Two weekends ago it was Belgrade Beer Fest and even though a couple of friends told us not to get too excited, that it was nothing to write home about, we still made plans to check it out thinking of it as sort of a dress rehearsal for Oktoberfest. Well, we liked it so much on Friday night that we decided to go back again on Saturday AND then again on Sunday.
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| The food stations, just two choices: Pljeskavica or Sausages |
Beer Fest consisted of about 25 beer tents, including a Mexican themed one selling dos equis, corona and the like, 5 giant food stalls, a stage with local bands with the TV screen, all set-up in a ginormous field where people could walk around and visit the tents along the confluence of the two rivers (Usce).
The great surprise element - and what became the main source of fun and entertainment- was the unadvertised carnival inside the fest. State Fair-like rides were all set up in one side of the field bringing together families, college kids and the occasional tourist. Given, I'm pretty sure most of them were decommissioned in the US back in the early nineties and then re-sold to various second/third world countries before making it into Serbia..but nevertheless, we still rode in them. Because really? What are the odds that you pick the exact ride, exact seat, date and time when it's going to fall apart? I figured that if it was my time to die, then there was nothing I could do about it.
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| Really fast but close to the ground, it seemed like the safest alternative |
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| I nicknamed this one "the spaceship" it seemed harmless, until it lifted up to the sky and started rotating like crazy |
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| Me and Phil cheering to our survival |
The 4-in-1 picture is courtesy of my new friend M. who is new to Belgrade and is clearly a more talented photographer than I am. You might think I'm pretty fearless, but the truth is that I am a total scared-y cat when it comes to getting on those rides. It took a lot of pleading from Phil and many hesitant looks and "waiting moments" to get me on that Speedy. Phil and our Saturday group were way more enthusiastic; especially K. who happily rode with Phil on the spaceship and some other evil-looking ones. We all put our foot down when it came to the whole circle-upside-down pirate ship. It was really funny, though, that some of the rides had typical American propaganda like a cartoon of Uncle Sam and a bald eagle.
The second highlight after the rides, was the BLUEBERRY beer. Most of the people in our group thought it was too sweet, but we really liked it. For me it was the perfect combination between a beer and a cocktail, not too bitter, not too sweet; not too filling but not too strong. We spent most of our time in that tent, the Black Turtle, and then walking around a little bit through the other carnival -like games. On Friday, my friend V proved to be really good at darts; she was able to get a pin in the bulls eye and two others on the circle right outside of it, which I was sure it would get her a semi-decent prize (except, really, there weren't any, except one ALF doll that we lobbied for to no avail), but the man just gave her a super pathetic mini-doll, the kind that you would get from a 25cent vending machine. Then I guess he felt really bad for me, because I tried to play another game, throwing tennis balls to some tins and literally made a complete ass of myself, missing every tin. He still gave me a consolation prize of another awful looking thing that I gave away immediately.
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| V squared and our fabulous prizes |
Last but not least, we are still enjoy some great produce with the last months of summer. Here I am with a giant stack of green onions.
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| Greeeeen Giant! |
2 comments:
Now we have a brutal censorship in the best manner of the "FIRST WORLD" "democracies" (what a rinsed word).
Yes, we are a fourth world country and will leave our caves once in a while to ride that state of the art contraptions generously provided to us by our western deities.
But like it or not, pathetic 200 or so yrs history of your nation is coming to an end very very soon, crumbling and rotting from within. The only problem is that you're trying to pull many more into the abyss with you, like a dying evil hydra.
Hitler was a small child for your ruling elite and sooner your people realize that, it will be better for them. But for now you are all blinded by an egomaniacal trip and superiority complex.
I wish you all the best because you probably don't know what you're doing and for whom.
Dude, Petar, I don't know what to say. I think you are being waaay harsh and taking this the wrong way. I really enjoy Serbia and have a ton of respect for the people and the customs, the whole 2nd world thing is just a matter of speech. After all, I grew up in a little island in the Caribbean, which is no more or less developed than here. It's not a competition. as for the US going down..i see that you have been watching the Republican National Convention. What can I say? I might agree with you.
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