The Curious World Traveller

This year I’m exploring the Balkan countries a bit more and decided to start in Bucharest and then heading over to Belgrade and from there head over to the Kosovo afterwards. For me, the main stereotype I heard is how poor this part of Europe is and I barely know anybody who was there yet either therefore I was eager to see how it is for myself. But let's start of with the basics as per usual: How to get to Pristina  Pristina is the capital of the Kosovo. The Kosovo is a quite controversial country in Eastern Europe because it's not considered a country in all countries of the world. This goes back when the whole area was better known as Yugoslavia which are now all individual countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia). Kosovo was technically part of Serbia but declared its own independence back in 2008. Several hundred countries recognize it but Serbia for example doesn't. Because of that it's actually not as easy t...

Are you heading to Belgrad and don't know what to do and see there? Good thing is that Belgrade really isn't a big city - you'll get around quick and easy! I was there in March of 2026 as part of a trip across several Balkan countries and here is what I believe you should know. First things first... Belgrade is the capital of Serbia, a fairly "young" country considering that is has only been independent since 2006. Before that it was part of the (first Socialist then only) Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. As of April 2026 it's estimated to be home of 6,6 million people who are fairly young on average too (44.7 years!) - 1.1 million of which are living in Belgrade. Their currency is the Serbian Dinar (RSD) and though it's very easy to get around with your Visa and Mastercard (or other brands) due to their history it's not as easy for the people there to open up a bank account for the same online banks you might know or even use their accounts to connect ...