Yes, I know some time has passed since New Year's Eve and Spring is coming soon (at least here in Austria) - but since I started 2016 in a different country, facing new challenges while discovering amazing places this is the first thing I want to write about: Belgrade in Winter. It was a rather spontaneous idea (which doesn't sound like me at all) when me and three other friends decided to go away for some days and spend New Year's Eve somewhere else for the first time. So we rented an apartment in the Old Town (through www.airbnb.com), got into our car and drove all the way to Serbia, and I can tell you, it was better than we had expected. Opinionated because of stereotypes we all might or might not know, we were positively surprised by the city and its history. We attended a guided walking tour through the main parts of the city (http://belgradefreetour.com/) - which I can highly recommend - and by the end of this long day we knew more about the Serbian culture than we actually wanted to at first (including their enthusiasm for spending time in 'kafanas' = traditional taverns with live music performances where most people used to go drinking). Speaking of drinking, our guide even let us have a taste of real Serbia giving us rakija - a strong type of fruit brandy popular in the Balkans (I wouldn't urge you to try it though). All this happened in Skadarlija, the so-called Bohemian quarter of Belgrade. And on went our tour... The most interesting part for me was the walk to the Fortress and Kalmegdan Park, where we went again the next day to take some pictures. I really loved it there and if I lived in this city, I would totally go there to read a book or have a picnic once in a while.Besides our guided tour we searched for some great places ourselves; here's my list of what I loved in Belgrade:
What to consider when visiting Belgrade: |