The original settlement in this area lies on a bluff at the confluence of the Danube and Sava. The former blue, the latter brown, it makes for quite a spectacle worthy of a boat cruise, as the sun sets.
It was fortified first by Romans in the 1st Century CE (Singidunum), then by Hapsburgs and Ottomans as they contested possession over several centuries. The wrecked but extant fortress is now gardens, the best place in the city to watch the sunset over the conflux, and a favourite of young lovers.
Most buildings in the centre are covered in graffiti, some of it clever, much of it political and combative. This might put some off. Personally, I love it - it gives the city a punk edge.
Don’t mistake this as an indicator of crime or danger. The city is very safe. The best measure of this, I find, is to observe how women are treated.
Girls dressed to the nines, the expensiveness of their outfits diametrically opposed to skimpiness, hop confidently and without harassment between bars, restaurants and nightclubs.
Serbian women are very beautiful. One with a jaw-dropping model’s figure tells me that ‘men should carry a bit of extra beef and all the better they love a few beers or rakis …they shouldn’t be beautiful like a woman’, vaguely tracing her own outline with fine boned arms and hands.
So they’re as charming as all hell too!
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Nikolai Tesla International Airport works smoothly. You wouldn’t want to run afoul of the dudes on security. But they are friendly, flexible and exercise judgment. Unlike jobsworth drones. Or the liberally-challenged hair-triggers with untreated war trauma that outsource job-hire companies exploit and put in customer-facing roles with dark, mono-coloured, uniformly uniform uniforms.
(I’m looking at you, Schiphol …and you, Athens!)
Public transport in Belgrade is free! All of it. Jump on and off buses and trams at will. It’s so easy to get around.
I highly recommend Impact Hub, an ubercool bar, cafe and record/CD shop.
The Museum of Cinema is extraordinary.
A working arthouse cinema, it contains the oldest surviving film shot in Serbia, the Coronation of King Peter I (1904), a unique collection of nitrate films and Chaplin’s cane.
Serbia is beginning to flex its muscles in the fine dining sphere. Many wine varietals, dating back to Roman plantings, unknown elsewhere and nearly lost here to neglect, are now under rehabilitation. Fresh trout direct from mountain streams, wild herbs, long cultivated fruits and nuts (Serbia is the world’s largest producer of raspberries), unique takes on pickling, fermenting, salting and drying, pristine forest honey, and so on, provide an unrivalled palette for talented chefs. Watch this space!
In the meantime, turn up at a Kafana (Serbian taverna), ideally in the countryside, and have a most memorable lunch.
You do need to bear in mind that this is largely a cash economy. But your cash goes a long way. Just don’t flag down cabs - ask your hotel to book one for you. Alternatively, get the CarGo app or similar - at the time of writing there is no Uber.
East of Belgrade near the Romanian border is the beautiful, forested karsk and hilly region of Resava. Of the many things to see, the fortified Manasija monastery, Veliki Buk waterfall and Resavska cave are top of the list.
And a Kafana for lunch. Did I mention Kafanas?
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