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Srbija 2020

Bijeljina – Give it a chance, go on…

By popular demand (one lass from Bijeljina), I’m going to write a little more about this gem of the peripannonian lands and why I saw some things the way I saw them.

I've been to Bijeljina on three or four occasions - once for an hour, once for a whole weekend. I like the place.  

Having driven through a fair few small-to-medium sized towns in Bosnia of late, I can say that Bijeljina is a positively 'urban' Bosnian city. So much so, in fact, that I only felt Bijeljina worthy of writing about because it has its own character, its own urban identity; its own art exhibitions… 

My girlfriend and I first went to stay in Bijeljina in March 2005. After initially making the mistake of booking into the Banja Dvorovi (spa), which is probably great in summer but wasn't too 'hot' in March, we booked into a great little private hotel, the Šico (which isn’t shit at all) in the centre of Bijeljina. Nice big beds, en suite bathroom, full-colour TV. All one could ask for.

Bijeljina also has a good mix of restaurants, kafanas and bars. As for the one we ate at that time with the American Chicken on (not on) the menu, I can’t remember what it was called, but it was down the wide street with the betting shop (and money exchangers) on the corner, somewhere off to the right – I’ll go back next time I’m there.   

Why does Bijeljina seem so Serbian to me? Mainly because of the nightlife, i.e. the turbo-folk, ‘narodnjaci’ music. Belgrade has that same sort of nightlife too, of course, but it seemed to me that that was all, or almost all, Bijeljina had to offer in terms of night life. Also the Cyrillic signs everywhere – Belgrade has more ‘Latinik’ signposts – and the mosque – brand new but boarded up: for an outsider who knows nothing of the reasons behind its construction or non-usage, it just seems weird! And, as an aside, the first time I heard that the national currency was called “convertible marks” I thought it preposterous.

Anyway, back to Bijeljina.

I suppose the main reason it seems so Serbian is because the people are Serb and very openly and obviously proud of their national Serb ethnicity. That's a great quality and one that Belgrade sometimes lacks.  

With a population of around 120,000 (well, so Wikipedia says), Bijeljina is a serious place. It’s a stone’s throw from Belgrade (1hr15 or 45mins in Peter’s Scooby) and has tons of bars (not really the sort of bars I’d do much hanging out in, but attractive to lots of people here – Serbian and foreign alike). Maybe the people of Belgrade and Novi Sad and elsewhere should seriously consider a few nights out on the razzle-dazzle in Bijeljina.