Belgrade

We both did workouts in the morning followed by a very filling buffet breakfast at the hostel before heading out to explore Belgrade.

We started our time in Belgrade with one of our favourite activities - a free walking tour. This was definitely necessary as the history had so much history (some of it very complicated and tragic) and it was so interesting hearing the local perspective. The walking tour we did was called the ‘Downtown Walking Tour’ which commenced in the centre of Belgrade, Republic Square. The walking tour was definitely the best way to get around because although Belgrade has old trams that run through part of the city, it is the largest European city without a metro.

We met our tour guide, Željko, who of course gave us a great overview of the city and the history of the country. We learnt that the Serbian empire settled in the city of Belgrade in around the 6th or 7th century AD, in the 15th century the Ottomans ruled the area until liberation throughout the late 1800s (and some areas of Serbia were not liberated until the early 1900s) and of course there was a lot of political and social unrest in the region in the 20th century (including starting with the Balkan Wars at the beginning of the 20th century). Belgrade's architecture is really interesting because there is such a mix of styles side by side. You can see "brutalist"/"socialist" architecture right next to modern skyscrapers and older traditional styles. This is partially because the city has been destroyed/bombed many times so only parts have been rebuilt in new styles (particularly after WW1 and WW2).

The guide took us through the pedestrian walkway in the city called Prince Michael Street. Prince Michael was very important for the liberation of the country in the late 1800s and a statue of him on a horse can be found in Republic Square. Even with changes of governments, the name of the pedestrian street has not changed which is surprising and indicative of his influence.

We then walked through Kalemegdan Park which is the place of the Belgrade fortress. From Kalemegdan Park, you can see an amazing view over the Danube River (which actually runsthrough 10 countries) and see where it meets the Sava River which is 950km long). Belgrade is the only Central European city to be at intersection of two main rivers which meant it has always been one of the most strategic positions in Europe. It is actually considered the second most important geopolitical location in the world (after Istanbul). From this point, you can see where our floating hostel is which is part of New Belgrade which was built after WW2. The New Belgrade area is very flat (European plane) as opposed to the Belgrade side which is very hilly area.

Of course, in Sarajevo, we learnt about the assassination of archduke Franz Ferdinand and how this was an event which triggered the start of WWI (as well as the array of conflict which was brewing across Europe). In Belgrade, the first bombs and casualties of the war occurred. After the assassination, the Austrian-Hungarian empire sent Serbia a list of demands (remembered as one of the hardest ultimatums ever given by one country to another). Serbia agreed to many of the demands but they could not agree to the 2 demands which required that during the investigation into the assassination, the Austrian-Hungarian army would be in charge of the Serbian army and the Austrian-Hungarian court would be in charge of the Serbian court. As a result, exactly one month after the assassination, the Austrian-Hungarian forces entered down from the river to invade and started bombing.

We then walked through the Kalemegdan fortress which looks really impressive and you can see the different time periods of occupation. The fortress was first built by the Romans in 3BC, Chinese hans then pushed the Romans away, the Byzantine’s then arrived, then Slavic people arrived in 6th century while other people were also still in Belgrade. We learnt that Belgrade was never fully Serbian until the 14th century when the Serbian king married a Hungarian, then through the 15th century Serbia was slowly given to Hungary. In 1878, Belgrade got its independence and since then Belgrade has been the capital of 10 different countries without ever moving location. Belgrade means ‘white city’ because of the white colour of the stones on the fortress. Interestingly, the fortress has been destroyed by war 40 times.

At the fortress, you can also see the Victor statue which is a now famous symbol of Belgrade. It was created to represent victory after WWI. There was some controversy as to whether it should be in the main square (because the local women did not want a statue of a naked man in the centre of the city) so it was placed at the fortress (which, funnily enough, is now the most visited and viewed tourist attractions in Belgrade).

We then finished the tour nearby the bohemian area which has a lot of Turkish/ottoman influence. There are lots of cool restaurants and cafes around this area.

Our tour guide was fantastic and we learnt a lot about Serbia’s history throughout the tour. We also learnt some other interesting things along the way. For example, we saw the oldest primary school in Belgrade which is 300 years old and is where the first game of basketball in Serbia was played in 1923. We also learnt some Serbian words and learnt about how two alphabets are used (the Latin and Cyrillic alphabets). Serbian is an easy language to learn as there are 30 characters in the Cyrillic alphabets- one for a completely different sound- and the language is perfectly phonetic (I.e. there are no annoying silent letters or strange pronunciations!)

After a lot of information, we went to a nearby truffle shop recommended by our guide and tried some different truffle pastes (including one with paprika!) and some very interesting truffle wine. We didn't know truffles can be found in the mountains in Serbia.

We made our way back to the hostel where we hired e-scooters from the hostel and went up through New Belgrade to the Zemun area to explore along the water. This is one of the oldest areas of Belgrade and has nice cobblestones and cute restaurants (but the cobblestones were not so nice for the e-scooters!) We enjoyed riding along through the park (the scooters can get reasonably fast) and enjoying the breeze on the scooters after such a hot day of walking around without any relief!

We then dropped the scooters back at the hostel and when for ćevapi and palaćinke (pancakes) for dinner which was very filling! We then went back to the hostel and watched a movie before going to bed.Read more