St Sava Cathedral and dinner with Nikolina

We were delighted that using our phone to buy tram tickets worked with no problem. The trams in Belgrade are heavily used and look old but we have no idea how old they actually are. They run frequently. And they cost less than 50 cents for 90 minutes of riding.

We got off several stops before the one closest to St Sava cathedral because we like being on foot so we can better observe and take in what’s around us. Belgrade is a busy city and is sort of like a poorer, smaller New York City. Actually it’s not like NYC at all apart from its vibrant busy-ness and crowdedness (and bad traffic but I think Belgrade’s traffic and drivers are worse!).

There are fountains along the walkway that approach the gigantic church. People of all ages were sitting on benches or milling about. While I find looking at huge buildings to be interesting, and I find  St Sava’s to be aesthetically pleasing and satisfying, I don’t find it to be spiritually ‘alive’ the way I experience some of the smaller older, more modest churches here. St Sava’s is too huge to grasp or hold all at once. There is so much to see inside in every direction. I feel it was extremely well designed and the colors, icons, mosaics, shapes, floor patterns, domes and windows were executed well and all fit together. Nothing fights with anything else. But it does not feel like a personal space to me. I guess it is ‘spiritual’ in that it is humbling to stand small amid its immense grandeur. I could lose myself there, and perhaps that is the point of the place- to forget one’s self and disappear into the Beauty of the One. In any case, one (or at least I) could spend days or weeks there and still not notice all there is to see.

It was interesting to remember that last time we were there the inside of the church was not done and was walled off with huge curtains so you couldn’t even get a peak of what was beyond the entry area. But the crypt downstairs had just been completed and we went down to see it. Not yet having the main church to compare it to I was amazed by the elaborate beauty in the crypt which is also covered with paintings and icons and gold. It was impressive! But when we went to the crypt this time, after having been in the main church first, the crypt did not wow me like it did the first time even though objectively it also is wonderfully done. But the upstairs church is in a category of its own in size and extravagance.

The church has a couple gift shops which we briefly peered into but I’d rather buy things from the smaller churches. I asked where the bathroom was and the clerk said there are none and I must go outside and find a cafe. It’s hard to believe there are no public bathrooms in the church.

We bought a few candles and lit them for our family and ancestors and placed them in the candle place outside. I need to learn the word for ‘the candle place’!

We tried to explore the national library next door but when we went upstairs we were sternly told to go back downstairs. We couldn’t figure out why they singled us out but as we were about to leave we noticed a bag check counter where one must leave one’s backpack before proceeding. That explained why we were shooed back down to the lobby.

We walked about 45 minutes through the dense neighborhoods with their  narrow streets, sidewalks half covered by parked cars and dumpsters, and rich assortment of architecture ranging from mid 1800s, to the Communist era, to the occasional newer or renovated structure. Graffiti is common.

Eventually we reached Republic square where we were due to meet Nikolina, Lud’s niece, a bit later. We didn’t really have time to walk too far or explore anything in depth this time so we decided to find a cafe where I could charge my phone. This is not as easy to do as it is in the US but I finally found a table by an outlet and the waiter said it was fine to use it.

Nikolina was a little late because the time it took to sign papers at her bank to open an account for her new business took longer than expected. (She is hired by companies whose websites aren’t making money and fixes them. She makes good money doing this and likes working from home). She calls her business, Niko, which is a short version of her name but also mean, ‘nobody’ in Serbian. She said she wants to just live her life and be left alone like a ‘nobody’.

After greeting with hugs we walked to a restaurant that has catered to locals rather than tourists for the past 60 years but recently has recently been discovered by tourists as well. It is known for its excellent traditional Serbian food. We sat outside on the warm pleasant evening and enjoyed easy conversation and great food. I had the famous, karadjordje- a flattened piece of pork layered with cheese, then rolled and covered with a fine breading and lightly fried. It’s served with a tartar-like sauce. It was excellent.

Nikolina is extremely bright, articulate and opinionated and seemed overall to be happier than when we saw her there 5 years ago. We talked about her work, about politics (she hates their President Vućić and thinks he may be on the way out in part due to a recent article about him in the New York Times. But she, like so many people, does not trust or like any politician or party). She still wants to leave the country and will go to be close to wherever her brother or nephew (Switzerland or Slovenia, probably) are living because being able to walk to see family is important to her. But while her parents are living she is committed to staying close to them in Belgrade. She suggested various sites we might want to visit in eastern Serbia.

While we ate there were 4 or 5 beggars (Roma) who stopped at the table including a boy. Nikolina shooed all of them off and said they are drug addicts and she does not want to support this behavior. Fentanyl has not yet reached Serbia but ‘the old favorites’ like heroin and coke are still popular. She understands the history of the Roma people and the abuse and neglect and discrimination they have received but said at the same time now they are offered many opportunities which they often don’t take advantage of. We didn’t go deeper than that on the topic.

After dinner Nikolina offered to drive us across town back to Djordje’s so we wouldn’t need to figure out the tram stops in the dark. We appreciated this and our time together. As she drove through the chaotic traffic in the center of Belgrade I felt much more relaxed than when Jim drives because she confidently and assertively blends right in with the other drivers, cussing and yelling at them as she drive along. 

Before going to Belgrade I had been reluctant to go but seeing the church and visiting Nikolina, and staying with Djordje and Marjana made the trip there absolutely worthwhile.

Below: St Sava (and a couple from the crypt), shots around Belgrade, and me and Nikolina.