Since we’re in the general neighbourhood, we thought we’d see some of the rest of the Balkans. We were hoping to get more of a feel for the region as a whole, maybe sort out some of its complex history. We did not succeed (the history is unbelievably complicated), but we did manage to eat a lot of great food, and we found a fantastic city! Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, is often described in guidebooks as ‘a regular European capital’ which makes it sound like nothing special. It is not a regular European capital at all: it is a spectacular one; we loved it. Here are our top picks in Belgrade.
Kalmedgan Fortress
What great city doesn’t have a fortress? (Yes, we know, lots of them…) This one is old, part of the Celtic settlement in the 3rd century BCE, which isn’t surprising as it’s located at the confluence of the Danube and the Sava. Strategically important, yes, but also glorious views (especially around sunset) of the city and the rivers. In fact, Belgrade is one of the oldest cities in Europe. The Romans took it, and so did the Slavs. Then the Huns. (Fun fact: Attila the Hun is supposed to be buried somewhere around here.) It was part of the Byzantine Empire for a while, then independent, then Hungarian. After over a century of trying, the Ottomans took the city and kept it for about three hundred years. Then things get complicated (yes, we know…). Belgrade sits on the border between two empires, sometimes three or four, so it changed hands a lot, mostly between the Habsburgs and the Turks. Then it became part of Yugoslavia, in 1929, and the capital was moved here from Zagreb.
But back to the fortress: it’s now a giant park, with a zoo, planetarium/ observatory tower, a natural history museum, a church, and several tombs. Also many monuments and sculptures. You could easily spend much of a day here (we did, even in the near-freezing temperatures!)
Knez Mihailova
This beautiful pedestrian street is probably why people say Belgrade is like any other European capital. It’s lovely, with buildings from the late 19th century, the ground floors of which house all kinds of stores. Mostly independent coffee shops and bookstores, which as far as we are concerned is all to the good! There are loads of restaurants too. And this road leads you right up to the fortress, so you will almost certainly run into it at one point or another. We stayed in a small hotel on this street and it was beautiful.
Nicola Tesla Museum
Did you know Nicola Tesla was of Serbian descent? He’s not from Belgrade, but there’s a great small museum here, dedicated mostly to explaining his scientific achievements. We won’t get too technical here, but he is more or less responsible for the fact that electricity can be used as a energy source (i.e., for the use of alternating currents via an induction motor). But he had his hands on all kinds of things, and held about 300 patents. When you go to the museum, you can see his pocket flashlight and his flask and gloves, and his ashes too. And also, you get to make electricity (under strict supervision)!
Pekara Trpković
While you are in the neighbourhood of the Tesla museum, stop by Belgrade’s most famous bakery. The people who work there are, for the most part, friendly, but the locals can get a bit snippy if you are in the wrong line. You will probably be in the wrong line. There are two lines, one for burek and one for everything else. We stood in the longer one because we wanted both burek and everything else. It was the wrong line. Also, it is extremely crowded at lunchtime. Plus stressful: how could you possibly pick from among this bounty? Or maybe we were just agitated from making electricity. In any case: it is worth any amount of hassle to get the goods here, whatever you choose. (We picked a spinach pie, cheese burek, and the most delicious cherry strudel ever!)
National Museum
This little gem has an excellent collection, starting from the very earliest days of Serbian history. There is a really interesting collection of Greek and Roman art, ranging from early Greek helmets to late Roman columns with lovely capitals. The ground floor contains tons of archaeological artefacts from the region, beautifully displayed and explained. Including pan pipes; how cool is that? The first (= second) floor has Byzantine and medieval objects, and the top floor has European art from the Renaissance, with a separate exhibit of Serbian artists. Also a coffee shop. There are some minor works by major figures here: Breughel, Tintoretto, Rubens, Corot, Matisse, Monet, Cassatt, Degas, Picasso, Kandinsky. Certainly worth a look.
Jebremovac Botanical Gardens
We are suckers for a garden, and this one is lovely! December is obviously not the best time to visit a garden, but we had a great time nonetheless. The Japanese garden and greenhouse are especially good, and we found a flock of birds (perhaps guinea fowl?) to follow around as well.
Restoran Vuk
We have saved the best for last; food! A Serbian friend of a friend recommended this to us as his favourite restaurant (huge thanks to you both!). It’s right in the historical centre of town, and you will certainly find tourists, but it is a restaurant for locals, whose standards are very high. The ambience is old-world, with lovely displays of fine china.
The waiters are professionals, pushy in the very nicest way. We ate a ton of local specialties, and then we went back the next night and did it again. Seriously spectacular: lamb stew in milk, goulash, roast veal, stewed white beans, ajvar (more on this soon), and schnitzel!
A Few Further Points
We saw only a small section of Belgrade, and yet we must have encountered about ten bookstores. They are everywhere and come in all shapes and sizes. Some of them have cafés, a number of them have English-language books, and all of them are worth a look.
Belgrade is maybe not the very best choice if you care a lot about food but don’t eat meat. There is vegetarian and even (a little) vegan food available, but it will be the same thing in every place.
Belgrade is maybe also not the best choice for you if you are sensitive to smoke. It is everywhere! We saw lots of ‘no smoking’ signs, usually just above or next to a group of people smoking. Our hotel room was so smoky we kept the window open all night – and we were in a no-smoking hotel! Probably this is easier to deal with in summer, when everyone spends much of the time outside. We did notice, however, that the cafés in bookstores had one or two people vaping but no one smoking.
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