[Tuesday/Wednesday] Today we took an Uber to George Bush Airport and at 6:05 pm we took United UA 46, a Boeing B777-200, from IAH terminal E, gate 7 to FRA. We arrived next morning in Frankfort at 11:15 am CEST. Our connection to BEG was on Lufthansa LH 1412 (sold as UA 9399) from Frankfort to Nikola Tesla Airport in Belgrade, Serbia. We departed from Terminal 1 gate B27 at 2:10 pm on an Airbus A319-100.

< Our flight to Frankfort.

In Belgrade, we had prearranged for a ride to the Hotel Moskva in the middle of the downtown. It turned out that we got stuck in a very long slow line at customs and it took about 45 minutes to get through it. Our driver waited for us and he got us to the hotel at 5:30 pm.

< Hotel Moskva. < View from our room.

[Thursday] Today at 10:00am, we took a private Belgrade 3-Hour Walking Tour. The pink font is tour information provided by the tour company.

Belgrade 3-Hour Walking Tour

---------

During the tour we learned some interesting information about the current unstable political situation in Serbia. Serbia is currently experiencing its largest wave of anti-government protests in years.

The Catalyst: The mass movement began following a tragic incident in November 2024, when a newly renovated railway station canopy collapsed in the city of Novi Sad, killing 16 people. The tragedy sparked widespread public fury, with citizens alleging deep-seated corruption, state negligence, and a complete lack of institutional accountability.

The Student Movement: For over 18 months, student-led groups have been at the forefront of these demonstrations, successfully maintaining momentum and capturing national attention.

Demands and Concessions: While the protests forced notable political concessions—including the resignation of Prime Minister Milos Vucevic and the mayor of Novi Sad in January 2025—protesters maintain that their core demands remain unmet. They are actively pushing for institutional reforms and early parliamentary elections, arguing that current state institutions are too compromised to function impartially.

It is impossible to get close to the presidential palace because it is surrounded by a barricade with hundreds of people camping in Pioneer Park which borders the building. Those people present one of the most bizarre and highly visible illustrations of the deep political polarization in Serbia today. While you might expect a campsite directly outside an autocratic leader's office to belong to anti-government protesters, this camp is actually the exact opposite: it was set up by President Vucic's own loyalists to act as a pro-government installation.

The Setup: By physically occupying the park directly facing the presidential presidency building with tents, fences, and mobile toilets, the ruling party created a literal buffer zone.

The "Human Shield": The primary tactical purpose of the camp is to prevent anti-government demonstrators from gathering directly under the president's windows or storming the building during large rallies. Whenever major opposition marches take place, rows of riot police in full gear deploy heavily around this specific camp to separate the two factions.

Escalating Tensions Ahead of Major Rallies: The area remains under heavy security as university students and civic groups organize massive new rallies across Belgrade. Riot police are heavily deployed around government buildings and the presidential palace to protect the complex. The government has repeatedly alleged that the protests are a Western-backed plot to overthrow the administration, while international observers are closely scrutinizing reports of excessive police force and arbitrary detentions of peaceful protesters.

As a result of this democratic backsliding, the European Union has threatened to freeze roughly 1.5 billion euros ($1.8 billion) in funding earmarked for Serbia, further escalating the stakes at the President's steps.

----------

Scenes from the tour:

< Barricades around President's Palace.

< Prince Mihailo Monument in front of the Serbian National Museum.

< Palace of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts

< Pedestrian street. < Belgrade Fortress.

< < Saint Michael's Cathedral.

At 1:00 pm our tour concluded. We returned to the hotel and relaxed for a while. We got our 10,000 steps in by 1:00pm.

We then walked through our historic hotel's hallways and saw photos they had posted of the many famous people (such as Albert Einstein, Richard Nixon and King Hussein) that stayed here. The famous Italian tenor, Luciano Pavarotti, stayed in our room 118. A cleaning lady showed us another room that was a 2-story room that had a stair between the sitting area and the bedroom. The hotel is 120 years old and the architecture is very interesting.

About 4:30 pm we searched Google for a Serbian food restaurant and walked to one and had our first truly Serbian meal. It was good. We came back to the hotel and a little later had decaf coffee in the hotel restaurant. They have a person playing a piano in the restaurant all day long. Very nice.

[Friday] Today we decided after breakfast to go to the Church of Saint Sava. The church is a Serbian Orthodox church. It is the fourth largest Eastern Orthodox church in the world and one of the largest churches in the world by gross volume. The church is dedicated to Saint Sava, the first Serbian archbishop and the nation's patron saint. We rode bus 31 close to the church and walked to the church to discover that a great line of thousands of people were waiting to go in. We learned later that there was a religious relic there for a few days that was a big deal for the church members. We did not wish to spend the rest of the day in the line.

< Church of Saint Sava.

We walked to the Nikola Tesla Museum and found out that we couldn't get into it until about 3 o'clock. They limit the number of people because it is a small building.We decided to come back another day.

< Nikola Tesla Museum.

We walked to Saint Mark Church and were able to go inside and visit. The church is an Eastern Orthodox church. It is dedicated to Mark the Evangelist and is situated in the Tasmajdan park, near the House of the National Assembly.

< < Saint Mark Church.

We walked past the President's Palace but couldn't go inside because of the political situation (as described above).

We walked back to the hotel and rested for a while. Afterwards, we went across the street to a coffee shop for coffee.

< House of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia.

< < Some of the beautiful buildings in Belgrade.

At 8:00 pm, we rode the bus to attend the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra's performance. It featured pianist Jan Lisiecki playing Beethoven's Concerto for piano and orchestra No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37.

After the intermission, the orchestra played Robert Schumann's Symphony No. 1, Op. 38 in B flat major, Spring. It was very enjoyable in a beautiful setting.

< Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra.

[Saturday] Today is a day of protests by students against the government. We found out from the front desk that it was to begin about 6:00 pm tonight.

After breakfast we took the bus a couple of stops and walked to the Nikola Tesla Museum for the 10:00 am tour. The tour was crowded but interesting. It lasted for about an hour.

< < Nikola Tesla Museum.

We then decided to go to the Museum of Yugoslavia. Along the way to the museum, we stopped at the Church of the Ascension Orthodox Church and went inside.

< < Ascension Orthodox Church.

We then rode a bus to The Museum of Yugoslavia and toured it. It was mostly about the country during the term of Josip Broz, commonly known as Tito, president of the country for about 30 years until his death.

< < Museum of Yugoslavia.

< Tito's grave.

In a separate building were two temporary exhibits. One of Italian comics and the other of the Holocaust. It made you aware again about the brutality of the Nazis and German people that supported them.

< Part of Holocaust exhibit.

We rode the bus back to the hotel. On the way back, we saw all the police clustered around the presidential palace, with their riot gear, waiting for the protest to begin about 6:00 pm today. Out the window of the hotel we saw hundreds of people passing by heading to the protest.

After resting for a while, we walked to a halal restaurant and had some good middle eastern food at Gurme Doner Kebab.

Back at the hotel we had decaf lattes in the hotel cafe. We walked a little further down the street and saw one of the places where the police were blocking the street.

< Police blocking street. < Protest captured from YouTube.

[Sunday]This morning we walked to the nearby Farmer's market "Zeleni venac" and looked around. Lots of good looking fresh produce. We bought a bag of walnuts.

< Zeleni venac market.

We then walked into Kosancicev Venac, a nearby neighborhood. We stopped at the Cathedral Church of Saint Michael the Archangel and went inside. They were in the process of performing an infant baptism, and we watched it.

< < Cathedral Church of Saint Michael the Archangel.

Afterwards we walked through Uzun Markova, a pedestrian shopping street on the way back to our hotel where we rested for a while.

We then walked to the bus stop and rode the bus to the Zenum area of Belgrade. We climbed up countless steps to the top of a steep hill where Gardos Tower is located. The Gardos Tower (Millennium Tower) is a 118-foot historic monument built in 1896 by the Austro-Hungarian Empire to mark a thousand years of Hungarian settlement. It sits atop the ruins of an ancient medieval fortress with panoramic views of the Danube River and Belgrade. We didn't climb more stairs to the top of the tower lookout. We decided to go to the Pub next to the tower and have cold coffee drinks. It's hot this afternoon. The sun is bright.

< < < Scenes along the way.

< < Gardos Tower.

< View of Belgrade and Danube from the top.

We walked down all the steps to Hram Svetog Oca Orthodox Church and went inside where they were just finishing up on a baby baptism.

< < Svetog Oca Orthodox Church.

We then walked a short distance to Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Catholic Church. We went into the entrance, but we were not able to go completely inside because the church was closed.

< < Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Catholic Church.

We walked across the plaza from the church to a restaurant and had a delicious dinner. We then rode the bus back to the hotel and watched a delayed performance of the Houston Symphony's Saturday night concert on our phone.

[Monday]This morning we checked out of the hotel and our ride to the airport picked us up at 9:45 am for our 1:15 pm Air Serbia flight 602 on an ATR 72-600 aircraft to Zagreb, Croatia. Going through security and customs was very quick leaving the country. The flight was on a small turboprop aircraft. It was a smooth and comfortable flight.

< < Our Air Serbia flight.

Of interest: as we rode the bus to our airplane, we passed by a big triple decker truck loaded with sheep. There were cargo containers with some sheep in them, obviously waiting to get loaded on their flight.

Landing in Zagreb, we were entering the European Union for the rest of our journey. Serbia is not a part of the EU.

We arrived on time to Zagreb and took a taxi to the Hotel Dubrovnik. We checked in and relaxed in the room before dinner.

< Hotel Dubrovnik. < View of Ban Jelacic Square from our hotel room.

We walked around the pedestrian area and ate dinner at a the Kaptolska Klet Restaurant across from the Cathedral of Zagreb.

[Tuesday] At 10:00 am we met our Small Group Walking Tour of Zagreb. It lasted until 12:30 pm. Afterwards, went back to the hotel and relaxed.

Following in pink is information from the tour operator.

Walking Tour of Zagreb

Read more about - Walking tour of Zagreb - https://www.viator.com/tours/Zagreb/Zagreb-Walking-Tours/d5391-266389P1?mcid=56757

< The Baumgartner-Wasserthal House. < Zagreb Cathedral.

One of the places we saw was the Stone Gate. According to local tradition, a devastating fire in 1731 burned down the entire wooden structure except for a single painting of Mary holding the infant Jesus, which emerged completely undamaged from the ashes.

< Stone Gate. < Painting of Virgin Mary & Jesus.

We went past Saint Mark's Church, which was surrounded by barricades manned by police. It is closed to the public now. On October 12, 2020, a 22-year-old gunman carrying an automatic rifle approached the Banski dvori (the Croatian Government headquarters located directly next to the church) and opened fire. A police officer guarding the building was seriously wounded, and the attacker fled the scene and committed suicide shortly after. The event was officially classified as an act of lone-wolf terrorism driven by anti-establishment motives. Immediately following the shooting, the government designated St. Mark's Square as a Category 1 heavily guarded area, establishing permanent police checkpoints and security fencing to restrict pedestrian access.

< St. Mark's Church. < Lotrscak Tower

< < Tunel Gric

We decided to do a little shopping and looked for cargo shorts for Kay, because it so hot now. Europe is under a high pressure heat dome now and it is very sunny and hot during the day. You have to dress very cool to be comfortable outside in the afternoon. We didn't find anything for Kay at several stores we looked.

We went back to the hotel and relaxed. While we were there, we watched the Second Baptist Sunday service on YouTube, and Gary Thomas was visiting pastor.

We then rode the #12 tram to the Nikola Tesla Museum and went inside to visit. Both Serbia and Croatia have some claim to Tesla, and have museums.

< Nikola Tesla Museum.

Afterwards we came back to the hotel and then ate dinner at Koykan Restaurant. It was Asian fast food, but was pretty good.

[Wednesday] Today we started exploring on our own, starting next to our hotel and duplicating some of yesterday's tour. This morning we walked through Dolac Market, which our room at the hotel overlooks. Dolac Market is Zagreb's open-air farmers' market. Open daily, it features the city's iconic red umbrella stalls selling fresh, seasonal produce, while the indoor lower level offers fresh seafood, meats, and local cheeses.

< Dolac Market.

We then walked to the Cathedral of Zagreb, the church with all the scaffolding on the front, and went inside. The inside had scaffolding on one complete side, and all the inside walls were covered with plywood. It is being renovated from the earthquake of 2020 that toppled one of the front towers.

< < < Cathedral of Zagreb.

Then we walked nearby to the Monastery of Saint Francis of Assisi Church and went inside. It is a Franciscan monastery, one of the oldest in Croatia. According to an unconfirmed tradition, its foundation is linked to the stay of St. Francis in the region.

< < The Monastery of St. Francis of Assisi Church.

We walked through the Stone Gate again and on to the Church of Saint Mark. We walked all around the church looking to see if we could get closer to it, but it was taped and barricaded and no one was allowed to even get close to it.

We walked back to the hotel, doing some shopping along the way.

We relaxed in the hotel and then took the tram to the Croatian National Theatre. We bought tickets to the 7:30 ballet performance of Carmen. We found out about the performance in some of the displays we saw.

We then walked to the Chocolate Museum and visited. This was a must-see-site if I wanted to keep on the good side of Kay :)!

We then walked to the Zagreb Glavni Kolod Train Station. We wanted to check it out prior to using it for our ride to Ljubljana, Slovenia, in a few days. We rode a tram back to our hotel.

< Zagreb Glavni Kolod Train Station

For dinner, we walked down the street and had pizza slices that were good.

At 6:30 pm we took the tram to the Croatian National Theatre and attended a double-bill ballet evening featuring Carmen alongside L'Arlesienne. It was a good experience.

< < < Croatian National Theatre.

[Thursday] We decided that we had seen all the closer sights in Zagreb and decided to ride the trams to different areas of town and get out and walk around places we think are interesting, and see where residents live. We started with #12 and rode to the end at Ljubljanica. We got out at each stop on the way back, and looked around the areas. It was interesting to see the variety of architecture.

It rained a little here last evening while we were in the ballet. It is cooler here today, still nice and sunny. We came back to the hotel and enjoyed a complimentary latte in the hotel coffee shop.

We see guys on bicycles doing food deliveries in abundance everywhere. Wolt is the most popular.

We rode to Dubrava on the #11 tram. We didn't go to the end of the line. We turned around and started going back towards the hotel, getting off at some stops that looked interesting.

As we arrived back at our hotel, out on the square they were having a big event called Cest is d' Best Zagreb. Cest is d' Best (a playful spin on the Croatian word for street, "cesta", making it mean "Street is the best") is the oldest and most famous international street festival in Croatia.

< < Cest is D' Best.

After we returned to the hotel, we walked to a traditional Croatian restaurant and ate our final dinner in Zagreb.

[Friday] Today we checked out of our hotel at 9:30 am and took a taxi to the train station for our 10:34 am train to Ljubljana, Slovenia. The train rode along the banks of the Sava River through very scenic steep mountains on both sides of the river. When we got to Ljubljana, there didn't appear to be a train station. We got off the train and had to pull our luggage along a gravel road for about 1/4 mile to the street. A lot of construction was being done on a new train station. It was a strage entrance to Ljubljana.

< Our colorful train. < View from the train.

Once we got to the streets, we requested a Uber to take us to the Best Western Premier Hotel Slon in the heart of the old town. "Slon" means elephant in Slovenian. The hotel is named in honor of a historic event from 1552, when the Archduke Maximillian of Austria stayed at an inn on this exact site while bringing an exotic African elephant back from Spain as a wedding gift.

< Best Western Premier Hotel Slon

After getting checked in, we walked to where our symphony performance will be held tonight. We had bought tickets before we left on the trip from home.

We then went to a Chinese restaurant near our hotel and ate dinner.

At 6:45 pm we left the hotel and walked to the Cankarjev Dom, where the performance of Brez Zavor (Slovenian for "No Brakes") by the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra was held. It was a little difficult to locate the performance hall in a very large building. The French cellost, Jean-Guihen Queyras was the soloist. The performance was excellent, and we walked back to hotel afterwards.

< < Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra.

[Saturday] This morning after breakfast, we walked through the old town to the Dragon Bridge. There were many beautiful buildings on our walk along the Ljubljana River. A festival is going on in one of the areas next to the river. After walking in the area, we returned to the hotel.

< Preseren Square. < Triple Bridge. < Dragon Bridge.

< Colorful! < Even more colorful Vurnik House.

At 12:00 pm we took our Viator scheduled walking tour of the city. It was the Ljubljana boat cruise and walking tour. It started out walking in the old town and hearing a little history of the city and country. After a while we took the river cruise up and down the Ljubljanica River. We ended our tour at the top of a tower where we ate dessert with a good view of the city.

Following in pink is information from the tour company:

Ljubljana boat cruise and walking tour.

< < Central Market.

< < < < Scenes from the tour.

After returning to our hotel and resting for a while, we wandered around the city and ate dinner about 5:00 pm.

< Police Directorate Ljubljana building.

< < < Scenes from our walk.

Afterwards we walked to the funicular that goes up the mountain and went up to Ljubljana Castle. In a little over an hour, we saw pretty much everything up there and came back to the hotel and drank some decaf coffee.

< Funicular to castle. < Ljubljana Castle

< View of Ljubljana from castle.

< < < Inside the castle.

After that, we walked a block to where the closing concert of the 20th Festival "Play With Me" was taking place on the large outdoor temporary stage that had been set up. Lots of people were there for the free concert, featuring a symphony orchestra.

< "Play with Me".

[Sunday] This morning we rode a #14 bus to the Brdo district of Ljubljana, and walked around the area in the suburbs. It is an area of homes starting at about $450,000. We wanted to get an idea of neighborhoods where locals live. After about an hour we took the bus back to the hotel.

< < < Typical homes we saw.

After resting for a while, we decided to take a bus to Bled for the afternoon. We rode a city bus to the Ljubljana bus station and bought tickets and boarded the bus to Bled. It was a scenic drive in the countryside. We left Ljubljana at 1:15 pm and arrived in Bled at about 2:00 pm.

< Ljubljana bus station.

< Along the way to Bled. < Our bus at the Bled bus station.

We walked along the edge of Lake Bled to where you buy tickets for the boats to Bled Island, where the famous Church of the Assumption of Mary is located. Unfortunately, the boat pilot said that there was a thunderstorm coming, so we should come back after it passed. We went to a cafe nearby and ate the equivalent of a small pizza while we waited for the storm to pass.

< Bled Castle and St. Martin's Church. < Bled Island

After we finished our snack, we walked down to the lake again, but the weather was not improving. We went up and sat in the Park Hotel lobby for about an hour until the storm finally passed and it stopped raining.

Since it was getting later in the day, we decided to walk to nearby Saint Martin's Church and went inside. We didn't plan to go up to Bled Castle because you have to walk up the steep mountainside to it.

< < Saint Martin's Church.

We then went to the bus station to catch a bus back to Ljubljana and there was a crowd waiting for the next bus. We were not able to get on the first bus, but another bus came shortly and we were able to get onto it. After we arrived in Ljubljana, we went to a nearby restaurant to eat dinner.

[Monday] This morning it was raining some, so we planned to take our umbrellas when we went out. It stopped by 10:00 am so we rode a bus out a ways to see if we could see anything interesting. We didn't find anything of great interest, so we took a bus back to the old town. We wandered about in the old town and saw some interesting buildings. At about 1:00 pm we went back to the hotel for a while. The weather was cool today - the high was 73.

< You see a lot of this. < Ljubljana River.

< National & University Library < < Interesting buildings.

At 2:30 pm we rode a bus to a different part of the outskirts. We went to mostly a large shopping district, with department stores and IKEA. After walking around some, we took the bus back to the hotel.

At 4:30 pm we walked to a restaurant and ate dinner. We didn't have any trouble with the rain today, except when we were in the restaurant eating dinner, it came a rain shower. We walked back to the hotel.

[Tuesday] Today we got up early at 3:15 am and had a taxi pick us up at the hotel at 4:00 am to take us to the airport. We checked in at Lufthansa and went through security quickly. At 5:00 am the Lufthansa Business Lounge opened and we went in and had some breakfast.

We boarded the Lufthansa flight LH 1463 at 6:30 am, an Airbus A319-100 aircraft, for the 6:55 am departure to Frankfort.

< Landing in Frankfort.

We arrived at 8:20 am in Frankfort and rode a bus from the aircraft to the airport terminal. We walked a long distance in the airport terminals to gate Z62 for our 10:00 am flight to Houston. We flew Lufthansa LH 0440 on a Boeing B747-400 to Houston. Ten and a half hours later, we arrived in Houston at 1:35 pm and took a Uber ride back home.

< Our plane to Houston.

This draws to a close our visit to the Balkans. We hope you enjoyed the photos and brief descriptions of our activities. God willing, join us again soon for another travel adventure.

Goodbye for now,

Lawson & Kay

Oh come, let us sing to the Lord! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. For the Lord is the great God, And the great King above all gods. In His hand are the deep places of the earth; The heights of the hills are His also. The sea is His, for He made it; And His hands formed the dry land. (Psalm 95:1-5 NKJV)