Trip to Serbia, May 2001 An Impression
	Belgrade, a big, tidy city, dynamic, forgiving (traffic, personal mishaps), with marvellous inhabitants, gentle policemen (!), genuinly friendly shop personnel, politeness, pride and charm (women for all), different aspects of beauty, historic consciousness...
	Racial hatred is not included in the way of thinking of the Serb people, who overwhelmingly find support in their 7-days-a-week religion.  Visits to a number of monasteries and churches added to this impression.
Talking to people 'investigatively' revealed the pain of unjustifiable violence against them.  The big 'Why'... The peoples of the Nato countries were not aware of what Nato was doing in their name, and have forgiveness from many Yugoslavs. However, Nato is expected to recognize its wrong-doing. I would be very surprised though, if the West collectively would ever speak the 'sorry' word without fear of loss of face, and therewith regain its proper place in society.
For me and Ingrid the trip was an amazing experience, much more than expected.  It enhanced my sadness about what was done to these warm-hearted people, brought new aspects to consider, emerging in the long exchanges of views with our hosts -- both teacher, with a 5-year old daughter -- as well as other members of the family, who accepted us in their midst and made us feel very honoured. Before our visit I never met people who are actually living in the Balkan region. Now that I did, it's hard not to idealize them.  :o) My impression is that these people, especially the ones who invited us into their home and who are very good friends now, are self-conscious, confident, able to adapt to unusual circumstances. A pleasant experience for many West-Europeans must be this mentality -- from the restaurant waiter to the student who gave an explanation in the Tesla museum -- all have that self-confidence I value in people (eye-contact!), making them good companions in daily life, formidable partners in a debate. The people we met were at least as much interested in us as we were in them.  :o)
	Compared with cities in the Netherlands, Belgrade is very clean (even the surroundings of the McD establishments), quite noisy because of the motor traffic in even the narrowest streets. Although there was a war and a ten-year long UN embargo, people are very well and tastefully dressed.  The (increasing) poverty is not obvious.
Apart from some specific buildings, the city does not look neglected, and reconstruction of bombed sites is underway or planned.
	Only a few of the damaged buildings are included in my picture series, because they don't really determine the face of the 'White City'.
This is more the case with the graffiti particularly statues and memorials are 'enriched' with. Three parties are clearly recognizable: DOS/OTPOR, Anti-Nato and Pro-Nato.  'Direct Democracy'? Of what I've seen, there was absolutely no artistic inspiration involved.  :-(
	Apart from talking, sometimes into the small hours, we did a lot of 'educational sight-seeing'.  Long walks through different parts of the capital, numerous visits to churches, monasteries and museums filled our days. The weather was very cooperative -- almost no rain and a reasonable temperature of 20 to 25C.  Although I'm not a 'quantity eater', particularly when on travel, I must say that the food in restaurants and even more the meals prepared by our friends (and members of the family) were very tasty, spicy -- different, not really 'exotic'.
We also spent a day in Novi Sad, capital of Vojvodina, where we enjoyed the atmosphere of the 'country-side', met with other cyber-friends for the first time and visited the provincial museum.
From the specific cultural part of our tour the memory of the visit to the monastery Ravanica (built in the 14th century) is for me the most impressive.  The hospitality of the nuns, the overwhelming feeling I had, to be near the great Prince Lazar who is buried there and the emotion of my host and friend Ljiljana in this historic environment moved me deeply and made me realize that it is almost impossible for people from Western cultures to fully understand what makes a Serb a Serb... The tour through history revealed parallels with the fate of the people of Serbia through the ages and what happened to them in WW2 and the Nato war. The monastery and its Ascention Church have an important place in Serbian medieval history.  The frescoes in the church are beautiful.
	A most significant monument of the Serbian medieval culture we visited is the Manasija fortress, founded in the 15th century, with monastery, church and 'school', famous for handwritings.
Another place of interest, at least for the Serbs, is the Karadjordjevic estate in Topola, where most members of the royal family are buried in the church catacomb. The effort given to keep historic places in good condition is impressive.
It was my first non-cyber contact with Yugoslavia. It will not be the last. JJ

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