2024
This time my travels to Belgrade brought me to attend the wedding of a dear friend and a colleague from the student times. I was super excited because it has been years now I haven’t visited this city. My trip started with a nice treat on the AirSerbia plane with the famous plazma cookies.
Landing and crossing the river Sava, we passed by an example of brutalist architecture: Western City Gate, also known as the Genex Tower. The building is designed to resemble a high-rise gate greeting people arriving in the city from the West (the road from Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport to the city centre leads this way).
Another example of the communist/ socialist architecture from the time of Tito’s Yugoslavia is the Palace of Serbia, located in the Novi Beograd. It was used by the Federal Executive Council of Yugoslavia. When I was a student, I had a chance to attend the conference inside this massive building. I was not a fan. 😛
Our hotel was located in Skadarlija. We were lucky enough to have a decent booking as the city was completely crowded by the Ramstein fans that came to attend the concert happening 2 days in a row. Down the street is a market with home grown fruit and vegetables.
It was the time of cherries! 🙂
As the day was already long, we decided to eat in Dva Jelena. A popular restaurant in super popular Skadarlija – bohemic Balkan chic. This means you eat and drink, smoke, drink some more, and enjoy the local music.
In Skadarlija you can find super popular rakija. A local drink made of fruit distillation. It is strong but cures body and soul.
Hotel Moskva is a four star hotel in Belgrade, one of the oldest currently operating in Serbia. The building has been opened in 1908 and as such represented a major investment of the Russian Empire in the Serbian economy. I mostly wanted to visit the lobby to enjoy the art nouveau. Little did I know, that the hotel is full of Russian emigrates due to the current Putin’s Brutal Aggression on Ukraine.
My afternoon walk continued towards The National Assembly of Serbia. Not the best memories from that building – politically speaking, so moving on.
And the rest of the government buildings – including the building of the former defence headquarters destroyed by USA/ NATO forces in 1999.
In the same quarter of Belgrade called Vračar (literally translates into doctor witch) 😀 there is The Temple of Saint Sava. It was the first time for me to see the new painted frescoes inside the temple.
This Serbian Orthodox church is dedicated to Saint Sava, the founder of the Serbian Orthodox Church and an important figure in medieval Serbia. It is built on the presumed location of St. Sava’s grave.
Nearby is the St. Mark Orthodox Church, located in the Tašmajdan park. It was built in the Serbo-Byzantine style in the Interwar period between 1931 and 1940.
The interior of the church contains Sarcophagus of the Emperor Dušan the Mighty – the king of Serbia in the 14th century. Dušan conquered a large part of southeast Europe, becoming one of the most powerful monarchs of the era. Under Dušan’s rule, Serbia was the most powerful state in Southeast Europe, one of the most powerful European states and an Eastern Orthodox multi-ethnic and multilingual empire that stretched from the Danube in the north to the Gulf of Corinth in the south, with its capital in Skopje. He enacted the constitution of the Serbian Empire, known as Dušan’s Code, perhaps the most important literary work of medieval Serbia.
The best parties in my life happened here! In this city. The bars on rafts, the music, the people, the warmth:
I always had a good welcome from the people living there and was taken to very best places: rafts, bier bars, festivals, house parties…
As we used to live in one same country of Yugoslavia, and the war divided us, there are still love and hate that connects us. For example, the love towards the Yugoslavian leader at that time: Tito.
Every year, people from entire ex-yugoslavian country are visiting the grave and the museum as this leader used to be the diplomatic scale between USSR and USA during the Cold war.
I did my visit too. On 25th of May (ex-yugoslavian Youth Day – the birthday of Tito), I did the tour with my friends. There were people from all over the world. As Tito was born in the region where I am coming from (Krapina – Zagorje, Croatia), I was happy to be able to visit his rests and the museum with many gifts he gained during his governance (he was a lifetime marshall). Of course, there were no gold, sillver, pearls, porculain or any other valuable goods as many of them were stolen during the fall of Yugoslavia.
They say, Belgrade is the ugliest city appearing at the most beautiful place.
True, sometimes it can be shady like this:
But when you see a place like this one below, you become speechless:
This is the place where river Sava confluences to the River of Danube. You can see on the photo Belgrade Fortress and Kalemegdan Park.
For centuries the city population was concentrated only within the walls of the fortress since 4th century BE. In the middle ages the fortress remained a Byzantine stronghold until the 12th century when it fell in the hands of the newly emerging Serbian state. It became a border city of the Serbian Kingdom, later Empire with Hungary. The Hungarian king Béla I gave the fortress to Serbia in the 11th century as a wedding gift (his son married the Serbian princess Jelena).
From late 19th century onwards, the city was filled with enlightenment and civic class. The center of the happenings was Skadarlija.
A 400 meters long street managed to keep the spirit of old times, authenticity, old look with cobblestone asphalt, identical facade and bars that stand in the same place for more than 150 years.
It revives the spirit of friendship and cheerful night life, the way it once was. The street is named after the Albanian city of Skadar and became popular at the end of XIX century as it has accepted everyone – from rich people and artists to craftsmen and ministers.
When in a foreign city, I always visit three things: the museum (to get the political and historical view on the people), the restaurant/ bar (to see the people as they are) and the sacramental institution (the church, mosque, temple or so).
Belgrade has a beautiful Church of Saint Sava. Serbian Orthodox church located on the Vračar plateau.
The inner side is apparently decorated with beautiful paintings but in the time when I was visiting Belgrade, it looked like this:
Hopefully I will visit soon this city again and make more up to date photos. 🙂
Then if you are tired of partying in Belgrade, you can just go to the nearby city of Zemun famous for their own mafia and local cute bars with rustic cubic tablecloths. We took a boat and made a small party over there in some local bar with live music. Actually the players are going around your tables and playing your wish songs. Of course, it is expected you give some tip.
And there is so much more!
RED RIDING HOOD 
Beautiful view, Great pics nice article. thanks for that
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Amazing post!
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Love the photos and specially the night life.
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This is awesome, i like it
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Great place and nice blog😉
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Nice place and post
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Great place
To spend time with friends
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Hope you visit it again sometime.
Joy to the World
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That river scene is absolutely breathtaking!
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The beer! 😍
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Serbia is on my bucket list! Loved reading this!
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So nice. Beautiful and informative
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Being part of one of the most important prehistoric cultures of Europe the Venca Culture, city has maintained it and yet has modernized in some parts. Such a great place. Thanks for sharing.
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I think it’s a cool place to be
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Skadarlija captured my attention completely. It has lots of character and charm.
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I love this post. I’m also thinking to visit Belgrade in December, any recommendations? I really like the idea about visiting churches, museums and restaurant to really discover the culture etc. Cheers from Slovenia
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Zaista volim da putujem , ali se ipak vodim onom nasom ” Svuda podji , kuci dodji . ” Jer kod kuce je najlepse . ❤
Predivan grad . 😍
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My Brother just came from Serbia… He was gone there for movie shoots… And he told me about Serbia many things. He advised me to go Serbia at least once, especially in winter.
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