The Monkey's journey through Serbia toward Montenegro brought him to the southwestern Serbia, where he skimmed the frontiers of the autonomous region of Kosovo. Here, idyllic mountain villages like the one in the distance are more likely to have a mosque (like this one's, in the center behind the Monkey) than a church. Tensions between the ethnic Albanians and Serbs, and moreso between the Albania-funded Kosovo Liberation Army and the Yugoslav state forces, led to vicious bloodshed by both sides. When NATO decided to "bomb for peace" and destabilize Yugoslavia's government, it caused a massive refugee crisis in this part of the country. It also left war refuse like this along the roadsides.

Serbia's south has gorgeous terrain and hidden treasures largely unknown to the people beyond Serbia's borders. Medieval castles and Serbian Orthodox monasteries top mountains and hilltops, and rivers rush through deep gorges like the one you see in this photo. Lamentably, the Monkey was too pressed for time to stop and explore more, but he hopes to return one day.

About 40 kilometers east of Belgrade lies Smederevo, a vinicultural center and home of the largest fortress on the Danube River. Built by the medieval Serbian despot Djuradj Brankovic from 1428 to 1430, Smederevo complex had 20 towers and an immense walled enclosure in addition to a high-walled inner fortress. Here, the Monkey sits on the inner fortress's walls and peers out at the Danube. Across the water is Romania.

Smederevo was the last capital of the medieval Serbian kingdom, falling to the Ottomans in 1459. In the 19th Century, the Austro-Hungarians and Ottomans fought regularly for control of the fortress. During NATO's attack on Serbia, the town of Smederevo was bombed, endangering this valuable cultural monument.

A tractor and a Lada on the roadside in Serbia's southwest as the Monkey wends his way toward Montenegro.

The Monkey takes another look at the Smederevo fortress and gently flowing waters of the Danube before saying goodbye to Serbia.

The Monkey counts his Yugoslav dinars. As Yugoslavia's debt worsened in the late 1980s (after Tito's death) and many Yugoslavs sought work in West Germany, Yugoslavs looked beyond their national currency for a hard one, with most opting for the German Deutschmark. After the Yugoslavia's disintegration, Serbia and Montenegro continued using the dinar as the official currency and the mark as the under-the-bed savings currency. With the Euro's full introduction in 2002, Montenegro adopted the Euro as its official currency, leaving only Serbia to use the Yugoslav dinar.

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