You know what they say: it’s all about location location location. I guess that’s pretty true in everything you do. Take buying a house, for example. You simply wouldn’t pick a terrible house in a terrible neighborhood. You could probably apply this logic to other things, like restaurants and shopping. For example, you wouldn’t go to the restaurant with the runny, tasteless beef on whatever-it-is-you-can’t-really-tell-and-that’s-why-you-will-never-go-back-to-that-location.
The same goes for travel. You might go to the place that no other person would venture to go. You might go to Antarctica and never step foot onto the beautiful streets of Paris. That’s fine. But, what I’m really getting at in this long-winded story is that where you choose to stay on your travels makes a big difference in your experience.
When we were in Belgrade, we stayed on one of the prettiest streets in Eastern Europe. We came to that conclusion shortly before we googled the street name: Knez Mihailova. Sure enough, our feelings were confirmed: Knez Mihailova is one of the most beautiful pedestrian streets in Eastern Europe.
Knez Mihailova Street So pretty!It feels like one of Belgrade’s biggest streets. It has just about everything: outdoor cafes, shopping boutiques, a couple of schools, our hotel and the thing that I’m writing this post for: water.
If you’ve ever walked by a fountain of water in the States, you know that the water in there is non-potable. I thought everyone knew this until I saw signs pop up saying to not drink the water. The water in a fountain is disgusting. It’s possibly chlorinated, recycled and a little mildew-y. That’s gross. You’re better off going to a nearby convenience store and getting some water. In short, don’t drink the water.
This rule doesn’t seem to be the case in parts of Eastern Europe, namely Serbia and to a lesser extent Bosnia. You should probably NEVER drink the water in Croatia. I made that mistake in Dubrovnik when I saw a few others drinking from a fountain. Places like Bosnia were really promoting the fact that you can save money on water by drinking from the spring fountains. So, I figured, hey, other countries seem to be proud of their spring fountains, why not try a taste. But, Croatia’s water isn’t even close to anything remotely water-like and I got a serious case of the trots from that place.
Water comes out of that and you can drink it.All sorts of people were drinking from that spring fountain on Knez Mihailova Street. Being that we’re from the States and drinking from a fountain is a big no-no, we were very apprehensive. But, isn’t that just like travel to blow away your own cultural expectations. We finally gave in to trying the water and let me tell ya’, it was probably the best water we have ever had. It was crystal clear and cold. I guess the lesson here is: never be afraid to try the water…but only if everyone else is doing it and look satisfied, otherwise you’ll get the trots.
Tell us a time you were blown away by the location or by a surprise cultural expectation!
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