Belgrade, the capital of Serbia (and Montenegro), is one of a rare misfortuned cities in the world, bombed by NATO 1999. And now, after 7 years and dead of Miloshevic's regime (partly responsible for a civil war in ex Yugoslavia), is now one of the most visited cities in E. Europe. Just for that reason, in case you don't know, Belgrade is one of the oldest cities in Europe, first settled in the3rd century BC by Celts, before becoming Roman settlement called Singidunum. Name Belgrade first time is mentioned in 878 AD and it has been capital of Serbia since 1404 and was the capital of Yugoslavia from 1918 till recent. The city lies at the confluence of rivers Sava and Danub in north central Serbia, and since ancient times, it has been an important traffic focal point: an intersection of roads of Eastern and Western Europe. The first human settlements on Belgrade soil developed as far back as 7000 years ago, told out by numerous archaeological sites with material evidence, ranging from the culture of the Old Stone Age and other prehistoric cultures, to the Middle Ages. The sites are not arranged for visitors, but material remnants are for the most part kept in the National Museum. There are almost 300 cultural monuments within the territory of Belgrade, among which 57 are of utmost and significant importance for the culture of Serbia and Belgrade. 192 monuments and 237 sculptures supplement the beauty of Belgrade squares and public gardens in ten town municipalities. A considerable Celtic cultural influence have been woven into the spiritual culture of the Singidunum inhabitants, and later mixed with Roman classical cultural elements. The Romans conquered Belgrade in the beginning of the I century A.D. and it has been under their rule for full four centuries. The Serbian rule over Belgrade began in 1284, when the Serbian king Dragutin, son-in-law and vassal of the Hungarian king Ladislav IV was given rule over Mačva and Belgrade. It was a period of intensive settling of Serbian population and increasing influence of the Serbian Orthodox Church. The seat of Sandžak (district) was moved from Smederevo to Belgrade and more intensive development of the town began. Crafts and trade prosper more and more in newly reconstructed town of oriental look, the meeting point of merchants from Dubrovnik, Venice, Greece and Austria, as well as craftsmen: the Turks, Armenians, Gypsies and Serbs. But soon enough, Belgrade started to be conquered by Hungarians and later Turks, then Austrians and Germans in II World War...
POPULATION The official population of the Belgrade region is 1,576,124. Unofficially (taking into account the large number of refugees and displaced from ex Yugoslavia), population probably surpasses 2 million. It is the largest city on the territory of the ex Yugoslavia, by population ranks fourth in the Balkans after Istanbul, Athens and Bucharest. Belgrade is also the capital of Serbian culture, education and economy. As a result of its tumultuous history, many nations live in Belgrade for centuries, and the majority of population makes Serbs (86%) of Orthodox persuasion. The official language is Serbian, while tourists are recommended to use English. The climate in Belgrade is moderate continental. Belgrade is in the Central European Time (CET) zone (GMT+1 hour). Summer time counting lasts from end of March until end of October (GMT+2 hour). The official monetary unit is dinar (CSD), but EURO will do as well (official exchange rate is 1 EUR=87 CSD). Belgrade area code for domestic calls is 011, and for international calls it is ++381-11.
PARKS One of the most beautiful sites to be seen is a park in Belgrade. There's one located between the Boulevard Kralja Aleksandra, Kralja Milana, Kneza Miloša and Dragoslava Jovanovića Streets. Until 1944 it has been surrounded with a high wall and served as a garden of the Old Palace (now the City Assembly of Belgrade). In honor of the great writer of Yugoslav literature and Nobel laureate Ivo Andrić, a promenade named Andrićev Venac was built between the park and Kralja Milana Street, and a monument was raised up. It is thought that in as early as the Roman times there was the center of the Singidunum settlement. In this area, at the time of Turks, there were winding streets with gardens, drinking fountains and mosques. In the middle of XIX century, in the upper part of the street was the garden of Knez Aleksandar Karađorđević. The houses have been built there and the most influential and wealthiest families of the commercial and political society of Belgrade have come to live there. In 1870, the city authorities officially gave a name to this street - Knez Mihailo Street.
The most beautiful and biggest park in Belgrade is Kalemegdan Park, which is also the most important cultural and historical complex, in which the Belgrade Fortress stands high above the Sava and Danube confluence. The name Kalemegdan applies only to the spacious plateau surrounding the Fortress, which was turned into a park in the eighties of the XIX century. Its name derives from the Turkish words kale (field) and megdan (battle). The Turks also called it Fichir-bair, which means "the contemplation hill". Kalemegdan now includes the Military Museum, Cvijeta Zuzorić Art Pavilion, City Institute for Protection of Cultural Monuments, Zoo, a children's amusement park, a large number of sports fields, restaurants…There's an ancient urban story living through years now, that under Kalemegdan Park there are old Roman tunnels, (places where the weapon was held), that lead to a mysterious labyrinth halls, that served well to an early Christian movement. More then half of those are still not explored because they go too deep underground. There is a museum, where you can find an official historical story, but of course that is just an official storyJ But if you enter a small door, into a fortress, which is charged very little, you can view an old Roman Well that goes deep into a ground and if you drop a coin in, you can stand there for ages, expecting to hear the drop fall into a water. Well, this place is a perfect set for a good story, because a side stairs that lead into a deep are closed for visitors, for a good reason. There are a lots of urban stories related to this place that can give you a creeps, not just because of the chill in between ancient walls.
FESTIVALS Belgrade is having lots of festivals, during entire year: a theatre, film, and all sorts. Most visited are an International Contemporary Theatre Festival BITEF that takes place in October and an International Film Festival FEST, which takes place right after the Berlin Film Festival. This time, I want to tell a little story about FEST, International Film Festival. Every year FEST, the International Film Festival in Belgrade Serbia presents award nomination big budgets and art internationally awarded films, shown on the Berlin Film Festival or the Cannes Film Festival. During its 34 years, this festival hosted big names in the filmmaking show business. This time, Belgrade's FEST 2006 opened, most acknowledged Bosnian film director Emir Kusturica. The festival opened Jim Jarmucsh's film "Broken Flowers" and was closed with Wenders' film "Don't come knocking". A first guest of the festival was Anna Karina, French actress and a singer once married to a great Jean Lik Goddard. Festival also presented exhibition of Wim Wenders' photographs and solo concert of Anna Karina. One of the most important guest of the festival was, no doubt Wim Wenders, who also presented his Art Photography (presented by Haunch of Venison-London) in the Salon of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade, called "Pictures from the surface of the earth".
RESTOURANTS There are different kinds of restaurants in Belgrade. Most popular are settled in Skadarlija Street, an old street with a lovely traditional Serbian food intimate places, certainly cheaper from restaurants in UK. Also you can find brewery with a variety of Serbian draft beer on Skadarlija Street and on Terazije Square, where larger coasts only about 1 pound. There's a lovely traditional food restaurant called Dacha, but if you decide to go for this restaurant, then you need taxi, because it is not located in center of the city. In Dacha Restourant, you can find big portions for big people and if you don't finish it (and many don't) you can ask to carry it out as a lunch bag. On Terazije Square there is my favorite Serbian food restaurant and the brewery as well. This is where I like to take my guests from UK, because of my favorite Serbian traditional dish, in the brewery, under Casino Hotel and it is called Karadjordje Steak (Karadjordje Family was a great Serbian royal family). Karadjordje Steak in this restaurant, among Belgrade singles is popularly called "a girly dream", because of the way it is prepared. Prepared steak resembles on a big penis in erection and its very tasty, served with different sauces or mayo. Whatever you decide to go, be prepared for dishes with lots of meat. Meat, meat, meat! But there are delights for vegetarians as well, but then, you have to query about dish you can order, without meat, because most of a traditional dishes simply including meat.
NIGHT LIFE Belgrade has pretty wild nightlife. There are all sorts of nightclubs in Belgrade, depending of music preference. There's a techno, house, electronic, drum n' bass nightclubs, recently most popular is called Underground and it is placed under a biggest Belgrade park, Kalemegdan Park. There's a legendary rock n' roll and gothic clubs for students, called Akademija, a gothic&rock n' roll nightclub for students. You can get information about nightlife, in every ticket service, down town to a center of the city.
HOTELS As for hotels, there are hotels in Belgrade for every budget. You can stay in super expensive hotels on New Belgrade such as Hyatt Regency or Intercontinental Hotel and pay lots of money for staying. Or you can stay in cheap friendly hotels in the center of city for about 30-50 pounds even less per night. Of course, there are hostels for students always full between May till October every year.
MUSEUMS Art museums: National Museum, www.narodnimuzej.org.yu Museum of Applied Arts, www.mpu.org.yu Museum of Modern Art, www.msub.org.yu Cultural and historical museums: Museum of Ethnography, www.etnomuzej.co.yu Historical Museum of Serbia, Nemanjina 24 Street, Jewish Historical Museum, www.jim-bg.org Historical Museum of Yugoslavia, Trg Nikole Pašića 11 Street, Konak Kneginje Ljubice, www.mgb.org.yu Konak kneza Miloša, Rakovički put 2 Street, Museum of the "Banjica" Concentration Camp, Veljka Lukića Kurjaka 3 Street, Museum of Belgrade Fortress, Kalemegdan, Museum of the City of Belgrade www.mgb.org.yu Museum of Yugoslav Cinotheque, Kosovska 11 Street Museum of Theatrical Art www.theatremuseum.org.yu Museum of Serbian Orthodox Church, www.spc.yu Military Museum, Kalemegdan, Museum of Vuk and Dositej, Gospodar Jevremova 21 Street, Zemun Home Museum, Glavna 9 Street Technical and natural-history museums: Museum of Automobiles, Majke Jevrosime 30 Street, Museum of Science and Technology www.mntnet.org.yu Nikola Tesla Museum www.tesla-museum.org Museum of Aviation, Aerodrom "Beograd", Surčin, Museum of Natural History, Njegoševa 51 Street
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