Īn Ceasescu's footsteps: Switzerland, Serbia and Romania via SQ346/345

[RedEyeflight]

Back in Interlaken, still feeling jet lagged and a bit knackered. Decided to settle on a youth hostel restaurant a stone's throw from the main railway station.





Took a stroll before sunset around Interlaken.

[RedEyeflight]

The next morning checked out from the hotel.



I had a few hours that morning before I had to head off to ZRH for 5pm flight to BEG. I bought a train ticket for Grindelwald, another town close to Interlaken.



Grindelwald is famous for its gondola system that takes you up to a cliff walk with stunning views of the surrounding mountains.



Views from the cable car.

[RedEyeflight]

Back in Interlaken just after noon.



I had half-an-hour to kill before my train back to Bern and onwards to Zurich. So, I'd have to eat on the train.

Packed lunch from a nearby supermarket, consisting of turnips, carrots and grilled salmon. It was a decent meal. Being price conscious, I wasn't sure how much it would cost to eat on the train, but there were dining cars on both trains between Interlaken and Bern and between Bern and Zurich Airport.



Flight: LX 1418
Aircraft: Airbus 220-300 (HB-JCK)
Origin: Zurich (ZRH)
Destination: Belgrade (BEG)
Class: Economy
Date: April 2024

The train from Bern to Zurich was incredibly crowded, with people even sitting on stairs and standing by the doors. Eventually, I arrive at Zurich Airport and take the escalators up to the station mezzanine. LX-dedicated check-in counters are available here for passengers who have already printed their boarding passes and are merely dropping bags off. That wasn't me however, and it was a slightly complicated walk to get to the main check-in area for LX.

Walk to check-in area that required exiting the terminal. I will be back in ZRH after 10 days of touring eastern Europe.







No queues for check-in. I am printed a boarding pass and my bag is checked-in. Boarding gate is D57 a bus gate within the main terminal. With Swiss efficiency in full force, I clear security in less than 10 minutes and emerge airside.



As Serbia is a non-EU, non-Schengen country, I have to be stamped out of Schengen. So, I proceed through passport control and head downstairs to the D-gates. The D concourse is located below the B concourse and consists purely of non-Schengen bus gates. Most narrow-body UK and Ireland flights on LX depart from here.



Boarding commences but with no separation by groups. An LX gate agent sees my KF status and gives me a kind greeting.

[RedEyeflight]

HB-JCK flying ZRH-BEG today.












Interestingly the safety video was shown through these small screens next to the seat belt sign.


Taxiing in ZRH.

[RedEyeflight]

Once airborne, I noticed the metallic trim around the seats. Here's a picture of the metallic coat hook.



Cabin crew then came around distributing bottles of water.



Magazines were available but one had to scan a QR code to access the online content.



No more free service items. Inflight shopping and buy-on-board were available on this short 1 hour and 20 minutes flight.

[RedEyeflight]

We flew east over the Swiss and Austrian Alps before crossing into Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia.



Spacious loos on the A220.



Aircraft cabin.



A few empty rows at the rear of the plane.



Overflying the former SFR Yugoslavia as the aircraft approaches BEG.



At this point, a crew member distributed 'thank you' chocolates, as is customary on LX.







At this juncture, we began our descent into Belgrade's Nikola Tesla Airport.



We overflew the airport and the city before banking 180 degrees and landing from an easterly direction.









A large terminal building with many aerobridges but virtually empty when we landed. Passed by an AnadoluJet B738 which was the only other aircraft parked at the terminal.



We park at gate A10 which is at the far end of the terminal. Notice the 'Follow-me' car.

[RedEyeflight]

Deplaning in BEG.



As I mentioned earlier, the airport boasted a large terminal but virtually empty terminal building. It was at least a 15 minute walk to immigration.



We were the only arriving flight and there were many immigration counters open. The immigration officer scanned my passport, but interestingly my US visa also drew attention, and that was scanned too. No questions asked, however, and I was stamped into Serbia by the officer, who, after which, threw my passport back at me.

My bag appeared when I showed up at the belt. I cleared customs and met my driver from the hotel outside.



My driver, Voxi, shows me to a Volvo and we are racing down a motorway listening to 90s pop songs. We go past several large developments that remind me of large-scale Chinese developments in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Before long, I am at my hotel in the city centre.

[RedEyeflight]

Savamala Hotel in the city centre.

[yflyer]

Thoroughly enjoying this TR so far, RedEyeflight! Lovely photos! I am now dreaming of a holiday in Switzerland!

I am a big fan of Swiss A220's. The interiors are so stylish!

Looking forward to the rest!

[SQ218]

Thanks for sharing RedEyeflight. Great pics.

[RedEyeflight]

Thoroughly enjoying this TR so far, RedEyeflight! Lovely photos! I am now dreaming of a holiday in Switzerland!

I am a big fan of Swiss A220's. The interiors are so stylish!

Looking forward to the rest!

Thanks yflyer! Indeed, Switzerland is a great place to holiday. Such a contrast to Eastern Europe that lay off the beaten tourist path.

[RedEyeflight]

Thanks for sharing RedEyeflight. Great pics.

Thanks SQ218! Happy to bring more.

[RedEyeflight]

Woke up the next morning in Belgrade and googled a few places to have breakfast near the hotel. Found a cafe called Denada Cafe and chose their traditional Serbian breakfast.



A street in Belgrade.



Walked to Republic Square where my walking tour was meeting. Passed by a public bus terminal with a market and several people hawking wares.







Several buildings in the city centre still carry socialist architecture.



Knez Mihailova, which is the city's main shopping street.





I want to show utmost respect to our general love of aviation and travel. I did not photograph this for this reason but I feel I must address this given the sensitivity of the matter and in case readers have seen this before and have the expectation that I address this issue. Within the shopping district, there is a large sign that says 'The only genocide in the Balkans was committed against the Serbs'. Throughout my time in Serbia, the issue of the breakup of Yugoslavia and ensuing war and genocide came up many times. I must categorically condemn the above statement. One can only hope that current hostilities between the peoples of the former Yugoslavia ends and an enduring peace and happiness emerges.

I will continue with the trip report. Please feel free to reach out to me if you would like.

I meet my guide at Republic Square in front of the Prince of Michael statue. The Prince of Michael statue or Prince Mihailo Monument depicts Serbian Prince Mihailo on horseback who played a pivotal role in liberating cities from Ottoman rule in the 19th century. Erected in 1882, it is an important monument in the country.



My guide interestingly had studied in Indonesia and can speak Bahasa fluently, and has visited Singapore. They told me that Serbia and Indonesia enjoy close relations because of the legacy of the 'Non-Aligned Movement' under Tito and Sukarno.

The tour starts with the Hotel Moscow, a prominent hotel where important people stayed when visiting the city. There are other prominent hotels named after important cities such as Hotel Paris and Hotel Belgrade. In fact, one of the first supermarket's in the Socialist bloc opened in Belgrade in the 70s and was called London supermarket.

[RedEyeflight]

We then passed the Dom Sindikata or House of the Worker's Union a Yugoslav-era building built in 1957 that is now a concert venue. In front of the building is Nikola Pasic Square that houses the statue of Prime Minister Nikola Pasic. Pasic was the Prime Minister of Serbia in the 1890s and early 1900s and later Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, the precursor to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. He was a major architect in the unification of the southern slavic lands into Yugoslavia. The statue was erected in 1998.





If you've been following the news, Serbia is in the midst of a protest movement to unseat incumbent president Aleksandar Vucic over corruption. There have been major protests in Belgrade on some weekends, but it just so happened that this was the case on the day that I was there. Serbia is still a safe country to visit so long as you avoid protests areas, go on a walking tour or visit on days when there are no protests like Sundays.

Part of the strategy of the protest movement has been to show backing from farmers and rural Serbs. Rows of tractors with Serbian flags.



Some of these tractors bore 'Made in Yugoslavia'.



Ministry of Economics and Regional Development, an example of an inter-war building in Belgrade.



Most of the city centre is shut down today because of the protests.



Beogradanka a skyscraper built during the communist Yugoslav era. This was a prominent building in the city housing media organisations.



Monument to Vojvoda Vuk dressed in traditional Balkan garb being blessed by an Orthodox priest.



Ministry of Finance building, Belgrade.

[RedEyeflight]

Since most of the city centre is shut off, the rest of the tour takes place at the Yugoslavia Museum, a sprawling museum located on the former residence of Josef Tito. We walk a few blocks to catch a substitute bus route given that most public transport has been shut down. One thing I've noticed in both Serbia and Romania, and likely the case in other parts of Eastern Europe, are the long distances between public transport stops. We walk several blocks past the US embassy and wait for the bus. Luckily it shows up. If not it would have been a 30 minute walk.



The museum houses the burial site of Josef Tito. Tito was the founding president of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. He was a Croat-Slovene whose political acumen was instrumental in keeping Yugoslavia united. Once he passed away in 1980, the country fell into a period of ethnic and political tensions, which eventually led to its breakup in the 1990s.



Images of Ttio's funeral, attended by both Communist and Western leaders given Yugoslavia's split with the Soviet Union and role in the Non-Aligned Movement.







Yugoslavia was the product of World War I. Initially ruled by a monarchy, Nazi Germany overran the country in World War II. The communists would emerge as the main resistance against the Germans and would proclaim a socialist republic after the war. Like the Soviet Union, which comprised constituent republics, the country was broken into six republics: Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Macedonia, as well as 2 special autonomous regions located within Serbia of Vojvodina and Kosovo.


A museum building from the exterior.