We take a 50 minute plane ride from the Brovneck to Zagreb, that's right, 50 minutes.
Hang out in Zagreb for a bit, then the usual 8 hour train ride back to Belgrade.
I ran into some slum dog millionaire gypsy children and laughed as they tried to steal
something from the vendor and watched closely.
The women are still beautiful and the food is still the best.
I wanted to explore Belgrade a little more. Belgrade is the capital and the largest city
of Serbia. The city lies on the confluence of the Sava and the Danube rivers, where the
Paninonian plain meets the Balkans. Belgrade has a population of 1,630,000 estimated in
2007.
Its name in Serbian means white city. I could have told you that being that I'm the only black
person for miles. The Cathedral of Saint Sava is the largest Orthodox Cathedral in the Balkans
and one of the largest Orthodox cathedrals in the world. The church is dedicated to Saint Sava,
founder of the Serbian Orthodox Church and an important figure in medieval Serbia.
More nice girls and more people looking at me than we move from beauty to destruction.
These buildings were destroyed by NATO and US forces in 1999 for Belgrade's non-compliance
regarding the events in Kosovo. Seeing this and remembering the many stories Gova told me about
war, losing her home, worrying about her family, started to play in my mind like an old black and
white war documentary. People scared, people running. I mean how can one country do this to
another country with innocent civilians caught in a crossfire? We continue to move through
the city with Dane, Gogol's brother and proud escort.
The city has some underrated beautiful buildings and an extensive history.
One dating back to the largest prehistoric culture in Europe, the Vinča culture as early as
six millennium BC. We made our way to Belgrade's makeshift beach to Ada, which hosts thousands
of visitors each summer. We sat down for coffee and was presently surprised by a famous Serbian
celebrity, Milan Kalaner. She was about to perform a leap of faith.
Milan and his co-host Catherine host one of the first reality television formats in Serbia called
All for Love. It is a prime time show with the reach of 2 million 1028 viewers.
The new season produced by Ping deals with sincere emotions, true stories,
romantic marriage proposals, a spectacular statement of love, the story of unbreakable friendship,
family strength, first loves, divorce and many other unusual stories of ordinary people just
wanting to see how far they will go all for love. We watched as this guy climbed to the top. Is he
really gonna jump? I guess so.
Ah
She's going to be a bit drunk.
How are you?
I'm fine.
She's going to be a bit drunk.
She's going to be a bit drunk!
She's going to be a bit drunk!
Good job, honey.
Bye.
I thought I was a bit drunk.
But I am a bit.
She's a bit drunk.
I don't know how to say it.
I can't say it.
The next day we hopped on a cruise ship, myself, Goga, Lubin, Yagura and Dane.
On board the ship I ran into a Twitter Facebook friend of mine, Carl Hodgberg, who wrote a
column about me last year called Black Hip Hopper in Belgrade, which was featured in
the online magazine Serbius Ambassador to the World.
I mean, really, what are the chances of us running into each other here?
Must be destiny.
The Serona ship was built in the year 1980 and belonged to the government of West Germany.
Many important persons, including heads of states, Maradona the soccer superstar and
tennis ace Novak Dokovic.
Many government ministers as well as prime ministers and the president of Serbia have
all crews aboard the Serona, many of them more than once.
Serona is frequently chartered by embassies, prestigious foreign and local companies and
banks as well as government ministries and agencies for their receptions and promotions.
It's an enjoyable 90-minute sightseeing cruise along the Kalemagda Fortress downstream toward
Darkhole and Pensevo Bridge, upriver to Zemun and Gardos and back to Port.
Feminately settled by the Serbs from the 7th century onwards, it was a strategic location
so the city was battled over in 115 wars and razed to the ground 44 times since the ancient
period by countless armies of the East and West.
In medieval times, it was in the possession of the Byzantine, Frankish, Bulgarian, Hungarian
and Serbian rulers.
That was our beautiful host.
Jagada was quite upset because the boat wasn't going to sail near Zemun, which she really
wanted me to see.
The host came towards quite a few times during the cruise to calm us down from all the hell
Jagada was raising.
In 1521, Belgrade was conquered by the Ottomans and became the seat of the Paschalaka Belgrade
as the principal city of Ottoman Europe and among the largest European cities.
Only passing from Ottoman and Austrian rule which saw destruction of most of the city,
the status of Serbian capital would be regained only in 1841 after the Serbian Revolution.
Northern Belgrade though remained a Habsburg outpost until the breakup of Austria-Hungary
in 1918.
The city then became the capital of several incarnations of Yugoslavia up to 2006 when
Serbia became an independent state again.
Wow, never mind the history lesson.
More beautiful growth from Belgrade, now they're dancing.
Okay, so in Belgrade
I learned that a man's home really is his castle.
What makes a country beautiful is not solely defined by all the pretty buildings, but
by the people who make up the city.
Zagreb taught me the importance of the relationship between the young and the old generation.
Back in Toronto, the lack of respect on both sides is evident.
Orvieto and Ferrara showed me the importance of storytelling, myth or truth passed down
through generations to find a community, it gives us something to believe in, something
to take pride in.
The Vatican
From talking to many people, for the amount of people who love the Pope, there are similar
amount of people who can't stand what the Vatican stands for.
Believe what you will, but there is a definite overwhelming energy, and like myself, you
will definitely feel it.
Roma, go big or go homo.
The Basilicas, the monuments, the Colosseum, the history, it is what it is man, I mean
the city is truly remarkable, so much history, so much art, whatever you do, do it from the
heart and do it well so it stands the test of time, build your own legacy.
The city of Venice really does flow, it's about resilience, maybe it's a solution for
global warming, maybe it's a place to don a mask and not be concerned about your social
class, we are all equal.
The walls of the Brovenet kept trouble out and kept the beauty in, I guess for some
the walls are like prison walls, and a town so big and full of tourists, it's still possible
to feel alone, I was reminded of humanity both in the Brovenet and Zaten Mali.
One final supper, fresh land killed in the morning, put on a stick and slow cooked all
day in time for dinner.
I boarded the plane in Belgrade to head back to England, in between stops it took some
time out for a quick photo shoot with some fans, then it's back to Toronto.
I arrived in Toronto only to get stopped at customs, they wanted to take my cigarettes
away, so after paying 90 dollars I got to keep them, I guess there's no better way
to say welcome home.
Thank you for watching, see you in the next one.
