Things to do in Belgrade

I've been a bit uninspired lately, so in response to Belgrade.com’s new list of “things to do in Belgrade” for foreigners/visitors, I decided to go through it for my own interest and see what I had accomplished from that list, with my own opinions about it.


- Look for an music or art event in Students’ cultural center (SKC) – there’s great chance something interesting is on.

Good call, I’ve seen several interesting concerts there, including Darko Rundek and Mike Patton (although highly anticipated for me, that turned out to be somewhat of a disappointment, way too much artsy screaming and howling and not enough *music*). Also been to see some cool comic book/strip art exhibitions there, as well as a handful of smallish parties/ cocktail gatherings and even a pretty good bluegrass band playing. So yes, always something interesting going on at SKC.


- Buvljak – New Belgrade flea market is always a good place to lose a couple of hours.

Took a wrong turn and ended up here the first time I went looking for Blok 70, Belgrade’s Chinatown. This place is a huge, messy, chaotic and interesting mess to wander around for awhile. Cheap cheap goods everywhere. It’s a bit in the middle of nowhere in Novi Beograd but a quaint place to check out at least once, if you’re into ghetto flea market kind of places.


-Try water skiing – just a couple of kms away from the city center – at the end of Ada Ciganlija lake.

Never tried this, but seen it plenty of times. Looks snazzy, you get to ski on a circular “track” in the water, pulled along at high speed by a sort of ski lift handle. For show-offs, mostly.


-The Roman Well (Rimski bunar) at Kalemegdan is an interesting place for fans of mysterious and scary stories.

It’s in Kalamegdan. It’s closed off. There’s a lot of history behind it, just as all in all of Kalamegdan. That’s pretty much all I know about it.


- Slavija Square hides a mystery as well. Sometimes it’s a mystery how come not so many cars crash when driving around it.

Oh-so-true. Slavija looks, sounds and bustles like a roundabout from Pakistan or Nigeria or something. Yet Serbs, being confident and efficiently aggressive drivers, somehow make it work. Sort of. I have seen a few fender benders there, and my friend reports that the intersection on one side of it, where trams, buses and cars simultaneously merge onto Nemanjina, is the #1 pedestrian death zone in Belgrade, so keep your wits about ya when crossing.


- A quest for bakeries, cakes and sweets shops in Belgrade is always rewarding one.

Yeah, I guess, if you’re not used to the food around here, try some burek or pita or something. Ask locals for good bakeries though. Bad burek will make you feel like crap for the rest of the day. Some bakeries leave their goods out all day, so earlier is always better.


- Zeleni Venac pedestrian passage offers a thrill of living on the other side of the law, as well as a cozy little black market shopping area.

This one is easy to check out and pretty fun. The “other side of the law” refers to the dozen or so gypsy sellers that line the passage, conversing/arguing loudly between themselves and hussling passer-bys. During rush hours the passage is filled to absolute capacity with commuters heading to/from the buses at the station next to it, it feels like a small taste of the New York subway or something.


- Find a local souvenir salesman at Kalemegdan or in Skadarlija and browse through weird Belgrade memorabilia – like the five hundred billion dinar note, now being sold for about one hundred dinars.

Yes, this can be cool and fun, lots of interesting and nifty little souvenirs and thingies there, although sometimes the sellers will try to rip you off if you reek to much of tourist money.


- Go see the oldest preserved house in Belgrade in Cara Dusana street 10. House was finished in 1727, which makes it almost 300 years old. Considering Belgrade was bombed five times in previous century alone, this is deemed as a great success.

It’s a nice looking empty house.


- Vukov spomenik underground station reminds us that we do need a subway system in Belgrade. It is also a fun and long ride down.

Yeah this place is worth a look, there’s a neat looking mural/bench down there, some smoky coffee places. Most interesting for me is the underground gaming center you get to through one of the side doors. Inside are some halls that accommodate a dozen or so LAN gaming centers, cafes, computers stores, etc. The place has a seriously gritty, futuristic/underground cyberpunk feel to it, like someplace out of a techno-thriller or something. It never, ever sleeps, and you’ll find all kinds of geeks and hardcore technophiles/gamers milling around (but mostly intensively gaming) at any hour of the day. You could disappear for days down there, completely cut off from daylight, Belgrade, and reality, and I suspect many do. Unlike any place I’ve ever seen, very dark, gritty and atmospheric, highly recommended at least for a look.


- Visit the Red Star football museum – it’s small but managed to inspire Gordon Taylor to organize various football exibitions througout Europe.

I don’t know if this is connected to/part of the Red Star stadium, but that place/area is also worth a look. It’s up on a hill so you can catch a nice view of the downtown area, and you can even check out Ceca’s house (Serbia’s biggest turbofolk star, and the former wife of one of Serbia’s most notorious gangsters from the 90s), a most ridiculous looking yet imposing wedding cake Barbie concrete type of… House, I guess, if you can call it that.


-Try one beer at every stand at the Belgrade Beer Festival, held every august in Belgrade.

Beer Fest was a great time the first year I went there, when it was still held at the bottom of Kalamegdan, providing the most awesome backdrop for a large open air drunk fest I’ve ever seen. This past summer though it was held across the river in the large field of Usce, and I just couldn’t enjoy it as much. Highly overcrowded, overpriced, and Usce is one gigantic dustbowl. People were complaining about blowing their noses and coming up with nasty black soot and dust for days afterwards, and I had to hear about it from every single person during my language classes.


- Kosutnjak is a bit away from the city center, but if you like hiking, this enormous park is the perfect location. You can rest at Ski staza (Ski path) cafe while you’re there. Ski staza got it’s name because the steep hill under the cafe actually is perfect for skiing lovers in the winter time (ok, it’s not perfect, but it’s the only ski path near city center).

I used to live by this park. It’s awesome, albeit yes, a bit out of the way from the city center. One of the few places where you can really get away from the crowds of the center, go for a nice long job or hike, have a nice barbeque, etc. Ski Staza café is also really cool, with perhaps the coolest vista of the city center you can find in Belgrade. Highly recommended.


- The Tram number two (Krug dvojke) unguided tour of the Belgrade city center. I’ve mentioned this one before, but it’s a good tip, so it has to be on the list.

Yeah, it’s an easy way to get a good look-see of the main parts of the city. Kind of like going on the mono-rail to get a whole view of the park when you enter Disneyland or something.
If someone tells you they are from within the Krug dvojke part of the city, they are usually “fancy” a.k.a the snobbish segment of party people in Belgrade.


- Go to a Belgrade football derby, between Red Star and Partizan and observe some of the loudest and wildest football fans in Europe.

For the brave and adventurous, or those who just like to see chaos, destruction and testosterone let loose. The stadium destruction and mayhem following some of these matches is a sight to behold, I can tell you from experience.


- Ada Medjica river island is a non-mainstream version of Ada Ciganlija. It’s your choice really.

Ada Medjica is awesome, lots of lovely little river shacks all along the bank, a most fantastic spot for an afternoon of barbecuing and drinking rakija, if you ever have to chance to go there. You need to take a little ferry to get there.


- Take a stroll in Balkanska street and find a vintage hat from one of the stores that somehow survived the modernization.

I lived on this street during my first 6 months in Serbia, and it was a cool place to have my very first impressions of Belgrade. It’s a steep-ass hill, and is actually a serious hike that will take you right from the train station area directly into the very center of the city on Terazije, next to hotel Moskva. On the occasional icy day that blows through Belgrade, the steepness can actually be a bit dangerous. I once saw a man fall and slide 20 feet down before coming to a stop. It was hilarious in the end because he wasn’t hurt, but you could be less lucky. Good pljeskavica place near the top of the street. Definitely worth a look, it reeks of old Balkan atmosphere and mystique.


- Pass through Bezistan passage connecting Terazije street and Nikole Pasica square and try to imagine that this place was the favorite spot for rockers, punkers and other Belgrade headbangers.

I had no idea about the rockers n’ whatnot. It’s just a passage I go through often… Nikola Pasica square is pretty cool, nice fountain there, nice view of the Parliament(s), a long view down the main Boulevar…


- Cab rides – engage in a conversation with the cabbie about politics, life, universe and everything else, because they know all about it. If the conversation turns out ok, tip the driver. If not, try not to get ripped off. Most cab drivers like to talk with the customers, or to be more specific, they just like to talk. Good thing is that you can find out about various things known only to the taxi drivers of the world – global and local economy, where’s the good food, where’s the best place to drink, which cafes are open 24 hours, which politician is sleeping around, and useful things like that.

Not much to add on this one. Taxis in Belgrade are always something of a small adventure.


- Flirt with a Belgrade girl or guy (see the comment from Anonymous Manslut on some tips for the girls concerning Serbian girls). Or just observe from distance.

Oh yes, this is most certainly highly, highly recommended. Fortune favors the bold! :)


- If lost in the city center, ask one of the police officers for directions. They need to practice their foreign language skills and you need to practice your Serbian.

Yeaaaaah, I think Viktor is being cheeky on this one. As a general rule, I just give police officers a wide, wide berth in Belgrade. The few that I have had encounters with are usually not friendly at all, albeit respectful (somewhat). One was most particularly and unnecessarily rude when I was just sitting in front of a church, he was bored with nothing to do and just went out of his way to hassle me and try to f*** me up for anything. It was only the fortuitously timed arrival of my at-that-time-visiting mother with her elderly friend that kept him in check. Others though, on occasion, I admit, have been surprisingly friendly, usually after I tell them I’m in Serbia (because they always ask why you’re here, if you’re a foreigner) because of a Serbian girl.


- Have a smoke in the smokers’ section – in a local hospital building. With most of the neighbor countries starting to think about banning smoking in public places, Serbia remains as an nicotine-filled island of joy for many smokers.

Yes, if you smoke and like cancer sticks, welcome to your Nirvana.


- Visit Etnological museum in Vasina street across the street from the Belgrade University and try to discover what kept Jean Paul Gottier there for three hours, forgetting the fact he’s obviously insane.

Myeaaaah. Decent museum, if you’re into that. I was highly bored, although that may have had something to do with the overcaffeinated and annoying company I was with at the time I visited.


- Go to a nearby green market and buy some tasty fruit from a local farmer.

Sure, why not. As they said in one South Park episode, “it’s so cultural!”