The capital of our former joint country – Yugoslavia – and today's Serbia, is the main economic, cultural and political centre of the country. The city is strategically located at the palce where the Sava River flows into the mighty Danube River, making its way further to the Black Sea. The city with over 2 million people is a very popular tourist attraction, both for young and old. The youth is fascinated by the night life. The city was named the metropolis with best night life in the larger south eastern European area, so it’s no wonder many young Slovenes love to visit it.
It’s easily reacable by car (only a 5 hour drive away). If you prefer, you can also take the train, as there’s a daily connection from Zurich in Switzerland, running through Ljubljana in Slovenia, taking you directly to Belgrade. If you’re really lucky, you might even get one of the special offers for the ride, and pay only 25€ for a one way ticket. The ride takes some 9 hours and that gives you enough time to talk to people and get to know them, or to read about the city you’ll visit. Most Slovenes make their first destination after arriving to Belgrade the House of Flowers at Dedinje, to pay respect to the son of a Slovenian mother – the former lifelong president of Yugoslavia: Josip Broz Tito, wo departed on May 4th 1980 from the hospital in Ljubljana. His remains were taken by the blue train through Zagreb to Belgrade. The House of Flowers was a spare office in the later years of the president, with a large garden. It was opened as a mausoleum in 1982, two years after the biggest funeral ceremony of the 20th century. The object was under the watchful eye of the army honour guard right until the break-up of Yugoslavia. It also always featured fresh cut flowers. Today you can still visit the sarcophagus and there’s also the collection of youth relays, which were given to Tito from all parts of the former state. The exhibition also features scenes from the life and funeral of Tito. Next to the mausoleum is the museum of 25th of May with exhibits that the president received as gifts during formal visits to countries of the world, featuring scimitars, traditional clothes, weaponry… unfortunately you will not get to see the moon rock the US president give as a gift to Tito, that the Apollo astronauts brought back to Earth. The most common visitors are from Slovenia, with visitors from the US in the second place. The ticket costs just 2€ and the museum is open to visitors every day of the week, except for Mondays.
In hot summer days people enjoy the visit to the artificial lake of Ada Ciganlija, which offers something for everybody. It’s most visited over weekends, and in summer moths it has over 150.000 visitors per day. There’s a cycling path around the lake (7,5km long), and there are beaches, basketball, football, baseball, tennis, golf, volleyball courts… and even an adrenalin park, and lots more. At night it’s a great place to get the feel of the night life. Foreigners cannot but stop and feast their eyes on the beautiful young women, which enchant many hearts. The people of Belgrade love to say that Ada Ciganlija is their own seaside away from the sea. The best place for night life, however, are the floats that are along the river of Sava, all the way from Zemun and right down to Branko’s bridge. The bridge that was named after the writer Branko Čopić. Most floats feature live music that lasts from dusk to dawn and beyond. Compared to other places in the city, the prices of drinks are rather high and sometimes you do need a reservation to get to the float. The most noticeable turbo-folk music icon is Svetlana Ražnjatović- Ceca, who held a concert a few months ago in New Belgrade over the crowd of 100.000+ people. Belgrade also attract many international stars, groups and singers, such as the Rolling Stones, ACDC, The Police...
The city is also known for many parks, with most famous among them being Kalemegdan, Tašmajdan, Friendship park and Pionir Park. I prefer the Kalemegdan, with the fortress of the same name. the park features a great view of the Grand war island, where Sava and Danube meet. IT’s also the oldest city park, dating back to 1870s. The park is full of history, with several monument being added in the past 150 years. Next to the park is the ZOO and the war museum. If you’re staying in the city over night, you must definitely visit Skadarlija, which is the city bohemian quarter, resembling the Montmartre in Paris. It’s one of the biggest attractions of the city, with many galleries, shops and restaurants with home Serbian cuisine (from čevapčiči and pleskavice, to all sorts of sausages and prebranec…). The staff is dressed traditionally and will charm even the most demanding of guests. Daily there are thousands of people visiting Skadarlija and at night many couples come for a romantic stroll here, or many groups come to enjoy dinner. If you love meat, Belgrade (and Serbia in general) is a great place to visit. You’ll find many tasty treats at every corner, with food which can be a great introduction for a night full of drinks and part with friends. The cuisine and culture in general, developed from the ethnic origins and influences of many other cultures that dominated Belgrade over the course of history. So you can get to enjoy everything from the Mediterranean tastes, to oriental and central European (mostly Hungarian) kitchen.
Serbs are mostly orthodox Christians and this is reflected by most of the churches throughout the city. The largest Serbian church is the Temple of Saint Sava, who’s also the patron saint of Serbia. This is the largest orthodox church on the Balkan peninsula and can hold over 10.000 people at the same time. The temple is on the outskirts of the city, built in Serbo-Byzantine style, with four towers of 44m and the dome raising 70m above. The golden cross on top is 12m high, so the highest point of the church is 82m. At the elevation of 123 above sea level (and 64 above the level of river Sava in Belgrade) it’s a landmark that is visible from all entry points of the city. The temple, as the Serbs call it, has the area of 3500 square meters at the base, with additional 1500 square meters in three galleries on the first floor. There is also additional gallery with 120 square meters on the second level, where you can also reach the outside and enjoy the magnificent view from around the dome. The church is covered with white marble and granite and the Slovenian company from Hotavlje was part of the reconstruction.
Belgrade is also the home of two of the biggest football teams in the country. It’s the Partizan and Crvena Zveza, that became the Championship League winner in 1991 by victory over Italian Bari at the match in Marseille. After penalty shots the Belgrade team reached the pinnacle of European football. The supporters of both teams are bitter rivals and there are several mass fights when there are matches between both city teams. I’ve watched a few matches at the stadium of Marakana and while there I sometimes had the feeling of not being fully safe. In 2004 the city opened a new multipurpose sport hall the Belgrade Arena. Today the arena features the name of Kombank arena. At the opening ceremony the best basketball teams of the world had a tournament, with the US team being the main attractions. The crowd was able to enjoy the star line up of names like: Allen Iverson, Tim Duncan, Stephon Marbury, Lebron James... In 2005 the same arena held the European basketball tournament and the Slovenian team secured an entry to the world championship in Japan. The arena also held the Eurovision Eurosong contest in 2008 as the Serbian singer Maria Šerifović won this prestigious competition in Finland a year earlier. The city really has something to offer to everybody. They say, if you can’t find something to appeal to you in Belgrade, you won’t find it anywhere in the world. Slovenians are dear guests from since the times of the joint country, and are always very welcome, I guess that’s why we keep returning to enjoy the experience of Belgrade.
