6th day here in Serbia. I arrived in Belgrade last tuesday, after the longest hours of my life waiting for my flight to Belgrade at the airport in Rome.
After one and a half days in Belgrade, me and my friends (Sol, Chica and Andrei) headed to Novi Sad, where we performed at the Exit Festival. It was SO, so great!! The 2 other days of festival were awesome too (pictures and videos coming soon, promise).
And today - after 3 days in Novi Sad - I`m leaving back to Belgrade. As soon as I reach my apartment there I promise to post all the pics and videos I shot so far :)
Til soon!
Friday, 9 July 2010
Right here, right now
I`m in Serbia since Wednesday (in Belgrade) and now I`m in Novi Sad, preparing to perform at Exit Festival with my friends Sol, Andrei and Chica. Pictures, updates and videos real soon, promise!
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