Noćni Život

Belgrade is a beautiful city at night and there is really a lot to do. In the past, our favorite night-time activities included karaoke, going to ridiculously large clubs, and just generally being young and drunk. These days, it's not that we have completely lost our taste for those beloved past-times, but more that- like the connoisseur- we inevitably began to seek out novel and more refined variations on those same themes. Though not pictured in this post, Pivnica Tošin Bunar (aka: Džakarta) is where most every evening out on the town begins. They make delicious white wine in house and have an amazing garden patio surrounded by very tall evergreens. It is also located in "New Belgrade," which makes it the most convenient meeting place for everyone. From there, the night can go any number of ways, depending on conditions such as weather, the collective mood of everyone in the group and how much money people have to spend. Here are a few of the places we have been, just in the first week! 

The first thing to learn about Belgrade night life is that the whole city is split in half by the Sava River and is bordered to the north by the Dunav (aka: Danube). Everything immediately Northwest of the Sava is considered New Belgrade. There is also an area known as Zemun around the banks of the Dunav on that side of town. Most of the nightlife in New Belgrade is centered around the rivers. Here are some pictures of New Belgrade from the Old Town side of the Sava. 

 The newest bridge to cross the Sava was completed some time last year. It is really something to behold, especially for engineers, I am told.

David, Vlada, and Nikola sitting on a wall in Kalemegdan, a centuries old Turkish fort built in the middle of Old Belgrade during the Ottoman Empire. It sits on the confluence of both rivers and has an amazing view (New Belgrade behind us). Even though it is really interesting how the geography of this place influences EVERYTHING, I understand it can get boring and/or confusing quickly, so: Geography lesson over... for now.

Nata taking a picture of me taking a picture of her... It was very meta. We sat here and caught up a bit, while Nata and I took pictures of each other taking pictures.

Dijana, Sasa, Nata, and Ana enjoying a little rock n' roll show at one of the floating bars (called splavs) along the Zemunski Kay, which is on the Dunav river. The splavs are a great way to spend a mellow evening out while enjoying some good music and atmosphere.

There are also the inevitable house parties. This one was for a friend of a friend's birthday and was held in an amazing apartment in the old part of Belgrade. More than anything else, despite my geographic digression earlier, we enjoy being with our friends here! These are people that Natalija has known almost her whole life and who took me in as one of their own, despite my obvious lack of Jugoslavian-ness, and we have so much fun when we are all together!

They told me to act natural in order to get a spontaneous looking picture...

Ana (middle) gave Vlada (right) a really hard time about his t-shirt before we went out for the night. Much to her dismay, this guy walked in wearing the same exact thing, just to double her distaste for it!

The girls, bein' all silly and stuff.

So this guy is named Filip and it was his birthday, which still only partially explains how drunk he was... But he was a very generous and gracious host.

Ride the train!

Random going home shot. Time for bed... Laku noć!