Whenever anyone asked me what cities I’d be visiting over the course of Remote Year, when I mentioned Belgrade, Serbia, there was always a pause. I didn’t know what to say about it, having heard very little about Serbia and Belgrade generally. It turned out not to be so bad, but was probably among my least favorite stops of the year.
Belgrade is super gritty and many parts of it are not traditionally beautiful in the way you think of other European cities like Paris and Prague. In fact, there are still a few buildings throughout the city that were bombed during the NATO air campaign against Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War in 1999. These buildings sit largely untouched since the bombings, gutted insides exposed, serving as a reminder the city’s rough history.
These buildings stand in stark contrast to the beautiful open areas that dot the city like the Kalemegdan Citadel, a fortress overlooking the Danube and Sava Rivers, which offers beautiful sunset views.
The first weekend I was in Belgrade, one of my good friends from college, Matt, came to visit. He was going to be in London visiting another friend and thought I was going to be in Prague during that first week of August. When I told him I’d actually be in Belgrade, but he was welcome to come there, I was pleasantly surprised when he said yes. Following a tourist map he got in the airport, we created our own walking tour and crisscrossed the city. We started at St. Sava Temple, the world’s second largest Orthodox church. It is beautiful on the outside, its silhouette dominating Belgrade’s skyline, but after 80 years remains unfinished on the inside.
From St. Sava we walked to the other side of town, stopping at the Belgrade Palace, the Presidential Palace and St. Mark’s Church along the way until we wound up at Republic Square, back in the heart of the city. To close out the day, we took a stroll through Skadarlija, the Bohemian Quarter, which is all cobblestone and filled with cute bars, restaurants and stores.
Overall, Belgrade was a big adjustment for me because of the language, which sounds like nothing I’ve heard before and is written in the Cyrillic alphabet, so it’s impossible to even sound out words. However, hands down my least favorite thing about living in Belgrade was the fact that smoking indoors is still very much acceptable and there were many meals that I couldn’t properly enjoy because I was waving away the smoke from someone at the table next to me. I kept thinking I’d get used to it, but to no avail. Add that to the fact that the food in Belgrade isn’t great to begin with (lots of meat and little finger sausages), and it was not pleasant. (The few exceptions to the bad food were Homa, Manufaktura and Marukoshi; check them out if for whatever reason you find yourself in Belgrade.)
The saving grace for our time in Belgrade was that we were there during the summer. I’ve heard from other Remote Year programs who went this fall that when it’s cold and rainy, it is even harder to enjoy the city and escape the smoke. Belgrade is heavy on the party culture and since we were there during the warmer months of the year, we were able to take advantage of the many club boats that line the Sava River at this time of year. The crowd favorite was the aptly named “Hot Mess” where Remote Year hosted our welcome party to Belgrade. Another crowd favorite was "Shake 'n' Shake", which boasted hammocks jutting out over the water.
The street art throughout the city was also pretty cool; a fact I'd forgotten until looking through my pictures from so many months ago. While I’m not itching to get back to Serbia like I am to a few other places I’ve been this year, it was certainly an experience to remember!
