The Home of Djokovic!

The most famous Serbian that I know is Novak Djokovic!

The next stop on our travels is Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. The flight from Ljubljana only takes an hour and is operated by Air Serbia. We weren’t able to check in online, so decided to get to the airport early. I had pre-booked a taxi for 7am, so we just had enough time to grab a couple of croissants from the hotel breakfast room.

A black Mercedes pulled up, and Marko got out to retrieve our cases. The car was a nice change to the stuffy bus we travelled in the previous days. We arrived at the airport in plenty of time, and queued by the check-in desks which only opened 2 hours before the flight. After a bit of a wait, we dropped off our luggage and headed towards departures. 

The airport departure area wasn’t particularly great and the food and coffee were extortionate; we decided to share a sandwich and get a couple of lattes which I can quite comfortably say were the worst I have ever had.

Aside from the food, the airport was clean and we were called to board in plenty of time. A bus took us out to the plane, which was tiny and had propellers. There were only 2 seats on either side, but it was reasonably comfortable and the air conditioning was working. As I said, the flight took an hour and we got  a couple of biscuits and a bottle of water which was sufficient.

The plane landed and the bus was waiting for us, it took us to the airport building where we went through passport control reasonably quickly considering there was a big queue. I had pre-booked a taxi and Dragan was waiting for us after we collected our luggage; take note BA, Air Serbia managed to get both our cases here!

Dragan drove us to our hotel, which only took 20 minutes or so. He was weaving in and out with the Clio, while explaining areas of Belgrade we should visit. Thankfully we made it safely, although we had to walk the last 150 metres, as the hotel was situated in a pedestrian zone. It wasn’t quite time to check-in, but Hotel Indigo upgraded us so we were delighted. 

There was a walking tour of the city at 2pm, so we decided to have a quick beer in the hotel terrace bar before walking to Republic Square to meet the guide.

It was absolutely boiling, so it wasn’t particularly pleasant, but we wanted to get our bearings. Unfortunately, the tour guide for the next tour turned up and told us it was off, and we didn’t fancy the history tour as we would have to get a bus to the museum. 

Instead we decided to walk back to the hotel and see if there were any other tours available, this is the problem when you have no data. We went back via the supermarket and bought lots of water. There was a tour available at 5pm, so we decided to reserve a spot, then go and find some food.

The taxi driver mentioned a street with lots of restaurants, so we wandered around hoping to find something. We pretty much found the street by accident, and jumped into a place called April Belgrade. We ordered 2 beers, a pizza for Iain (surprise surprise) and I had chicken in a white wine sauce with gnocchi. The food was excellent, and we left feeling really full.

The meeting place for the Modern Age Walking Tour, and where we were to meet Nikola the guide, was Hotel Moskva; it was a beautiful hotel and we were advised to have coffee and cake on the terrace while we were in Belgrade (need to see if we have time!). Our tour guide directed us around the city starting with the Old Parliament which is no longer in use, St Mark Orthodox Church (there is a small Russian church behind) and just behind that there is the bombed out Radio Television HQ.

So you are probably wondering why the Radio Television HQ has been bombed, and by who, but let me start by saying this region is very complicated. The bombings began in March 1999 and they lasted for 78 days; NATO bombed the city due to Serbia’s unwillingness to sign the Rambouillet Accords which would be an agreement for peace and allow Kosovo to self-govern. Kosovo is considered by Serbia to still be part of their country, but Kosovo is recognised by many western nations as an independent country. The initial reason for war in Kosovo began with oppression after the introduction of the 1974 Yugoslav Constitution; this then escalate to ethnic cleansing of Albanians and condemnation by the UN and NATO. NATO used military force here without the endorsement of the UN Security Council as China and Russia said they would veto the action; they went in anyway. I’m not going into the rights and wrongs of war, but I want to explain why Serbia hates NATO and why the people believe the bombings were illegal. It also explains why the Serbians are quite insular and do not trust the West completely.

Our next stop was Slavija roundabout and the most dangerous place to drive in Belgrade; 7 streets meet at the roundabout and the guide said most drivers just lose there eyes and pray they come out at the right place, we heard lots of horns and beeps when we were standing there.

The last stop on the tour was The Temple of Saint Sava, a spectacular church. We decided to go inside after the tour had ended, and it’s quite strange as you can feel the crypt shaking due to the trains passing underneath the church. The church itself was beautiful and I like the fact you don’t have to pay to go inside, which is the same for any church in the country. It also was recently renovated, and almost disconcertingly new. The pictures might not quite show it like it was, but everything was shiny, golden and just immaculate, like it was built yesterday. Very impressive, but also strange. Hard to describe!

As I said, the tour ended at the church so it was up to us to find our way back; it certainly wasn’t the best tour but we did get to see a few interesting sites and it was better than sitting in a pub?!

By the time we reached the area beside our hotel, we noticed a sign with the temperature.

We had walked over 7 miles, it was now 7.30pm and it was still 33.1 degrees. We were both roasting and knackered so decided to call it a night, via the supermarket for a couple of cold beers and a bottle of coke!