Travel is difficult these days, and on top you, dear Reader, might feel that some time off of this everyday life in Corona times is desperately needed. I cannot help with this, but I can feed your Fernweh:)

Last year, we, as in two adults and two children, went over to Serbia's capital Belgrade. The most exciting places to visit are those, where you have not been yet. After a brief research it became clear, that Belgrade is full of history and culture, and also offers places that you can go to with kids.

Despite of researching activities to do, I have not made much research on people there, their mentality or anything. My approach was to enter this place unbiased, do my experiences instead and soak in the impressions. Here you go:

It's not the looks, it is the inner values

We are staying in a residential area in the Dorćol district. And most of the buildings, but also big parts of the infrastructure are not maintained that well. You would not call it a beautiful sight, and my older son was asking why all buildings look the same.

In fact there is also a big amount of old nice looking houses (both taken care of and run down) and some modern ones. Ruins are standing next to constructions sites, and abandoned shops are followed by shiny ones. And in between the occasional museum.

Despite, or because of this mixture, the impression you get is not depressive at all. The people you meet on the street do not look impoverished, hell no, very fashionable instead, and also the cars are relatively new or at least appear to be in a very good shape.

In general, countless construction sites can be spotted, included sidewalks, bridges or pubic areas like sport pitches and playgrounds. Apparently, it is so much at the moment, that the traffic is hit and even some bus lines are interrupted.


Just like too many cities, also Belgrade is made for cars. You do not spot bicycle lanes and thus you rarely see any riders. What slows down car traffic a bit at least is the vast amount of cross walks – essentially on each junction. In fact cars are stopping there!

Moving around by not-foot

We do not have a car here and we did not use a cab or similar service either. Most places are within walking distance, that is about 30 minutes with a kid in primary school age. Then there is the public transport.

On some spots you see trams driving around, in the Dorcol borough rarely any though. There are some tracks that are obviously not used and a depot with forgotten looking vehicles is located few corners away. Without subway there is basically just: buses.

And those go in an extremely frequent way, essentially there is no schedule. Typically, at least those lines we came across, they are supposed to show up every 5 minutes. In practice it might be that four of them appear one after the other.

Nevertheless they are often packed soon enough. There is no AC, but wifi. The buses are not really modern, and with some bad luck they don't have a low floor, which would be convenient when pushing a stroller. All in all it is okay to go with them. Even when the masses leave for Ada Cignalia you can have a decent ride.

A hip spot


The Dorcol district is primarily residential where it borders to the old town, but just a few streets further it is a (former) industrial area. This was my destination when I headed for a third wave coffee shop I heard about in an article a few years old.

And just in front of it is fascinating Dorcol Platz.

My first thought was that is in an alternative art space. It just has its own selection of bars, but then again with kids entertainment. And then again it is a spot for music. Whatever it is, I was taken by it, and luckily could talk to a woman working there as a waitress.

This seems to follow the pattern that a bunch of young people are finding cheap places to bring life to their ideas and revitalize the areas. And it is beautiful.

An expensive spot

While Belgrade appears overall not much different with the mix of ruins, old houses, concrete buildings and modern structures, there is one place that is an exception. What is called the water front is a complex of very modern, expensive high tower buildings and several constructions sites for more of them. Behind those are investors. It's a fly in the ointment. I yet have to see where segregation and isolation of communities within cities (or anyplace else) does not cause deep problems after just enough time.

The really expensive spot

In fact what we have seen from Belgrade was in first place the Dorćol quarter, which basically includes the old town. Therefore the impression went from poor workers district slowly up to middle class until realizing it is more than that. We have been told it is to most expensive area to live currently.

This might be the reason why it feels so relaxed and solid, and probably most liberal and hosts spots like Dorćol Platz.

Belgrade, including it's predecessor settlements, has a history that dates back to the Celts. Romans lived here, so did Turks, all sorts of people from the Austro-Hungarian empire. Many came and went, came again, disappeared again. With its location it was a strategic place, but also important for trade. Thus especially Dorćol used to host a wide variety of people and cultures. Yet over time the face of the city changed. The oldest standing building is located in this hood, as is the last mosque and where the synagogue used to be.

Black gold

In spite of my ternary sense of taste (good / ok / bad), let us talk more about coffee.

Surprised was I when we ended up in a cafe right on the main street. Soon I realized that this was a real coffee place. There was a wade variety of single origin coffees, including Cuban, serving different types and also selling proper brewing equipment. Wow! Third wave in downtown.

My expectation was to find a small place in a distant corner somewhere. There is a nice portrait about D95B that says already more than I can tell.

Another place I found from a research before is Soljica, also on a popular location close to the Republic square. They serve coffee from both V60 are Aeropress, amongst classic Espresso-based varieties and two roasts to choose from, and others to buy. Very pleasent and recommendable! Plus also for their interior with a short glossary on coffee terms on the wall and a tree of coffee plant families.


Of course there is also a more traditional, regional way of consuming coffee here. Serbian coffee resembles Turkish mocca, only that it is served in bigger cups. I like that, too. With our vacation apartment having no coffee machine this seems to be the way to go in private as well.


The nightmare of the past

As I learned in Serbia people are entitled to holidays due to their own religion, at least Jews, Muslims and Christians. Despite I am not sure about non-believers, that's a mechanism a secular state enabling freedom of religion should have.


When I was striving through a few streets with my kids the first day, I came across two memorials. Both were related to the Nazi genocide against the Jews in Belgrade and Serbia from 1941 to 1944. Never again!

The other one was a memorial plaque on a house that has been used by the Jewish community for social welfare – eldery and ill people was taken care of – but also for youth clubs and other events.


Saying goodbye

It is very common to put out death notices on the houses, sometimes street lanterns. RIP.


Languages and alphabets

What amazed me was to see both the latin as well as the cyrillic alphabet being used without any apparent particular order. Most of the street names are written in Latin, but not all, like ours. Often enough, it is written in both ways.

Serbians learn both Latin and Cyrillic at school, and then it is their own choice what they prefer. Both alphabets are officially accepted, thus also in documents either of them can be used.

With some similarities with Russian, you can profit even from your tiny knowledge in it. Whether looking for apples, still water or other items, it is often easy to identify words.

No need to worry if not, as English knowledge is widespread. Even if the supermarket's clerk might not fall into this drawer, there is the next helpful customer around. A few people also know German, to some part because they are living there. Interestingly, most of them we met at an ice cream parlor, and depending on talking to whom making a babylonian impression by having Serbian, English, Russian and German around. That's just awesome!

But we met also a lady selling tourist goods speaking some German. Located at Knaz Mihajl is a Goethe institute. Also, you cannot avoid seeing some other German tourists there.

Subjective feeling of safety

All positive. While not being the richest place and country, what I can tell so far is the it's pretty open and free. I did not spot even idea of trouble.

The atmosphere is quite relaxed. The hoods are rather calm, people are on the streets at all times, but it is never crowded. Except for Knez Mihajl, were it is getting more crowded and louder the later (and cooler) it becomes. Apart from that it is remarkable peaceful.

And clean. There is very little trash on the streets. Trash bins can be found frequently. The only place I saw some amount litter was at the Kalemegdan fortress, dominated by beer bottles and cans. At night, especially young people hang around at the wall of the fortress and look down to where the rivers meet. Despite being not actually loud or messy itself, this is probably where it comes from, but given on a different part of the fortress that is also said to be dangerous to climb.

Nutrition is just a necessity

So it is not too bad when there is no real culinary experience to talk about. As a vegetarian there is some food to find, it is not the strength here, though. There are worse places whatsoever.

In the international cuisine, especially Italian, there is at least a pasta or a few pizza dishes that pass. With the local cuisine, there are some side dishes, basically. For breakfast you can find some omelette with cheese, or a local cheese speciality called Kajmak with bread.

And yet, sometimes, sometimes, there is a hope bringing graffiti:


Strange thing is that occasionally not all items on the menu are available any more. Of course this happens, but far more often than I am used to. If this also means less squandering and waste, that is totally OK!

Street art

Graffiti give an idea and feeling about the hood and place. To some degree so called tags, too, but personally I find them more of an annoyance. Belgrade is full of artistic graffiti and murals. Next to seeing and photographing them myself, I by chance also found a book on this topic in a local bookstore. Unsurprisingly it is mostly pictures, the textual part is written in both English and Serbian. Some of the pieces of art printed there, I also found while walking the city. These are some takes I did:








A history of battles

Being located at the junction of the rivers Sava and Danube, Belgrade has strategic position. Thought the Celts, Romans, Ottomans, Austrians, Turkish, Germans, and who not. The history is full of conflicts and being a transit point for one army or the other.

No surprise there is a fortress, that have been captured, rebuild and reinforced a coupe of times. Welcome Kalemagdan!


For whatever reason, somebody thought it is a good idea to place a military museum there and along exhibit cannons, tanks, rocket launcher and the like outside. As if the city has not seen enough of it.

Excursion I: Fruska Gora and Novi Sad

A trip north to the Vojvodina region, that is part of Serbia only since the 20th century, brought us through a national park to the second biggest city, Novi Sad.

The national park Fruska Gora is best known as region for winegrowing in Serbia. Besides the regular wines a regional product is a sweet desert wine called Bermet. This regional hosts also about one and a half dozen active monasteries, and there were a lot more back in the day and before Yugoslavia becoming communist.

Sremski Karlovci, a few kilometres from Novi Sad, hosts some of the wine cellars. Despite being a small city it is known for theologic reasons, for example by having the first cleric high school in Serbia. But also politically as it was the place where the Treaty of Karlowitz was signed marking the end of the Great Turkish War, but leaving the Serbian region (not Vojvodina) to the Ottomans.

As of this, Novi Sad is said to be more similar to Vienna, Budapest or Ljubljana, and rather unlike Belgrade. From not seeing much more than the city center (and without having been in any of the other cities, but knowing that style) I would agree. At the gate to Novi Sad there is also a nicely located fortress that hosts the Exit Festival with up to 65k visitors per day.

Excursion II: Golubac, Lepinski Vir and Djerdap

A second trip went a bit south and then eastwards to the Djerdap national park which borders to Romania. At least after a dam for a hydro plant was build, the widest and narrowest part of the Danube river are close by.

The Golubac fortress is located at the exit of the Djerdap gorge, Europe's largest and was thus positioned to control the land, the river and to collect tax. It never fell in battle, and yet has had changing owners over time. After it was sold to the Ottomans by an unfaithful commander, it was the place of a great battle and tragic defeat of the Austro-Hungarian empire. The fortress was just reconstructed and reopened in March this year, hosting a museum about its history as well as a gallery.

A little bit further we got a look at a settlement that was vivid 10000 to 7000 BC called Lepinski Vir. It was relatively huge with about tent-like 50 houses. It was fantastic to see that some prehistoric concrete was used as foundation, made of clay, gravel and dung. Also they already created art like sculptures and jewels and it appears that they believed in their religion. The location was peculiar, too: the houses were directed to a rock formation that would allow to show the sunset twice, only on midsummer.

Eventually the view from a hilltop over the beautiful gorge is marvellous.