Travel Virus

Serbia is “off the beaten track”(so far) maybe because of recent history of Yugoslav wars, or because it doesn’t have the sea, or more probably because Ryanair is not flying there yet. However it is very much worth seeing it. I try to give a little guide if anyone is looking for an adventure out of the main turistic routes, based on my trip to Belgrade visiting my friend Aleksandra, who was a great tour leader and made us discover the very best of her country!

Belgrade, the capital, is a city of 2 millions people, with a huge numbers of cafes, bars, clubs, parks, sport centers and places where to enjoy life and socialize. I estimated there must be around 4 chairs in bars for each inhabitant of Belgrade… It is a very mediterrenean athomsphere, although Serbia lost the mediterreneum cost a few months ago (when Montenegro decided to be a separeted country). Most important, it is also very cheap. Turistically speaking, it’s full of history, with fortresses, museums of wars, of history, and the folklore is very unique and colorful. Over all, people know how to enjoy life… in short, I reccomand it for your next holidays!

There are planty of activities to do and exciting places to see in Belgrade:
-The fortress and Kalemegdan park
-Trg Republike: main square, with national teathre and statue of Mihailo Obrenovic
-Knez Mihailova: main pedestrian street with cafes, shops and always many people walking
-Skadarlija: best place to go to find restaurants and cafes with music in old-times atmosphere
-Ada Ciganlija: “Belgrade sea”: is an artificial lake with beaches, people walking, skating, riding bicicles, swimming and -of course- nice caffes on the seaside. Bus 37 from the main square
-Zemun: small houses on the hill and floating cafes on the river Danube. Climb to the tower Gardos, builted by the austrians for a nice top view on the city. From Zemun you can also take a little cruise on the Danube
-Sveti Sava Temple: still in contruction (but possible to visit) is the biggest orthodox church in the world. Saint Sava is the most important saint in (serbian) orthodox church.
-Other churches (mainly orthodoxes): Kneza Sime Markovica (Catedral church) and in front of it you can see a russian church
-Novi Beograd: taking bus 95 (from Skadarlija) you can reach the “new Belgrade” where probably most of the population of the city live: the river side is a very popular place epecially in the evening, where there are floating cafes and restaurants on the river Sava; we tryed Penguin (new one) and had very nice italian style food, called Piroska. From there you can take a boat to Ada Ciganlija (to the peninsula).
-Museums: ethnographic museum, Nicola Tesla museum (with impressive electricity demonstrations) and fountain
-Avala mountain and monument to the unknown soldier
-Tito Mausoleum (called house of flowers) and the Yougoslavian Museum
-Pobednik (the victor) is the symbol of the city, it’s in the fortress, looking to the Danube
-View on the city from the business centre Usce, 25th floor, on the confluence between the river Sava and Dabube
-Administrative buildings: assembly of the city of Belgrade and the Parlament
- Bombed buildings during the war in 1999
-Strahinica bana: street full of cafes (you guesses it?!): we tryed mama’s bisquite house
-Royal Complex: it is supposed to be beautiful, but we couldn’t see it because it was closed
-Topciderski park with the biggest tree in the city, and Milosev Konak museum (serbian war)
-For suvenirs you can go to the cultural centre on the angle between Trg Republike and Knez Mihailova, to the street market toward the fortress or to Mammut.

We stayed in the Hotel Royal, quite cheap and in very central position, just close to the main street (Knez Mihailova).

As excursion from Belgrade we visited the northern part of the Country:
- Monasteries such as Krushedol and Grgetek
-Sremski Karlovci: town on the Danube, home of the first high-school (grammar-school) in Serbia and famous for themost importantclerical high school. It is also possible to visit a wine and honey producer, with degustation of very nice wine called Bermut. History says that a roman emperor, Marco Aurelio Prob, brought grape trees from Italy and started to grow grape in this town. We had lunch in the restaurant “Hotel Donav”, out of town and directly on the Danube river. Very relaxing.
-Novi Sad: is Serbia’s second largest city, but very different in style from Belgrade. On my opinion is very much looking like a german or austrian city, in fact the city was under the Austria-Hungarian empire for several yers. The city, similarly to Belgrade, in on the river Danube and have a very nice fortress “Petrovaradinska tvrdjava” that offers a great view on the city while relaxing in a cafe or restaurant.
Other interesting excurions could be to the ethno villages or Nis, toward the south of the country.

Food
Proja: sort of salty cake made with white and yellow flower, eggs, etc.
Cevapcici: meat ball but in another shape
Sopska salata: salad with tomatos, cucumbers, cheese
Piroska: similar to pizza, like a small calzone
Ghibaniza: pasta sfoglia with cheese and eggs
Basic dictionary
da=yes; ne=no; hvala=thank you; nema na cemu= you’re welcome, no problem;
dobro jutro= good morning; dobrar dan= hello, good day;
tako je= ok; dobro=good; beba= baby; more=sea;
prijatno= enjoy your meal, hello/bye; ziveli=prost

Events
Next Eurovision 2008 (song contest) will be held in Belgrade, May 22nd and 24th 2008
In 2009 Belgrade will host the Universiade games

Beer festival, in Kalemedgdan (August)
Belgrade boat carnival (August)
Belef: Belgrade summer festival (july-August)