retiredmartin

October 2023. Belgrade.

It was Mrs RM’s fault. It always is. After a 4am start at Luton Airport car park* and a thorough exploration of central Belgrade I was up for an early night and a catch-up on the blog, but on the way for a look behind Skadarska for a Chinese takeaway,

Mrs RM spotted Etta James in a ramshackle car park with a pizza hut at the front.

Couldn’t resist a bit of blues.

Bluz I Pivo, which even you can translate, was promising live music from 19:30, though taking the last unreserved table at 19:17 we couldn’t help but notice there was no-one else in.

Time for some Serbian wine, decides Mrs RM (she’s the female Ron Pattinson, isn’t she ?).

Nice clear pricing in Serbia. £2.65 your wine, £2.87 your “craft”.

We’ll overlook the fact the names on the menu aren’t the same as on the label.

And the fact it’s those mini bottles you get from supermarkets.

Still, 13% eh ?

It’s really good wine, and the only problem is that Dragan Calina doesn’t arrive on the little stage for an hour, forcing us to have a second glass.

Very unwisely, I switched back to beer (Hog’s NEIPA) at this point. Big mistake, huge.

Dragan entertains us with jazzy versions of the classics, though his own quartet seems to have a bit more originality.

The toilet art seems to have been nicked from Pristina.

though here you get loo poetry.

Well, the Gents do, I’ve no idea what Ladies get.

And I’m not sure I want to know.

We left early and had a slice of veggie pizza for a quid from the hut run by two formidably grumpy old ladies,

and promised we wouldn’t make an early start in the morning.

*Sheer coincidence that Luton car park burnt down the day after we arrived home. I hope.