Situated at the historic borders of eastern and western empires, Belgrade has been shaped by its history, each leaving traces as new generations continue to build and fight over this highly prized city. Unraveling the mystery and attraction of Belgrade means looking at this history, while enjoying and getting caught up in its passionate demeanor.
Conquered and rebuilt by Celts, Romans, Slavs, Turks, and Austro-Hungarians, the Kalemegdan Fortress anchors the city to its strategically important position at the confluence of the Danube and Sava rivers. Once a battleground, it is now a peaceful retreat from a bustling city. From its walls you can see the modern regional economic center of New Belgrade rising across the river and feel how important this crossroads city is.
Back in the city, cafés are packed with lively people, unloading leisurely onto the sidewalks during the summer months or packed in heated conversation during the winter. An eclectic mix of architecture marks new trends next to Belgrades heritage, and a city that has always led change in the area continues to progress. Just as it has to its many inhabitants, Belgrade will amaze and surprise its visitors as it goes through yet another rebirth.
Entertainment in Belgrade (Spirit of Belgrade)
One thing is for sure - IT’S NEVER BORING in Belgrade!
Almost every day some meeting, event, festival, tournament, exhibition, concert, match, or performance take place. The local ones - for friends from the neighbourhood, as well as the great ones - of international importance.
Belgrade has character in spades. Other places might have a lead in exoticism, but for the real beguiling Balkan spirit, it has to be Belgrade. It is a city where you can dance until sunrise seven nights a week, where hospitality crackles in the air, and where looking good is a birthright and a religion in one.
In Belgrade you can taste some of the purest organically produced food and drink. Traditional cusine means that almost everything is home-grown - and it tastes that way. With a penchant for locally smoked ham, grilled meat, stuffed vegetables, specialist breads, salads, pickles and soft “kajmak” cheese, most Serbs eat enormous amounts and yet stay enviably slender.
A lot of nightclubs, bars and restaurant-boats along the riverbanks make Belgrade nightlife some of the most exuberant in Europe. Spectacularly beautiful young women who look as if they have stepped from the fashion pages of Cosmopolitan, students, young men in sports clothes, musicians and writers link arms in camaraderie as they wander the cobbled streets of the nineteenth-century Skadarlija Bohemian quarter, the pedestrians Knez Mihailova Street teeming with luxury shops or Republic Square with its dozens of pavement cafes. Most Serbs go out for the evening after 10pm and most nightspots are open until at least 2am - yet there is rarely any sign of drunkenness or offensive behavior. The atmosphere is usually of people having a benignly good time enjoying everything from Procol Harum to Electric Six, Sinatra ballads to Serbia’s home-grown brand of high-energy pop music.