Belgrade - The white City

The statue of Prince Mihailo on Republic Square

I traveled to Belgrade by train and it took me about 10 hours and had to change two trains but the connections were very good and didn’t have to wait much between them. All the formalities at the border were made on the train and it didn’t take much time, around half an hour. Two beautiful Serbian girls (in a tight uniform) checked my passport and asked me where I was going and how long will I stay, and for a moment I really fancied the idea of getting arrested by them.

So I arrived in Belgrade in the morning around 10 o’clock, went at the hostel, which was right across the train station. By the way, the train and bus station are in the center of the city so if you arrive there, you are in walkin’ distance of the city center and most of the places worth seeing.

Pobednik (The Victor), a symbol of Belgrade

St Sava Cathedral - biggest Orthodox Cathedral in the world - Had a flag on it saying "Kosovo is Serbia"

Here are some things I managed to see during my 3 days while in Belgrade:

• Kalemegdan Fortress • was built by the Turks and it’s a great place to visit. Great parks, lots of people walkin around, I heard there’s even a Zoo. It’s really impressive to see Sava river flowing into the Danube and Kalemegdan, which lies on a hill, offers the best view.
• St Sava Cathedral • biggest orthodox cathedral in the world. It really huge and if you’re lucky enough to get there when its several bells start ringing it’s a great experience.
• Knez Mihailova pedestrian street • you cant miss it, it’s the very heart of Belgrade. A lot of open bars, shops, bars, restaurants, pubs open till late hours of the night.
• Skadarlya (Skadarska) street • pedestrian as well, with great restaurants, live traditional music, bohemian atmosphere.
  

  House painted wall on Skadarlya Street (great optical ilusion)
• Republic Square • the city center.
• The bombed buildings by NATO in 1999 left standing as a testimony of the War.
• Ada Ciganlija on the river Sava with floating bars and clubs and great nightlife (didn’t manage to visit that one but the locals all recommended it). Also another thing I missed was the New Belgrade on the other side of the river, which I heard it’s very nice.

Another thing that hit me on Belgrade was that everyone was drinkin’ a lot of coffee. A LOT!! I was in this pub and it was almost 12 into the night and the barman still took orders on coffee. I was left wondering if these people ever sleep? Also another thing I’ve noticed was the great amounts of ice cream the Serbs eat. Everywhere I was lookin there was ice cream in all kinds of variations and flavours.

Hotel Moscow

I’m not much into ice cream unless they will invent the beer flavoured one, but I bet for the girls and all the ice cream fans this is the place.

Now about the food: it’s great, I really enjoyed it. You should really check Skadarlya Street with the traditional Serbian food and live traditional music. Also try the pastry products, are fantastic. If you wanna grab a quick bite, try TOMA’s near Republic Square, they have the best pastry and fantastic pizza • you can buy it on slice as well. Theres also pleskavica, the Serbian version of hamburger, you must try that as well.

Safety: I felt safer than never, in the city center everything is just fine, there’s quite a lot of police on the streets and each night I was walkin back to the hostel.

Park

First night I tried to get a cab but the barman from the pub told me its perfectly safe and indeed it was. If you still intend to get a cab, then be careful not to get overcharged, and it’s good to ask some locals which taxies are worth takin.

So that’s me on Belgrade :) I had great time durin my 3 days there and hope I’ll be back soon, maybe when I’ll be heading to Montenegro. Cheers!

PS: Apparently tourists in Serbia require registering at the nearest police station, tellin how long they’ll stay and where they’ll stay through their journey. I did that at the train station, there was a police station there, but a policeman told me I don’t have to do it after finding out I’ll only stay for 3 days. Then the girl from the hostel said that they’ll take care of everything for me, and they will register for me. So I just had this card and I was told to keep it in case I will be asked to show it when leaving the country, otherwise I could get a 50 euro fine. I presume that all the hotels and hostels register for their clients so they wont have to do it. Throughout my time in Serbia and even when I was at the border leaving the country, no one asked me if I registered or not so I guess its not a big deal after all.