Three days in Serbia

Serbia was the last country on our tour of the Balkans, and I must admit I was a bit hesitant to visit the country that had been at the heart of so many sieges on its neighbors. I wasn’t sure what my reaction would be. However, again we were pleasantly surprised by the warmth of the Serbians we met throughout the country. We left the hotel in Durmitor Park in Montenegro around 9 am and reached the Serbian border an hour later. After another 5 and a half hours of driving through the small towns in Serbia we got to our hotel, Hotel Moskva, in the center of Stari Grad (old town) Belgrade.  A landmark hotel built in 1906, it has been updated and definitely deserves its 4 star status.   The hotel is located on Trg Terazije (Terazije Square) a couple of blocks from Trg Republike (Republic Square), the main plaza of the city which includes the National Theater, National Museum and monument to Prince Mihajlo.

We had dinner at a restaurant, Monument, on Cika Ljubina street which is parallel to the pedestrian street. A pumpkin risotto and a chicken cordon blue was 2425 RSD which is approximately USD 30. The local currency is 95 diner (RSD) to 1 USD.

The next morning we went back to Monument for breakfast and ordered a “special” and “super.”  We could have shared one of them between the two of us. We will know better for tomorrow’s breakfast. The total was 1250 dinar or about USD 12 for both breakfasts.  We took the 1:00 pm open bus tour which departed from the tourist stop in front of City Hall. It lasted for an hour and highlighted numerous buildings, the Fort, New Belgrade, churches and Cathedral and put us in good shape for exploring on our own later.  After we got off the bus, we walked to the lovely Byzantine-style St Marks church.  We walked to the Cathedral of Saint Sava which is one of the biggest Orthodox churches in the world accommodating up to 10,000 worshipers. It was very sparsely decorated as the interior construction is not yet completed.

We went to Skadarska Street or Bohemian Quarter for dinner at Zlatni Bokal, a local restaurant which has been in operation for 100 years, first as a wine cellar, then as a tavern. At 8:30 pm the restaurants were filled with diners and local musicians playing Serbian music. This area, compared to Montmartre in Paris, is also fun to explore in daytime. The cobbled street which dates from the Ottoman Empire is full of well-preserved houses, now converted to restaurants and bars.

The next day we then walked down the main pedestrian street, Knez Mihailova Street, which is a lovely wide street with Baroque buildings mostly dating from the 1870’s. The street terminates at Kalemegdan Park which is home to the Belgrade Fortress. The fortress dates back to the 1st century and has been continually updated, so most of it now is from the 18th century.  Inside the fortress is the tomb of the Ottoman general, Ali Pasha.  The view from the fortress of the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers is worth the climb. The day we were there, it was very dramatic seeing the brown Sava river (due to very heavy recent rains) meet the blue Danube River.

Close to our hotel was Pijaca Zeleni venca, one of the green markets. There are several of these markets throughout the Strazi Grad and are noted on the city map by a scale. The market is definitely worth a visit to see the various local cheeses and pasta. Everything is available here, not only fruits and vegetables but light bulbs and underwear. It’s definitely a local’s market.

Dinner at Little Bay Restaurant (2 blocks from the Bohemian quarter) was our top dining experience in Serbia.  The food was excellent and the atmosphere quite unique. The restaurant is in the form of a small baroque theater including not only plush velvet covered booths on the main floor, but boxes for dining in the balcony area. Little Bay bills itself as “a restaurant within an opera” and the only restaurant dedicated to classical music. Yes, their live music includes musicians singing arias or playing classical music. Diner was 3500 RSD, more expensive than our usual meal, but definitely worth it.

The next day we did a day trip to Srem Kolovaski and Novi Sad, which is the second largest city in Serbia. Srem Kalovaski is very small, really only one main square, but is very picturesque and worth a stop.   All the buildings in the square are in great shape – seminary, school, Orthodox church, and Four Lions Fountain. There are also a lot of wineries in this area.

We drove on to Novi Sad, parked the car and walked to TRG Slobode (Freedom Square. The pedestrian streets were full of churches, statues, and noteworthy buildings.  Most of the churches, unfortunately, were closed.  St Nicholas Orthodox Church, the oldest Orthodox church in Novi Sad, was open and definitely worth exploring.  We then drove back to the Petrovaradin citadel or fortress which is said to be one of the better maintained citadels.  It certainly had more buildings than others we have visited and the view looking back at the city and Danube was great.  It’s been appropriately called the “Gibraltar on the Danube.”

Back in Belgrade, we had dinner at Opera restaurant right off the main square.  A very nice dinner, but at 4500 RSD, it was the most expensive meal we had in Serbia. We were obviously in the tourist section.

The next morning we headed back to Croatia and along the way we made a slight detour to the Fraz Gorka area to the Novi Hopovo monestary. It was not easy to find.  There were a couple of signs in English as we left Belgrade, but nothing after that.  Thank goodness it appeared on our map as just outside of the village of Igrd. There are 16 monasteries in this area of rolling hills and wineries.  The Novi Hopovo monastery is small but very lovely.  It was built in 1579, and there were still a lot of the original frescos on the walls and ceilings.  It was damaged in WWII but is being restored. The Franz Gorka area can be covered in the same excursion to Novi Sad, as it is only 30 minutes from Novi Sad.

Although we had apprehensions about visiting Serbia, we found it to be a delightful and friendly country. Belgrade is a sophisticated city with a lot of offer.  Fine dining, lots of sights, and bustling nightlife.

Excerpt from my article, Mountains, a monastery, and reminder of war – a self-drive tour of the Balkan countries, published in the September, 2015 issue of International Travel News.