Originally I wasn’t going to post about visiting Serbia as it was mainly to visit family but I ended up doing some non-family outings and touring so I figured it would be helpful to some folks who wanted to check out some sights such as the Plitvice Lakes and Dubrovnik. In Dubrovnik I used Airbnb and had a nice little place for a couple nights – perfect for 1 or 2 people. In the Mokra Gora area, I managed to find a little apartment via Booking.com. It was sufficient but I wouldn’t want to stay in the middle of summer as it lacked AC. However, late May up in the mountain areas were nice and cooling in the evenings and at night. The rest of the time, I stayed with family (Vojvodina area in northwest Serbia, Lika-Senj county in Croatia, and in Belgrade).

Loose itinerary of what I did in the order it happened:

• Arrived in Belgrade from Rome. Rented car and headed up to meet up with family. My mother joined me on this part of the trip as she wanted to visit family and show me around some places.
• Moved between Sombor, Apatin, and Backi Brestovac to visit family over a ten day period.
• Headed out to Croatia and the Lika area to visit my mother’s last living uncle (on her mother’s side). Toured the small village to see where my grandmother was born and raised. Grandfather also was born and raised nearby.
• After Lika, headed to check out the Plitvice Lakes before checking out Nikola Tesla’s birthplace. Got to Dubrovnik that evening.
• Toured Dubrovnik for the day (old city, boat ride, cable car to top of hill overlooking).
• Next day, headed back to Serbia via Bosnia, making a couple stops for sights (one being Visegrad/Andricgrad). Got to small cottage in Mokra Gora.
• Spent the day in Mokra Gora by taking a trip on the Sargan Eight narrow gauge train line. Afterwards, checked out Drvengrad.
• Following day headed to Belgrade. Checked out a couple sights like Kalemegdan Park and fortress. Next day toured the Tesla Museum and finished up eventually in the old city. Had dinner where my father used to frequent when he went to university in Belgrade.
• Final day – mother went back home to Canada and I caught the overnight Hellas Express to Greece.

Overall I had a great time, even though I came down with a head cold part way through the trip (which thankfully cleared by the time I started touring outside of Serbia). It was great seeing my family and getting reacquainted with people I hadn’t seen in over two decades. I can honestly say I was tempted to perhaps spend the entire summer there but in the end, my wanderlust got the better of me and I finally purchased the Star Alliance Round the World ticket. Currently I’m in Dubai, the first stop on the ticket which started in Athens and then I will be heading to Beijing next. My itinerary is more or less the same as before with a couple small modifications mainly to skip doing Tahiti and instead taking a direct flight from Japan to Mexico as well as changing the order of South American countries slightly to better take advantage of flight availability.

My next post will be in a few days (hopefully will be able to from Beijing). It’ll be about my adventures in Greece and I wouldn’t be surprised if it ended up being quite extensive as I spent a full two weeks roaming the mainland of the cradle of Western Civilization.

On that note, time for random photos!