What I Learned in Serbia

Here are five things I learned during my maiden visit to Serbia last week:

1. If you are a non-smoker or a vegetarian, you are going to suffer. A colleague likened the no-smoking sections in Serbian restaurants to a swimming pool with a no-pissing zone. Grim but true.

2. There is no such thing as a light meal in Serbia. If you weren’t already full of burek and cevapi by dinner time, vast platters of grilled meats, potato based accompaniments and mountains of fermented cabbage will ensure total satiation by the time you leave the table. The only solution is rakija. Or claiming to be a vegetarian.

3. If you thought you understood some Serbo-Croat words and phrases, the level of difficulty doubles in Serbia because the official alphabet is Cyrillic. Both Cyrillic and Latin script are used interchangeably. So if you didn’t learn Russian at school, good luck.

4. The locals adore aromatic grape varieties. Tamjanika, aka Muscat a Petit Grains and Traminac aka Gewürztraminer are planted all over the country and much enjoyed by all. They are rapidly gaining in popularity as orange wines too.

5. Serbia’s best Tamjanika isn’t commercially available. From winemaker Milan Kostic, this beautifully pure, aromatic and citrus fresh delight is made in such minute quantities that it’s not for sale. Except if you go to the winebar Proces in Belgrade, where it’s available by the glass. At least for the next five minutes.

Here is the big question I wanted to answer:

Why does the largest ex-Yugoslavia nation, with one