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An illustration of a European street scene with a cafe, featuring people sitting outdoors at tables and large apartment buildings in the background.

An illustration of a European street scene with a cafe, featuring people sitting outdoors at tables and large apartment buildings in the background.

Belgrade impression I remember the night I left for Belgrade, Serbia. Lifted my light travel bag and luggage, the train to Luton had been slow, the beer at king's cross station, almost made me miss the train. Europe, my old continent Europe, always plants a story inside me. 4am, Luton airport, almost no sleep. Watching from the bus ride from Belgrade airport to the city center. Groups and groups of grey apartment building blocks arranged in an old Soviet style, a reminder of this country's past. The planner seems to deliberately present them in an anti-aesthetic manner - made these irregularly laid out building blocks with the exact alike windows look decaying and lacking maintenance, a story that tells nothing but communism derived poverty. Stops after stops, the locals got on and off, no special expression but indifference on the faces. And I thought - what the heck did I end up here? The bus stopped at the plaza in city center, a few blocks away from old town, a totally different scene of Europe emerged - Bohemian style cafes and bars in the front of European style buildings, one after another, young people sitting leisurely outdoor for coffee and drinks, by trendy tables and pleasant shields, engaged in casual chats - a scene no difference from any other European cities. What a contrast and perplexing mixture! What a city. See more