Highlights of Serbia

This complex country was a former region of Yugoslavia.   It was ruled by the Ottoman
Turks for 500 years which is evident in its culture today.  Belgrade has been destroyed and rebuilt 44 times due to various  battles over the centuries.

Belgrade, the capital

 During World War II, Yugoslavia

was united under the strong leadership of Josip Broz Tito.  I have learned a lot about Tito in the last couple of days.  Evidently,  he was a charismatic leader who managed to get favorable attention from both the Communist and "free" world, walking a tight rope no other leader was able to do. This allowed Yugoslavia to enjoy a "velvet" Communism that many of our generation miss here.

Typical apartment building

After Tito's death in 1980, the Yugoslav confederacy broke apart with each region declaring its independence, often with bloody civil wars.  The scars of the 1990's are still open wounds in many people's minds and the physical evidence is easy to see.

Because the vast majority of people live in apartments, towns/cities have lovely green spaces