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Belgrade and Zagreb, capital cities of Serbia and Croatia respectively, have much in common. The cities, as the countries, have a large portion of their history in parallel tracks. Both are Slavic lands and were, for the most part, engulfed in the same empires.

However, Belgrade and Serbia have a slightly less fortunate recent past. In 1999 NATO bombed the capital for two months in retaliation for strikes against Kosovo (now its own fledgling nation). It’s difficult to recover from that quickly. In 2000, citizens took to the streets to overthrow the Milosevic government in a nearly bloodless coup. But this meant temporary destabilization as power changed hands. And Croatia has a popular coastline on the Adriatic Sea to which tourists flock, providing tax revenue for the country.

Both peoples speak what amounts to slightly different dialects of the same language. Serbia prefers the Cyrillic script to Latin, but that seems to be changing. And Serbians seem to prefer affecting a deeper voice, both men and women.

Belgrade seems quite a dirty city in contrast to Zagreb. However, both feel very safe even at night. And both are cheap, though Belgrade moreso.

In both cities, young people congregate on the streets at night. They will either stand around in the pedestrian areas or fill up sidewalk cafes and bars as groups.

Belgrade also doesn’t seem quite as crowded with tourists in the off-season. That’s nice. But this will soon change, I’m sure, as Serbia prepares to enter the Schengen agreement nations. Ironically, Croatia, the better developed and more frequently touristed country, has not become a part of this pact.