Day 6 - Belgrade

We woke up and ventured out to find some breakfast.  The book had recommended a place called Biblioteka that sounded really neat and so we went out to find it.  Unfortunately it is now a Mexican restaurant so we decided to go to the place next door which turned out to be amazing.  No idea what it was called, but the food was yum!

Now...temperatures were supposed to hit 40 degrees today, so that did not leave a lot of options for what to do today.  That was way to hot to do sightseeing, so we asked around and found out where locals go to beat the heat.  The answer: Ada Lake.

We hit up a store for some towels, had already packed up bathing suits, so we hopped into a cab and headed for the lake.  It was a bit of a walk from the drop off point to where all the action was...but once we got there..wow! Awesome!  Hard to describe this place, its basically a long river/lake and you can down one side of the other.  We went down the side closest to us and you walk along until you come upon all of these little outdoor restaurants with huge areas of lounge furniture and with umbrellas.  They are just one after another with music pumping.  We stationed ourself in front of one of the water access areas that was also right beside a playground and had table service + lounge furniture.  It was the perfect trifecta.  The kids swam, the kids played, we ordered beers and read books and ate and swam and generally just had a lovely day.  There was a nice breeze off the water and although it was hot, being next to the lake and under the cover of the umbrella, made the day totally manageable.  We just had a great relaxing day among the locals.

Around 4-4:30 we decided it was time to head back to clean up and get ready for dinner.  After a brief rest and after cleaning up, we headed out to eat.

We got another recommendation for dinner to a place tucked away in an alley at the back of a very generic looking building.  It was a beautiful outdoor garden with a fountain.  We had an amazing dinner consisting of salads, sausages, kabobs etc. and then headed back to the apartment to put the kids to bed.

I had read about the amazing night life in Belgrade and even though the boys had been going out a lot at night, Dave and I had yet to hit the night scene ourselves.  Tonight was the night!  We waited for Ivana (the lady at the hostel) to be off at 11pm and she took us out.  The first place we went to was a really cool nightclub set in the outside courtyard of an abandoned building turned nightclub.  The cool DJ from Peru was playing some kind of weird house music that I have no way of describing...but it was cool and edgy.  Ivana told us how about 10 years ago, it was decided to start putting all the abandoned buildings to better use with music/nightclubs etc.  These are literally falling down buildings, they are raw and unfinished with crumbling walls, yet they are now a vital piece of the incredible nightlife here in Belgrade.  I was amazed at how this place came to life in the most unusual places. 

After this club, we headed along the water for about 15mins to one of the music boats. A jazz boat with live music, swings, teeter totters and lounge seating.  It was really a neat atmosphere.  A large spider dropped on my lap and scurried down my leg...and we left soon after...not because of the spider of course, but because us aging parents can't stay up all night and then drive with three young children...that would be sooo irresponsible.