This was my first visit to Serbia, to attend the European Multicolloquium of Parasitology meeting. It was my first live meeting in more than 2 years, and a pleasure to interact with scientists in real life, hear the latest developments, and present my work. The meeting was relatively small, due to many people still avoiding travel, but enthusiastic and refreshing. I also got to explore Belgrade. I chose to stay at an AirBnb rather than the conference hotel; to save money but also to experience life a little more like a local.

A tall guy named Bogdon picked me up at the airport after my long flight from San Francisco through Munich. It is still a pleasure flying across the Atlantic these days, and I seem to always get a row to myself.  On the grey day, I saw the masses of huge concrete apartment buildings that house the majority of the city’s inhabitants.  We ended up driving to one of them, near the conference hotel. My little apartment for the next few days was on the 6^th floor, with a view of more huge apartment buildings.

I had a few hours before the opening of the conference, so I took the bus across the great Danube river to the old part of the town, and visited the vast Kalemegdan Fortress, just walking around after all the hours of flying. There were certainly not many tourists, and it seemed that I had the whole place to myself.  I can’t read Cyrillic and I don’t know a word of Serbian, so I really felt out of place, although everyone I spoke to seemed to know some English. 

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I don’t know much about politics these days, but my memories of Serbia are from 1999 when the USA bombed Belgrade during the Kosovo war. Now, more than 20 years later, nobody talked about those attacks, nor Milošević.  But it is clear that Belgrade is somehow different than most of Europe. They have the big malls and the western stores, but not many people were out shopping. People smoke a lot, even inside the restaurants, which are really cheap.  I went to a nice pizzeria, and got a delicious vegan pizza and salad for about $10.  I also found some great ice cream places with chocolate sorbet.

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Other highpoints were the Nikola Tesla museum, which documents his life and his inventions. Although Tesla only spent a few days of his life in Belgrade, his ashes are kept here in a golden sphere. This museum has become immensely popular, I think since Tesla cars have become so ubiquitous. Nearby is the massive new orthodox Saint Sava’s cathedral which is still under construction, but has a huge dome with a golden Jesus looking down upon the visitors.

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My last night, I got to hear the Belgrade Philharmonic, my first indoor live orchestral concert since the pandemic. With covid restrictions, we had to wear masks, and there were two seats empty between each person/pair.  I got one of the best seats in the theater for $12, and the orchestra was excellent, in a small theater with good acoustics. The audience was reluctant to give standing ovations, for what I thought were outstanding performances. 

Next, I took a couple days of vacation and crossed the border to Romania. A quick 2-hour drive in a shared minivan took me from Belgrade to Timisoara, the city where the revolution began in 1989 against the repressive Ceaușescu regime.  The old town of the city has gardens, colorful buildings and large plazas. This third largest city in Romania is called “Little Vienna” and has lots of students and outdoor cafes. I was staying in a place next to the music conservatory, so it reminded me of when I was studying piano and bassoon in Salzburg.

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The Museum of the Revolution details how in December of 1989, in just a couple weeks the people overthrew the oppressive communist regime and created the modern Romania which is now part of the European Union. I was lucky with the weather and high points were taking a two-hour boat ride on the canal, for 1 lei, which is less than 25 cents.  I found BioFresh vegan restaurant, and saw the Museum of Communist Consumerism which houses a collection of the items that families had before the revolution. 

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I was impressed with both Belgrade and Timisoara. These cities are not rich, yet the streets are clean, and the buildings are well maintained. I saw very few unhoused people, and buses and public transportation works well. But I noticed a lack the diversity that comes with immigration. Now I am back in Stockholm, which 30 years ago used to similarly lack diversity. I assume that in the future, many people from all over the world will start moving to probably Romania first, since it is in the EU, and the language is probably easier to learn. But Serbia won’t be far behind.