June 2011: Belgrade, Serbia

When we planned our European trip, there was one week between the end of our Rhine River cruise and our return to North America that was not spoken for. We knew that we could easily fill up this week with touring in northern Europe, but we decided that a better use would be to visit some special people we knew in two very different countries: Serbia and Finland. We'll describe our visit to Finland in a separate report; this one will focus on our all-too-brief visit to Belgrade, Serbia.

As we mentioned in the overview of our trip, we had gotten to know several young eastern Europeans during the summer of 2010 when we worked at a lodge in Alaska. Most of them came from Serbia and Bulgaria, and most were college-age. They used their experience in Alaska to expand their horizons, to learn how a U.S. hotel operated (several of them were majoring in hospitality back home), and to sharpen their English skills. As a group, they impressed us with their maturity, their friendliness, and their high level of motivation (most of them sought out second jobs in addition to their day jobs at the lodge).

Two of our best friends from this group were from Serbia, and as we planned our trip we contacted them. We learned they would be in Belgrade while we were in Europe. They invited us to come see their city, so we ended up spending two nights there and taking a brief but very intensive tour.

We booked a flight on JAT Airways from Amsterdam, where our Rhine River cruise ended, to Belgrade. JAT is an acronym for Jugoslovenski aerotransport – Yugoslav Air Transport. Yugoslavia no longer exists as such, but a national identity doesn't disappear overnight.

Our JAT 737 arrived in Belgrade in mid-afternoon, and our friends Dušan and Nevena were on hand to greet us. The airport is named after Nikola Tesla, who made many contributions to the development of electrification in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tesla was born to Serbian parents and emigrated to the U.S. as a young man. His face greets you as you arrive in the baggage claim area at the Belgrade airport.

Click on any photo to enlarge

Cyrillic is the official script of the Serbian language, but many signs carry Latin-alphabet versions of Serbian words; in areas where tourism is a big factor, key words are often displayed in English.

From the airport we drove into downtown Belgrade, where we would be staying at the Hotel Moskva (Moscow), which was highly recommended by Dušan. Located on Terazije Square, in the heart of downtown Belgrade, the hotel opened in 1908. The fountain in front of the hotel honors Prince Miloš Obrenović, who negotiated a deal for Serbian autonomy within the Ottoman Empire early in the nineteenth century, thus starting the process that led to Serbian independence from the Turks.

The hotel recently underwent a renovation, so it's a nice blend of the historic and the contemporary. Decorative touches include a mosaic in the lobby of each guest floor...

...and stained glass windows in the stair wells.

From our room, we could see the Sava River, a tributary of the Danube. 

The Sava is a major river in its own right (it is navigable for 368 miles from Belgrade), and the city's location at the confluence of these two waterways has been both a blessing and a curse through the centuries. At various times Belgrade has been under the dominion of the Romans, the Byzantine Empire, the kings of Hungary and Bulgaria, and, for several centuries, the Ottoman Empire. It has been occupied by the Crusaders and invaded by the Habsburgs, and was a focal point of Balkan conflicts and World Wars for much of the twentieth century. Most recently, strategic targets in the city were bombed by NATO forces during the Kosovo war in 1999. And while the two countries do not share a border, Russia has long had a major influence on Serbia.

We had to leave our passports at the front desk of the hotel so that we could be registered with the police – a standard practice for foreign visitors – but we got them back within 15 minutes. Given the country's stormy history, it's not surprising that the Serbian authorities want to know who is visiting their country.

We then went on a tour of Belgrade, including: 

•  A drive past some government buildings that had been damaged by NATO bombing in 1999; some have been repaired, while others have not.  This is the former Ministry of Defense building in the heart of downtown Belgrade. It has been left in place in part as a reminder of what many Serbs regard as unwarranted U.S. and NATO intervention in the Kosovo war.

•  Drinks at an outdoor café on Ada Ciganlija lake, where on warm summer days many locals come to swim (the weather was cool and cloudy when we were there, and only a few hardy types were swimming).

• A stop at the Belgrade rail station (opened in 1884) where Tom had a good time photographing rail equipment as well as the station itself.

• A visit to St. Sava's Temple. Construction of this massive Serbian Orthodox temple began in 1935, was suspended in 1941, and resumed in 1985; the interior is still under construction. The beautiful exterior  is built mainly of white marble. It's quite an undertaking for modern times. Here, Dušan and Nevena stand in the plaza in front of the temple.

We ended up in the Skadarlija neighborhood, a charming area with cobblestone streets, many of whose buildings were decorated with large-scale murals.

We ate at Šešir Moj restaurant.

The sign in front of the restaurant translates the name as “This Old Hat of Mine” and offers this description: “Charming turn of the century old Belgrade ambiance with authentic music and traditional food.” The sign was right on all counts, and we had a very filling dinner that included cheese, meat, bread and salad as appetizers, a plate of three types of meat plus French fries as the main course, and a multifaceted dessert that included cookies, a Baklava-like pastry, a baked apple with whipped cream topping, and more. 

Dušan and Nevena made the decisions about what to order, including beginning with a local aperitif, rakija, which we enjoyed very much. We sat outside on the flower-decorated patio and enjoyed the street life passing by. The weather seemed to get warmer as the evening progressed, and it was, as Marcia said, possibly the nicest meal we had had in Europe. 

It was a lovely afternoon and evening with our two young hosts, both of whom were very eager to show us as much as they could in a day-and-a-half.  Dušan, who was 22 at the time of our visit, is a fount of knowledge on the history of his city and country. He has been living in the city while completing his college-level education, but also has responsibility for the family farm about 60 km away, which produces cheese. Since graduating, he has been devoting much of his time to building up the cheese business by selling the farm’s products at a local market. He is also hoping to develop the farm as an agritourism attraction, with an inn, restaurant, and farm experience for the guests. The Serbian bureaucracy puts a number of obstacles in the way of anyone trying to start a small business, but Dušan has good ideas and a strong will, so we believe that if anyone can get this done, he can.

At the time we were there, Nevena had only one more exam to take before graduating with a degree in hospitality (she has since graduated). She was working one night a week in a local hotel and planned to look for a full time job once she had her degree. She was quite eager to return to the U.S. for seasonal employment, but she would need to be a student to qualify for a visa. She was working on a plan to make all this happen, and we are confident that she will find a way to do so. Both of our young friends had impressed us when we got to know them in Alaska, but after seeing them on their home ground, we came away even more struck by how determined and committed they were to achieving their goals in life. 

The next morning, our first stop was the railway museum in the headquarters building of the Serbian national rail system, Železnice Srbije, which had this 1917 narrow gauge steam locomotive outside.

It’s a huge building, occupying most or all of a city block. Soon after we entered the museum, a guide arrived to show us around. Her English wasn’t great, but it was much better than our non-existent Serbian. The museum consisted of a few rooms with photos, maps, artifacts and models documenting the history of railways in Serbia, which began operations 1884. She mentioned that 3,000 people work in the railway’s headquarters, which Tom thought was an astonishing number for such a small operation.

She was shocked that we were only going to be in Serbia for a day-and-a-half, and said we needed to come back and spend at least a month to see the entire country. Our hosts also made that point several times. 

From there, we did some more touring around Belgrade, including a drive past Dušan’s family’s house. It’s in a nice, leafy neighborhood, where the houses seem in better condition than the numerous high-rise apartment buildings around the city. The city has 1.5 million people and most seem to live in Communist-era housing, which are stark high rise concrete buildings that are showing their age and lack of maintenance.  Many of the buildings, public and private, need exterior maintenance and a good cleaning.

In the photo above, note the air conditioning units mounted on the outside of the building. This was a common sight throughout Belgrade, where many structures predate the use of central air conditioning. The problem with the external units in the past was that they drained to the outside, causing corrosion of the mounting hardware, which in turn meant that they would occasionally fall to the ground, killing or injuring pedestrians. A law was eventually passed requiring the units to be drained inside, rather than outside, according to Dušan.

Next came a visit to a mountaintop memorial at Avala, about half an hour southeast of Belgrade. The memorial is dedicated to the unknown soldiers who served Serbia during the wars of 1912-18. But rather than a military-style memorial, the statues are those of Serbian woman of various backgrounds, whose common thread was that they were the mothers, wives, sisters and loved ones of those who died during the war period. All the women of Serbia lost someone during that time.

The memorial is very popular with both locals and tourists – two large groups arrived during our short time there. Its location on the mountaintop made it vulnerable to damage during World War II, when it was reportedly hit by bombs or artillery, leaving it scarred in a few spots. One source attributes the damage to NATO's 1999 bombing campaign. In either case, the damage to the monument was one more indicator of the region's turbulent history.

Nearby is a tall TV tower, which replaced one on the same site that was destroyed by NATO in 1999. At the time, it was the tallest structure ever destroyed in such an attack (a distinction that lasted only until the September 11, 2001, collapse of the World Trade Center towers). The 204-meter tower that stands here today is the tallest structure in the Balkans.

At the top is an observation deck that provided us with an excellent view of the surrounding area.  

Belgrade was far enough away that we couldn’t see much detail of the city, and Dušan said parts of the city were hidden by hills.  Still, since it was a nice, sunny day, and we got a great view of the area. 

We drove back toward Belgrade and then back into the hills where we stopped for lunch at Restaurant Rubin, a very nice place with outside seating overlooking one part of the city.  We shared servings of ground lamb cooked in pastry shells, as well as spinach pie, and finished the meal off with a cream puff-like dessert filled with custard. From the restaurant, we had a nice view of Avala and the tower where we had been that morning.

As we did throughout Europe, we tried to drink only local or regional wines, and with this meal we enjoyed a bottle of Chardonnay from Montenegro, another former component of Yugoslavia.

On our way back into Belgrade, we passed the National Assembly building. Construction began in 1907, but was delayed by World War I, and the original plans were lost. The building finally opened in 1936.

Searching for a parking space can be a time-consuming and frustrating process in downtown Belgrade, and the parking rules are strictly enforced. Once you find a space, there are various methods of paying for it. Dušan used one we had never seen before: texting his car's license plate number, and the number of the parking zone we were in, to a central parking authority. The parking fee is added to your cell phone bill, and parking enforcement officers can use their mobile devices to verify that the fee has been paid; if not, your car will be ticketed. 

We did finally locate a parking space near our destination, the Belgrade Fortress. After a walk through Kalemegdan Park, we arrived at the fortress, which is on a hill overlooking the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers.

Because of its strategic location, this was the site of the original settlement and fortification at what is now Belgrade. Archaeologists have dated settlements in this area to as long ago as 6000 BC, and the first known fortress on this site was established by a Celtic tribe around 300 BC. The Romans followed, building a fortress here in the first century AD. Later conquests by invading forces necessitated frequent reconstruction. Much of today's fortress was erected during a period of Austrian rule between 1718 and 1738.

The fortress was more than a military installation – it was a virtual city unto itself, as illustrated by two churches that are part of the Fortress complex: the Ružica (Rose) Church, originally a gunpowder magazine in the 18th century...

 

And nearby, Saint Petka's Chapel.

The fortress and adjoining Kalemegdan Park are a popular place with Belgrade residents, particularly on a warm, sunny day like the one we had.

We started at the top of the fortress, walked down to a river-level park, and then back up again.  Archaeologists continue to unearth new discoveries in the fortress area, a process that will presumably go on for some time to come.  The top of the hill provided some great views of Novi Beograd (New Belgrade). In this photo, the skyscraper on the opposite side of the Sava River is Ušće Tower (Ušće means confluence). The smaller building in front of the tower is the Museum of Contemporary Art. The tower was a target of the 1999 bombing, and the museum sustained damage as well. 

Belgrade has a lively nightlife scene and the river boats often serve as restaurants and clubs.

From the park we entered a pedestrian shopping mall, and we soon passed the pedestrian hub of downtown Belgrade, Republic Square, whose most prominent feature is the Prince Mihailo Monument (Dušan said that it's common for Belgrade residents to use "the horse" as a meeting point). The building in the background is the National Theater.

We learned that Dušan supports one of the major Serbian football (soccer) teams – Red Star – while Nevena is a fan of its rival, Partizan. We wanted a sports souvenir and since we didn’t find anything suitable in the city's main shopping area, we set off toward the Red Star official store several blocks away (Nevena deferred to Dušan on most questions related to our itinerary). But, as we were headed that way, she recalled that there was a Partizan store much closer, so Dušan grudgingly but good humoredly said that perhaps we should check it out. End of search.

Our last sightseeing was a drive to the neighborhood of Zemun, which had another wonderful view of the city and rivers. At this hour, in late afternoon, the light was wonderful.

This area had stone streets, with large rocks unevenly placed in the road. Some rocks were missing, which made the walking especially challenging.

Our last Belgrade meal included a beautiful view of the city at sunset at Restaurant Caruso, across the street from our hotel.  

Dušan and Nevena had found a small bottle of rakija to give us as a souvenir of our visit. We both had “light” salads, which were again more than enough food by our American standards. But it was all delicious! (Click here to watch a brief, nicely produced English-language video about Serbian food; the very last scene was shot at this restaurant.)

Dušan graciously offered to pick us up at 6:00 A.M. the next day so that we could make it to the airport in time for our early flight to Copenhagen, where we would transfer to a flight to Helsinki. He made sure that we successfully navigated the check-in process, and he then waited until we were past the security screening before leaving the terminal. Throughout our visit to Belgrade, both he and Nevena went out of their way to ensure that we had a good experience, and we left Serbia feeling very grateful for everything they had done for us. 

Our JAT flight left as scheduled shortly after 8:00 A.M. As we took off, we had a view of the Danube and the surrounding farmland. It was our last look at Serbia before our plane ascended into the clouds, but we hope to return someday for a longer visit.

Text and images ©2011 Tom and Marcia Murray 

Return to blog home page