Belgrade, Serbia

Milan Borjan makes saves for Canada and tonight he saved us….

We were warned about the long delays at the border entering Serbia. Four hours we were told due to the large number of migrant workers going to Europe from Turkey. When we arrived from Romania, we were the only car, the Romanian side was friendly and quick, then you drive to the Serbian side, again the only car. The Serbian border guard is just how you might picture him, bald and burly. He said nothing to us, took our passports, stamped them and handed them back. An hour later we were approaching downtown Belgrade.

Belgrade was the capital of the former Yugoslavia and is another one of the oldest cities in the world going back at least six thousand years. We checked into the hotel and headed out towards the old town and citadel. This is also the home of the GOAT, Novak Djokovic, sorry Roger and Raffa, it’s the Joker.

I was looking at a football scarf of the local team Red Star Belgrade and the vendor was asking us where were from. Canada I said, Canada he exclaimed, same as Red Star keeper Borjan! He then said Red Star plays tonight, a Serbian league game.

We decided to walk back to the hotel, and cab to the stadium to watch the game. I’ve heard stories of games in Belgrade getting out of hand especially when Red Star play their rival Partizan Belgrade. Both teams’ core supporters are alleged to be criminals.

There wasn’t going to be a huge crowd tonight as there was a bigger Europa League game scheduled in a few days against Monaco, so we were able to buy tickets at the stadium. The tickets were remarkably cheap, only 3 or 4 dollars for good seats. As we approached the security check point the trouble started. The stoic security lady found my GoPro. I wasn’t hiding it, she just said not allowed. A few more security people came over and tried to explain to us why it wasn’t allowed. This is all in Serbian, but we’re getting the gist. Finally, a supervisor came over and explained the rule. It is a projectile that I might throw on the field and for the safety of the players, it wasn’t allowed. I tried to ask if I could leave it with someone in the office and was told, “not possible”.

After a few minutes, another man approached and said we needed to "find solution". He suggested I taxi back to the hotel, but this would take at least 45 minutes. He asked how much is the camera worth, I said about $500, and I was certainly not going to throw it. He laughed and said sorry. Defeated, I said to him, "We just came to watch Borjan, because he’s Canadian like us." He said "Borjan? Our keeper?" Yes I said, "Borjan our national team keeper!" The man walked us back to the security lineup at this point and spoke some Serbian to the stoic lady and we were allowed in!!! Borjan saved us!!!

Our cousins are often our first friends. Today my cousin would have turned 50. He tragically left us half my lifetime ago and I miss him. We never know what the future holds, so if you are always saying I’ll do this someday or I’ll go there someday, change the phrase to I’m going today, or I’m doing it today. Cheers pal.