September 12 - 18, 2022 - Belgrade, Serbia / Opatija, Croatia - People / Places
I scrolled down through the archive of Yuanfen - Lea’s Stories last week.
What a pleasant shivering feeling, to relive the last five months through this collection of words and pictures.
I realise that this is now the 20th time, that I sit down to write a little story.
Today, on my birthday.
I spent two days in Serbia and the beauty of the city, the nature and the people I’ve encountered truly touched me. I also spent 4 days in Croatia and despite the stormy weather had lots of little moments of Yuanfen.
Either, we choose to look at the negative and things that could have been different. Or we look at the little surprises and remember the positive.
Your choice.
Without much explanation I let the following list of little sparks of joy and random acts of kindness tell this story on it’s own:
On my first evening in Belgrad, I had dinner at the restaurant Stari Zabar and received a delicious pumpkin cake and vanilla ice cream dessert on the house, after I asked to take half of my pike perch home
At the Belgrad fortress, I wandered the alleys hunting for flower pictures, as a little squirrel ate a nut so loudly that I heard and saw it hidden high-up in the trees
At TT Bistro I had a beautiful conversation about the notion of home with two sisters from Kasachstan, living and working now in Hong Kong and Paris after years of living China
On the calm streets of Zemun I was invited to a gallery to get a pre-view of the exhibition of Vojislav Periovic as I passed it walking to my second fish dinner at Zaran
Upon my check-out at Hostel ArkaBarka, the girl at the reception gave me a spontaneous hug
On the way to the airport a gentleman held my luggage to prevent it from flying through the bus while I bought my ticket
In Opatija, the lady at the Spa reception helped us to prepare a last minute wellness experience with bath robes and sparkling wine for an improvised Bachelorette party
At the Café Bar Eugenian, we could reserve 1.5h before the planned Apéro space for 30 people to have drinks and a pirate party instead of a sailing tour, covered from the heavy rain
Hvala Beograd and Opatija, for these little moments of joy and to the people for these little acts of kindness that stay with me.
P.S. I will make it to Taiwan! Despite of the remaining 3 days of quarantine, I will get my Taiwanese passport this week and travel there to see my family and conduct my book research in October, juhuu!
Dessert on the house
Deep conversations about home
Gallery preview
most amazing sunrise, totally for free
What a stunning picture of a sunrise! Wow! I am happy to hear you loved Opatija! I spent there nearly every year of my childhood some days.