Sounds of Belgrade

Belgrade sounds like traffic, non-stop traffic. The movement never stops, although in reality moving through the city is slow and painful. There is no rule on rush-hours, Belgrade is a rush-hour city. It is funny, though, thinking that rush-hour means sitting for minutes (that feel like decades) inside metal containers, breathing exhaust, or smog, if one dares to open the windows. Belgrade also sounds like construction work – drilling, hammering and digging, things crashing (mostly old buildings that would probably be conserved as part of the “historical city center” if this was almost any other country than Serbia). The sounds are accompanied by the sights, cranes everywhere. Belgrade is a city of cranes, construction fences and scaffolding. Belgrade is a loud-monster, yet so quiet, if what counts as noise is the sounds of social-life.