Belgrade 2.0
- Blog na srpskom
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Ada Ciganlija
People say that Belgrade would actually be perfect if only it had a sea. In an attempt to bring sea closer to Belgrade, a lake was built by connecting an river island to a river bank in the southern Belgrade. And, really, in summer, when the heat becomes intolerable, this little oasis 7 km from city center offers a wide range of refreshing activities. Bicycles, jogging, golf, tennis, basketball, football, rugby, water skiing, free climbing, bungee jumping, roller skating, and other sports activities will satisfy your urge for extra sweating. Or, you can just choose to chill at one of the numerous beach cafes. Plus, if there’s a beach, there’s swimming and laying in the sun, right? Water isn’t very nice looking, though, and its impossible to see anything while diving, but it is clean enough to swim in, and its not health hazardous. You can always choose some other sporting activity, or lounge at the ada safari, a smaller lake, or more of a pond, in one part of an island.
Best of all, most sport activities are free, and others are fairly cheap. Ada has a potential to become even better, and cleaner, but, like many things in Belgrade, it lacks people with rational ideas and money to make those ideas real. Still, its something that many cities don’t have, and that’s its main asset.You can reach Ada by taking busses 23, 53, or 37 from Zeleni Venac.
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Republic Square
Central Belgrade square is probably the busiest meeting point in town. Since everybody knows where it is, it’s easiest to plan a meeting “at the square” or “by the horse”. You will find the horse at the square center, under Prince Mihailo Obrenovic. Funny how nobody mentions the prince when arranging a meeting, being that its a monument to him, and not the horse.
Another interesting legend goes by saying that the artist forgot to put a hat on the ruler’s head, and he realised that only after the monument was already finished. This story is not officialy confirmed though.Behind the prince (or the horse?) monument you can see the National museum, which is being renovated for quite some time now, and nobody knows when the restauration will be finished. The museum is of great importance, because besides national, it has a great collection of international works of art.
Plateau in front of the National Museum is a favourite gathering place for skateboarders.
Left from the monument is the National Theatre with its many stages hosting numerous plays.
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Knez Mihailova street
This is the main pedestrian street in Belgrade with lots of cafes and fancy shops. Its the shortest way from Terazije street to Kalemegdan park and fortress, but only in theory. What happens in real life is that your walk will turn into a stroll, and you will probably stop in front of some shop or to hear and see some local Belgrade performer. Most probably you will get the urge to sit and take a cup of coffee too. So dont go through it if you’re trying to get quiclky from one end of Belgrade to another. -
Kalemegdan
Kalemegdan is the biggest and probably the most interesting park in Belgrade. It is also the most touristy place Belgrade has to offer, with its fortress and numerous tunnels (many of them still unexplored, so be careful).You can find a thorough descriptions of Kalemegdan park and fortress and its facilities on the official page.
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Skadarlija
Skadarska street, or Skadarlija, is one of the oldest streets in Belgrade, and one of the few that actually tried to preserve its original looks. Still paved with Turkish cobble stones and packed with restaurants, cafes, live music and smell of grilled meat, this is usually the first place where Belgraders take their foreign guests to dinner. You will find yourself admiring the cobbled street and cursing it if you are in high heels. But, since you are already here, you probably have a lot of time on your hands – take it easy and try one of the restaurants with live music.
