Ameri-Serbia: Doughnut Tour, Pt. 3

Technically the next stop on the Doughnut tour was Serbia but for me, it was a little corner of America. Exhibit A: bagels, literally across the street from our hostel. How could we resist, especially after 2 bagel-free years? Delicious. Maybe the tour should be renamed the "Kosovo Bagel." Exhibit B: seeing the final Harry Potter film (and ultimately 5 movies in 4 days). Exhibit C: eating at KFC, which alas does not include biscuits on its international menu. Ahem, right, back to Serbia.

In Belgrade, the first day we wandered around the city and visited the museum devoted to inventor Nikola Tesla. Tesla invented the radio and electric generators, among other things, and I really enjoyed the demonstrations of his inventions. I do, however, blame the crazy wireless electrical currents for making my watch lose about 30 minutes. On day 2, Kerry and I took a free walking tour led by a young gal from Kosovo who has been a refugee in Serbia for 12 years. She provided a great mix of historical info and local lore, including describing to us a regional dish that we ate for dinner nicknamed “girl’s dream,” which is an, ah, cylindrical shaped meat stuffed with cheese. If you need a visual, check out the Doughnut Pt. 3 photos here. Finally, I visited the mausoleum of Tito, the former leader of Yugoslavia, which included an interesting exhibit of relay batons. The batons were given to him as a symbol of his continuous leadership and support from the nation’s youth. I’d never heard of anything similar, so it was quite the unique collection.

From Belgrade, I continued on solo to the city of Novi Sad. There’s not much to do in Novi Sad but it was where my work site, YMCA Bitola, agreed that they could pick me up on our way to a regional festival in Ukraine. So, I used the time to recharge my batteries, mostly at the cineplex. The YMCA bus did indeed come for me though little did I know that our destination was 38 hours away—more on that next time.

This concludes my narration of the Kosovo Doughnut tour but let me just end by saying how fortunate I was to have two super travel companions who put up with my fast walking, popping out of bed in the morning, and searches for “snacks” (which incidentally became my trip nickname as the names Katie, Kerry, and Kaylee together are a mouthful)—thanks ladies for the great adventure!