Roadtripping some of the Balkans a travelogue

[poly800rock]

From June 21st - July 5th, 2 of my friends and I went to the Balkans. I knew from the get go, this trip would be lip service to the countries/cities, but with this little time, I wanted to pack in some serious action

So technically, my trip did not begin in the Balkans. It began in Budapest, Hungary. Well it began on an outbound flight from JFK to Dublin, then to Budapest. As fate would have it, the Dublin flight was overbooked, and we graciously volunteered our economy class seats to Dublin for 3 first class seats and a $400 voucher for a direct flight to Budapest (which is where we needed to be anyways). The only drawback being the Budapest flight we got put on was minutes before our Dublin flight and our bags would greet us in Budapest at a later date.

We arrived in Budapest some 12 hours before we were supposed to be there, promptly dropped off our bags at the hostel and went for a leisurely stroll down the River Danube, which cuts Buda and Pest in half.

I'm fairly used to traveling Southeast Asia now. I haven't been to Europe in about 10 years and I'm not used to kids skateboarding on paved roads and every corner block being tagged up like it is.

Budapest reminds me a lot like Singapore in the sense it has many/most of the western luxuries without doing much effort on your part. Westernization is in full effect in this city with Burger Kings and Pizza Hut's aplenty. It is a great jumping off point for those who want to travel further east or south. I'm not going to even lie here, personally, I'm not exactly the authority for Budapest. There is a user on styleforum that listed a ton of great places to go while in the city, unfortunately for me, the first class trip over resulted in my bag being lost for 2 days in Dublin and me being stressed about it for basically the entire time I was there. Thus, I didn't have exactly the best time I could have had.

near the oktogon

The one thing we did do before we left the city was enjoy a nice Hungarian bath house. Bath houses are to Hungarians as baseball games are to Americans I guess, and there are plenty to be found for cheap. It's a very relaxing and worthwhile experience to try out all the different pools and water.

[poly800rock]

So, basically, as I said, our original route was to take the train from Budapest to Sarajevo Bosnia (9:30AM train ride, 12 hour ride). Seeing as few days we had and us wanting some beach/island action, we unfortunately had to make the decision to cut out Sarajevo and go to Zagreb Croatia instead (8 hour train ride).

At about 10:30PM, we roll into Zagreb, Croatia. Another difference about this region is that it doesn't necessarily depend on tourism as the most significant aspect of their economy and well defined tourist paths aren't known to me as well as Vietnam or Thailand where hostels and guesthouses are aplenty. So we walked a bit to find a hotel to get a decent night's sleep, but they were charging 130Euro for a single and 190 for a double, which would leave our buddy out on the street. We walked a bit more and found a hostel with 3 beds in one room, shared bathroom for around $20 a night. We dropped our bags and walked the town that night looking for a watering hole to drink a bit to break up the aspect that we'd been confined to a train for the past 8 hours. For a city of a million people, and where almost ALL the Croats come to study, the streets were eerily empty. 28 days later empty. Eventually we see some girls and inquire about any bars open at the reasonable hour of 11:00PM. They were friendly enough, and said last call was at 12:00AM, and pointed us in the direction back towards the train station to a place which literally translates to "The Wrong Way." Wandering aimlessly in a night time in a city we've never seen or walked, the name of the bar was the pun of many poor jokes as we walked the quiet streets of Zagreb. Eventually we find the street and begin hearing the laughter and cheering of many happy Croats. We found the right place which was a huge open air bar. Honestly, the place reminds me a lot of the beer garden in Queens with imagine the Croatian hipsters/hippies of the Zagreb Williamsburg. Take that for what it is, we had a great time hanging out with overly friendly locals who introduced us to Ojusku and the amazing Thomaslav beers.

Unbeknownst to us, we happen to show up the day before "Dan antifašističke borbe". We kept inquiring about this strange holiday at the hostel, the most we could get out of the hostel owner was that it was an independence day where EVERYTHING in the city would be closed. As it turned out, Dan antifašističke borbe would literally translate to Anti-fascist struggle day. We woke up the next morning to try and find food, but everything was closed. We stumbled upon the center square, which had a huge parade. Old people were crying, young people cheering.

a quick wiki

Anti-Facist Struggle Day is a celebration in Croatia of the uprising of Croatian Antifascist partisans against German and Italian occupying forces in 1941 near Sisak, Croatia.

My buddy was pretty active in his couch surfing activities at his work and managed to get a few contacts in some of the places we went. In a poor attempt at Americans in Europe, we don't bother bringing our cell phones and resort to buying local phonecards trying to meetup with our host. She tells us to get the fuck out of the city center for the day and head over to Lake Jarun, where all the action is for the day. The local tram transferred to the local bus, we end up in a great relaxing breeze from the disgustingly humid city center. Unfortunately for us, we take our sweet ass time and our host and gal pals have left. We enjoy the afternoon drinking more Ojusku's and smoking Walter Wolf by the lake.

After the Eurocup game, we finally get a hold of her and head over to her place where she and 2 other friends are awaiting. This is where we learn of "Croatian drinking shorts" and Eastern European sarcasm at it's best. A good time of drinking and conversing ensues and we leave some happy campers.

At this point, I'm basically a downer. My dreams of Sarajevo had been slashed, and I'm trying to make the best of a great situation, but it's tough. We asked the girls, hands down, what is the one place to go in all of Croatia, as our plan is now take the train down country and end in Split. She basically said, everywhere in Croatia is beautiful, but that we MUST go to Sarajevo.

So after checkout at the hostel, we changed our plans and rented ourselves a Suzuki Swift and made our way out of Zagreb, destination Bosnia.

a quick note, the insurance for the car is not valid in Serbia or Montenegro. Also one bizzare note in the car rental agreement was that the car could not be returned in a condition "dirtier than usual," whatever the fuck that means, my car is pretty disgusting all of the time

[poly800rock]

A few years ago, my buddies and I rented some busted ass Nissan in Norway and drove from Oslo to Bergen. Since then, I'm pretty much convinced that driving through any foreign country at your own lesiure is the only way to really see that country. So we left Zagreb on the main highway toward the Croatia/Bosnia border at Slovanski Brod.

side note. I don't know what the fuck I expected from Bosnia. Go to any local bookstore, and you might probably find maybe 1 guidebook to Bosnia/Sarajevo. There are no Lonely Planet or Rough Guide books when I checked, and the thread on thorntree lonelyplanet about going to Bosnia is fairly bare, with threads from this year dropping off on the first page. I guess I expected maybe another Cambodia experience, a wild wild west aspect associated with any country at war only some 10 short years ago. My friend wanted to see one thing, some leveled buildings. As the Croatian customs glanced at our American passports and the Bosnian customs just waving our rental car into the wartorn countryside, immediatly over the bridge, you will see LEVELED buildings. Make sure to make note of the NATO cars/jeeps you pass as well. We were stuck behind one for a while.

.

On another side note, as going with Analyst's post about Poipet, this is another border in the world where you can just fall off the face of the earth. We did not get a stamp leaving Croatia nor did they even bother looking at our pictures going into Bosnia. If your goal in life is to disappear without a trace, S. Brod is a great place to do so.

The 5 highway is a 2 lane highway bringing us into Sarajevo. It is basically the only road we can take. In this Serbian dominated area of the country, all the signs are in Cyrillic, meaning we have no fucking clue where the hell we are taking this rental car on this bumfuck dirt road. Gradually, signs become Latin alphabet, and we are on our way to Sarajevo. Another sidenote, have some Euro's or Bosnian currency handy if you plan on speeding past the 60km speed limit. Bosnian cops are everywhere pointing their radar detectors waiting for you. If this does happen, the proper way to give a bribe (which is what they're looking for anywhere) is to just put 20km (local currency or converted to Euro) into your passport.

As you get closer and closer to Sarajevo, you'll begin to notice all the mosques and you begin to truely realize how much a vital city Sarajevo was in the ancient East/West trades. After some out of the blue toll booth, we're finally on our way into Sarajevo. The remaining scars of this country are probably most apparant on the road into and out of town. The leveled buildings are slowly replaced with bullet holes. EVERYWHERE. There are very few buildings without these scars and they range from like handguns to some serious machine gun shit.

I don't know enough about the war to begin speaking and writing at length about it. My knowledge of the war is the 1995 news broadcasts I can remember and what the locals have told me. What I do know is that the people of Sarajevo have come a long way to make this city truly a once in a lifetime opportunity. My expectations of a free wheeling gun land with no ATMs and no tourists are smashed when we drive into the old city/center of Sarajevo.

Instead of a town holding on to a scarred past, Sarajevo is surprisingly changing very quickly. There is a decent amount of hostels and cheap hotels just outside of the main square/old quarter to accomodate the growing number of tourists from Eastern Europe and other countries. English is spoken but not as widely as say a place like Thailand. We ended up paying ~40Euro for a 2 bed hotel room just off the square.

On the fifth of April, 1992, around Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which had about 500,000 inhabitants, around the city in the valley of the river Miljacka surrounded by mountains which made it the host of the 1984 Winter Olympics, in the very center of what was Yugoslavia, appeared: two hundred and sixty tanks, one hundred and twenty mortars, and innumerable anti-aircraft cannons, sniper rifles and other small arms. All of that was entrenched around the city, facing it. At any moment, from any of these spots, any of the arms could hit any target in the city. And they did, indeed--civilian housing, museums, churches, cemeteries, schools, libraries, and the places where the citizens stood in lines for bread and water. Everything became a target. All exits from the city, all points of entry, were blocked.

Every day the city was hit by hundreds, sometimes thousands, of shells. The agressor, The Yugoslav National Army aided by the local Serb forces, destroyed the Post Office and the city was left without telephones, its water, gas and electricity supply was cut. The food supply was fast disappearing. The cemeteries were expanding.

On February 26, 1996 by opening the northwest passage, i.e. by liberating the Vogosca and Ilijas districts, Sarajevo was preclaimed an open city. After the Dayton Agreement and the coming of the NATO (IFOR), the aggressor started to leave the occupied teritory around the city. They plundered, burnt and destroyed everything. On March 19, 1996 the aggressor left the last occupied district of the city.

10.615 persons, out of whom almost 2000 were children, were killed in Sarajevo. More than 50.000 persons were wounded, a great number of whom remain invalids. The siege of the city lasted from May 2, 1992 to February 26, 1996 or 1.395 days, which is the longest siege of a city in the history of modern warfare.

It's really hard to pinpoint what I loved about Sarajevo. I've run into a lot of people in my life that always tell me how great Prague is/was. Like it's this singular place in the world and they're the only people that have step foot there. I'm sure Prague is like no other city. But it's come to the point that I've talked to enough people who talk about Prague, that for me, I don't want to go there for fear of there being too many tourists. Maybe that's a completely ignorant statement, but my trips are few and far between these days and I have too little time and far too many places to travel. But that's the charm of Sarajevo. A former bustling city, a city where historically speaking (remnants of neanderthals are around this region), has been a swing city between the East and the West, where culture, religion and economics meet. Fuck, they hosted the 84 winter olympics here! I guess this is my Prague of the 21st century. Come now when the gettin's good, because I hate to think about how this place will be 10 years from now.

*side note- It might not be anywhere as the day before we left Croatia, the Bosnian government announced they were bankrupt.

*another side note, if you don't eat meat, these are tough towns to travel. very tough actually.

We met up with another friend and went out on the town. To a club, called, the club.

I left America a smoker, I came to sarajevo and a bosnian girl showed me how to smoke like a fucking man.

After a few days in Sarajevo, we packed our bags and left for Split Croatia. A drive that will take you up and down some serious fucking mountains and some breath taking valleys. The water run off from the mountains makes the water spectacular.

As we passed mostar, and deep within the heart of Herzogovina, instead of the illegible cyrillic, we are bombarded by Croatian flags, a sign of that we are getting close to the Croatian border crossing. As expected, we're waived on through by the Bosnian guard who doesn't even bother checking our passports, but we're stopped by the Croatian customs agents who begin giving us a very hard time as the border crossing we chose is pretty notorious for illegal drug smuggling. It's a bit sketchy to be an American in Bosnia, imagine 3 Americans, 2 white dudes and an asian kid trying to get through....After a handful of bag checks and interrogation, my buddy trying to explain what xanax was to the Croatian border control, they finally let us go. After being hassled by the one fellow, concerning my employment, school, etc. He finally let me go and said we're all good guys.

Next stop Split

*another side note. we were speaking to someone about going further east into the Belgrade who was turned away by their embassay. Seeing that the US embassay was recently bombed, it's probably a good idea for a few more months to avoid Serbia. Our Italian friend working in Serbia now reported how they were torching McDonalds there....so just a quick note

[poly800rock]

Split was basically a mind fuck. Other than passing some very nice looking towns on the 1 lane highways in, we arrived at around 10:30 and all we wanted to do was put our heads down to sleep and get ready for Zadar. Apartments can be rented for about 75 Euro for a 3 bedroom place, with AC and cable TV. The old center is pretty gnarly, and that's were all the ATM's and everything else you need are.

Next Stop ZADAR

We left Split pretty early, didn't do much of anything there, but needed to get to Zadar to head out to Pag. Zadar was empty on a Sunday

We drove out to Pag, which is deemed the "New Ibiza" and it's where all the young croatians go to party.

lOTS3xjQhkw

It was pretty crazy. Basically the beach doesn't shut down til sunrise. Maybe a bit much for me. Kind of what I picture the full moon party to be like. Maybe not.

The ride into town was pretty scenic, it's an island with more sheep than people, and the vegetation is pretty bare due to the sheep.

We ended up renting another apartment for like $43 Euro a night, a better deal than in Split for a far better place out in Novajla. For swimming, i'd suggest staying by Zyrce beach, as the rocks in Novajla are pretty crappy on the feet.

. Novajla had some of the most amazing seafood I have ever had, easily the best Mussels I've had.

After 3 days, we bid farewell and went to the airport at zadar to fly to western europe, to glasgow to be exact.

thanks for reading

[poly800rock]

one more..........

[englandmj7]

Oy! Where are the naked Eastern European girl pics ??!?!?

This is great by the way, keep it up!

[jl3969]

this is fantastic, +rep

[Analyst]

Poly,

What an amazing trip. This is exactly what JetSet should be about.

I've been wanting to explore Eastern Europe and the Balkans for a long time. At this point, I don't know when I'll be able to go. So kudos on making it out there and for documenting your trip with all the pics.

I'd love to catch up one day and get the unauthorized version of the trip as well

Overall, was it pretty safe traveling through the region?

Cheers + rep!

[Tisswat]

Good stuff, poly!

[Analyst]

Tisswat,

I haven't seen you around in long time. Where have you been?

[poly800rock]

Poly,

What an amazing trip. This is exactly what JetSet should be about.

I've been wanting to explore Eastern Europe and the Balkans for a long time. At this point, I don't know when I'll be able to go. So kudos on making it out there and for documenting your trip with all the pics.

I'd love to catch up one day and get the unauthorized version of the trip as well

Overall, was it pretty safe traveling through the region?

Cheers + rep!

I really didn't have any issues going around Croatia/Budapest at all. My buddy brought to our attention a shady guy in Sarajevo taking notice of us, but the most it could have been was a petty thug. The entire trip was very safe. Will update more later, i'm sorting through some 400 pics.

[Tisswat]

Tisswat,

I haven't seen you around in long time. Where have you been?

I had to deal with some real life stuff, so I haven't had much time for sufu lately. I still owe you a reply to your that email you sent back in Feb(!). Please bear with me. I may be paying you a visit later this year.

End of derail.

[Roflcopterpwnsyou]

I don't see any Wawas. F.

[poly800rock]

updated a bit........don't really need to do a report on glasgow and dublin.

[Analyst]

It's really hard to pinpoint what I loved about Sarajevo. I've run into a lot of people in my life that always tell me how great Prague is/was. Like it's this singular place in the world and they're the only people that have step foot there. I'm sure Prague is like no other city. But it's come to the point that I've talked to enough people who talk about Prague, that for me, I don't want to go there for fear of there being too many tourists. Maybe that's a completely ignorant statement, but my trips are few and far between these days and I have too little time and far too many places to travel.

Great quote.

Come now when the gettin's good, because I hate to think about how this place will be 10 years from now.

Thanks for the update and pics.

I am considering Prague or Dubai this fall, but suddenly the Balkans sound like the place to check out.

I got five months left in Bangkok before going back to the states. Been talking about leaving for a while. But this date is final, sadly.

[dasper]

Hey looks like a good trip man! I just got back from 6 months in the Balkans, nearly all in Kosovo and Serbia except for a trip to Skopje to get a Macedonian stamp so I could cross the Serbian border for the first time (flew into Pristina and the Serbs dont recognize the UN stamps as being valid) and a journey through Croatia and Slovenia by bus when I got deported. You should hit up Belgrade if you can, great city.

[poly800rock]

Hey looks like a good trip man! I just got back from 6 months in the Balkans, nearly all in Kosovo and Serbia except for a trip to Skopje to get a Macedonian stamp so I could cross the Serbian border for the first time (flew into Pristina and the Serbs dont recognize the UN stamps as being valid) and a journey through Croatia and Slovenia by bus when I got deported. You should hit up Belgrade if you can, great city.

I really wanted to go to Belgrade. But with the bombing of the US embassy, it's not the greatest time. I was talking to an Italian girl who is living in Belgrade right now, and she said her friend (American) was trying to get across the border, and the customs officers said that there is no embassy to guarantee the safety of Americans, not to say that would really make a difference, but that might be a bit of a moot point now. Maybe next year. I hear Belgrade is a fantastic city

This is my favourite part of superfuture. When people make these fantastic contributions. I will be going to Buenos Aires in a month, and doing a pictorial log as well.

RE:Prague

After taking the long train from Budapest to Prague last year, I found it very tourist ridden. Though beautiful, the British, Italian, etc. euro-scum exploiting the city like maggots cheapened the experience. However, on my second last night I ran into some english speaking expats who took me to this electro party in a trailer park on an island in the outskirts of the city, which was one of the best experiences I've ever had. Which made me realize that ultimately, amazing experiences are to be found everywhere. However, it's definitely not any kind of hidden gem now, but a great city of the world.

I knew saying that about Prague would raise some eyebrows. I never meant it to be a condescending remark, and hope no one takes it that way. Everyone I've talked to about Prague says it's an amazing city. Fuck, my dad says it's an amazing city. He even found a pocket of Vietnamese people there! And you're completely right in saying getting to know the places where locals hang is key. Same happened in Bangkok, especially with Analyst pointing me in the right directions of where to go. Bangkok is full of eurotrash backpackers, and with any local showing you around, you're going to have a fantastic time. That's why we did the couchsurfing thing. We probably would have had half the fun if it weren't for our contacts in Zagreb and Sarajevo. Looking forward to the Buenos Aires travel log, my friends were there last March and had a blast.

[dasper]

I really wanted to go to Belgrade. But with the bombing of the US embassy, it's not the greatest time. I was talking to an Italian girl who is living in Belgrade right now, and she said her friend (American) was trying to get across the border, and the customs officers said that there is no embassy to guarantee the safety of Americans, not to say that would really make a difference, but that might be a bit of a moot point now. Maybe next year. I hear Belgrade is a fantastic city

Hey im a US citizen too and you really dont have to worry, I was around for 2.5 months before and 3.5 months after Kosovo's declaration of independence and Belgrade is definitely safe now but be alert and use common sense in North Mitrovica any of the Serbian enclaves/IDP camps in Kosovo. Im not sure when your friends info is from but the US Embassy should be functioning normally. There was never any bombing but the embassy was closed for a few days in February after the riots. The media sensationalizes the current situation but being there is quite boring if youre expecting some sort of action and comfortingly calm if youre looking to avoid it. Worst comes to worst just dont say youre American . Would be a shame to visit the Balkans and miss it!

[poly800rock]

Hey im a US citizen too and you really dont have to worry, I was around for 2.5 months before and 3.5 months after Kosovo's declaration of independence and Belgrade is definitely safe now but be alert and use common sense in North Mitrovica any of the Serbian enclaves/IDP camps in Kosovo. Im not sure when your friends info is from but the US Embassy should be functioning normally. There was never any bombing but the embassy was closed for a few days in February after the riots. The media sensationalizes the current situation but being there is quite boring if youre expecting some sort of action and comfortingly calm if youre looking to avoid it. Worst comes to worst just dont say youre American . Would be a shame to visit the Balkans and miss it!

I will be back. That's for sure.

What were you doing there for such a decent amount of time?

[dasper]

I was covering Kosovos progression from province to statehood and the following Serbian backlash. Also did some small reportages on the provinces ethnic minority groups and spent a boring few weeks covering the Serbian elections and runoffs. Besides that I mostly drank lots of Raki and enjoyed the rainy balkan weather

[poly800rock]

???

Protesters burn U.S. Embassy in Serbia

Body found inside as tensions soar over Kosovo independence

NBC News and news services

updated 2:13 p.m. PT, Thurs., Feb. 21, 2008

BELGRADE, Serbia - A charred body was found inside the U.S. Embassy Thursday after Serb rioters protesting Kosovo's declaration of independence set fire to offices there.

It was unknown whose body was in the burned office. "It was found at the part of the building set on fire by the protesters," embassy spokeswoman Rian Harris said. She said all embassy staffers were accounted for; Belgrade's Pink TV said the body appeared to be that of a rioter.

The State Department issued a travel alert for Americans in Serbia.

Masked men broke into the U.S. compound in Belgrade, which has been closed this week, and tried to throw furniture from an office. They set fire to the office and flames shot up the side of the building.

It took police about 45 minutes to appear at the scene, and firefighters arrived about the same time and put out the blaze. Police secured the U.S. Embassy and surrounding area, blocking off all access.

The U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Zalmay Khalilzad, said he was "outraged" by the attack and would ask the U.N. Security Council to issue a unanimous statement "expressing the council's outrage, condemning the attack, and also reminding the Serb government of its responsibility to protect diplomatic facilities."

Serbia's president pleads for calm

Serbia's President Boris Tadic, on an official visit to Romania, appealed for calm and urged the protesters to stop the attacks and move away from the streets. Tadic said that violence was "damaging" Serbia's efforts to defend Kosovo, which declared its independence from Belgrade on Sunday.

More than a dozen nations have recognized Kosovo's declaration of independence, including the United States, Britain, France and Germany. But the declaration by Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leadership has been rejected by Serbia's government and the ethnic Serbians who populate northern Kosovo.

For several days, Kosovo's Serbs have shown their anger by destroying U.N. and NATO property, setting off small bombs and staging noisy rallies.

The nationalist government of Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica appears to have tolerated the rioting and looting, which first broke out on Sunday.

Government ministers have dismissed such incidents in previous days as "insignificant," and the police were not deployed on Thursday to guard the U.S. Embassy which has been targeted in the past.

Kostunica's critics claim that he is planning to use the troubles as an excuse to crack down against pro-Western liberals in the country, and to block efforts by Tadic to gain membership for Serbia in the European Union.

"I cannot tell if the authorities are going to allow this to escalate, and how long they will let this go on, but it is absolutely clear that it is all under their control." said Vesna Pesic from the pro-Western Liberal Democratic Party whose offices also have been attacked.

Other embassies attacked

On Thursday, the neighboring Croatian Embassy also was targeted by the same group of protesters at the U.S. Embassy, and smaller groups attacked police posts outside the Turkish and British embassies in another part of the city but were beaten back.

Elite police paramilitaries drove armored jeeps down the street outside the U.S. Embassy and fired dozens of tear gas canisters to clear crowds. The protesters fled into side streets where they continued clashing with the police.

Groups also broke into a McDonald's restaurant and demolished the interior. A number of other shops were also ransacked and people were seen carrying off running shoes, track suits and other sporting goods from a department store.

Doctors at Belgrade's emergency clinic reported treating more than 30 injured, half of whom were policemen. All were lightly injured, said Dusan Jovanovic, deputy chief of the clinic, adding that most of the injured protesters were "extremely drunk."

U.S. asks Serb government to help

The U.S. embassy had been closed in anticipation of the demonstration. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the only staff there were security personnel and Marine guards. He said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had been briefed. She was en route to the United States with President Bush after an six-day trip to Africa.

McCormick said the United States had asked the Serbian government to help protect U.S. diplomatic facilities.

The State Department's travel alert said the embassy's consular section would be closed Friday and Monday. It urged American citizens to avoid downtown Belgrade and said more protests could pose a danger. It said that U.S. citizens or family members concerned for the safety of U.S. citizens in Serbia can call 888-407-4747 toll free in the U.S. and Canada. Callers outside the U.S. and Canada were advised to use the regular toll line at 202-501-4444.

Kosovo, which is 90 percent ethnic Albanian, has not been under Belgrade's control since 1999, when NATO launched airstrikes to halt a Serbian crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists. A U.N. mission has governed Kosovo since, with more than 16,000 NATO troops and KFOR, a multiethnic force, policing the province.

But Serbia — and Kosovo's Serbs, who make up less than 10 percent of Kosovo's population — refuse to give up Kosovo, a territory considered the ancient cradle of Serbs' state and religion.

Earlier Thursday, police estimated that about 150,000 people had attended a rally in the Serbian capital. The crowd waved Serbian flags and carried signs reading "Stop USA terror." One group set fire to a red-and-black Albanian flag.

Those involved in the attack on the U.S. embassy were mainly young men, some of whom wore balaclavas and scarves to hide their faces. They had attacked the building with sticks and metal bars and destroyed two guard boxes outside.

Protesters ripped some metal grilles from the embassy windows and also tore a handrail off the building's entrance and used it as a battering ram against the main door.

Unrest in Kosovo

There also has been unrest in Kosovo since the independence declaration. Hundreds of Serbs have launched attacks on border outposts, prompting NATO to reinforce the northern Serb-dominated part of Kosovo and take control of the borders.

The violence has sparked fears of sustained violence, with Serbian officials saying the attacks were in line with its attempt to contest Kosovo's secession.

Ethnic Albanian separatists fought a 1998-99 war with Serbian forces, and an estimated 10,000 people were killed.

In areas of Kosovo where Serbs live surrounded by majority ethnic Albanians, Serb leaders urged Serbia's government to tone down statements or risk endangering lives.

"Serbs from the north have brought other Serbs in Kosovo in a position to fear for their children and their lives, which is a very painful feeling — the fear of what your own people might do," Kosovo Serb leader Rada Trajkovic was quoted Thursday as saying by the independent Serbian news agency FoNet.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23277147/

burned body?

[dasper]

Yeah it was apparently a Serb protester that died. There were no bombs set off in Belgrade in Feb and no US personnel inside the embassy during the demonstration turned riot, just angry people throwing rocks and lighting fires. The embassy was open the next week. Besides this incident Belgrade was very safe the entire time I was there and although Kosovo is a little bit more dodgy in the ethnically mixed areas, the Albanians love Americans. During my stay the UN compound in Mitrovica had some explosive devices thrown in but it was at night while the offices were empty, border posts were burned a couple of times with no major security breeches and a few months earlier in a small mountain village in the south of Kosovo ethnic Albanians bombed a bank with ties to Serbia, again at night when it was empty. Small sporadic attacks mostly as statements with relatively light damage. It probably sounds worse than it is, I met plenty of people just backpacking around in Belgrade and more tourists than I expected in Kosovo although the majority of the internationals are diplomats, security forces or journalists.

On a different topic, which airline gave you that Goldstar? I dont think ive ever seen that shit outside of Israel!

[poly800rock]

delta business elite. I really wish I knew someone was in Belgrade. It would have made convincing my friends a lot easier

[Analyst]

I was covering Kosovos progression from province to statehood and the following Serbian backlash. Also did some small reportages on the provinces ethnic minority groups and spent a boring few weeks covering the Serbian elections and runoffs. Besides that I mostly drank lots of Raki and enjoyed the rainy balkan weather

Damn. You were green 1 day ago. How did you get 4 red blocks in 24hrs?

[dasper]

Damn. You were green 1 day ago. How did you get 4 red blocks in 24hrs?

My rep is all over the place, I made a thread which got moved into supertrash and then I got neghoooouuused.