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Belgrade - Serbia and Montenegro, Something Different and Exiting for the Tourist Looking for Something Different, Taste the Soul and Mind of SerbiaAuthor: Stig KristoffersenMost interesting parts of Belgrade for the tourist is found between the outer walls of the Kalemegdan fortress and the Republic Square. This is an area with a diameter of about 1300 meters. Most tourist targets are therefore within walking distance from each other. Traffic in Belgrade is quite dense, and the public transportation system is somewhat less efficient. You should plan your visit by foot. The commercial and cultural center of the city is along Kneza Mihaila , a pedestrian street dedicated to Prince Michael, the first ruler of a fully independent Serbia. Beginning from Terazije, where the Belgrade Cultural Center is located and nearby, in an underground passage, the Tourist Information Center, which is not very informed. Then the road widens to a square, called locally a terrace, of the Ruski Car (Russian Emperor), full of open air cafes. Turning on the right, you can get to Trg Republike , the Republic Square, with the Narodni muzej and the Narodno pozoriste (National Theater). The Kneza Mihaila proceeds with porches, many shops, some monuments in the middle, and in the summer evenings there are always singers and artists performing on the street. Then you can find the French and American Cultural Centers. On the right there is the faculty of Philosophy, going down a few steps, passing among the used book stalls, to Akademski Trg where there is the Plato cafe, book shop and jazz club. From there, you can proceed to the Studentski Trg, the Square of the Students, with the Kolarac Cultural Center, the Studentski Park and the Faculty of Sciences. This is one of the centers of the students' life, although many more faculties and the University Library are along Boulevar revolucije. The students spend their nights in some of the pubs, cafes and clubs. Back to Kneza Mihaila, one finds on the left the SANU building of the Serbian Academy of Science and Art, with book shops and galleries; many more private galleries, with exhibitions of paintings and sculptures, are nearby. Then on the left the British Council , and on the right the German Cultural Center. The last portion of Kneza Mihaila has cafes and restaurants spread on the street, the Faculty of Painting and the City Library, and ends across the street from the entrance of the Kalemegdan park. In the eastern part of the old city, traditionally the Bohemian quarter, there are several streets with interesting shops and well preserved buildings. In particular you should visit Skadarlija, which is the familiar name of the street, whose actual name is Skadarska, which is immediately east of Republic Square. In this pedestrian only street the appearance of the city, as it was in the 19th and early 20th century. Restaurants and pubs fill most of it with their open air tables, there are art galleries and bakeries open all night, folk groups singing either gypsy music of traditional city music, people dressed in traditional Serb costumes. This is a place for families, full of children, but also of young couples; a place to taste the typical rostili , that is grill with a pivo (beer), and to spend an evening talking with friends. The few tourists now visiting Belgrade mix with the local people, here more than everywhere else in the city. Museums and monuments are a very important tourist attraction of Belgrade, They are also the biggest source of frustration for the foreign tourist. The Museums and monuments open to the public have plenty of personnel, but few of them have guides qualified and capable of speaking in some foreign language. The museum bookshops typically have very few catalogues and monographs, almost all in Serbian. Some museums are closed, sometimes for reasons which are not explained and some do not actually exist any more. The only systematic sources of information on Museums and exhibitions are in the journal Weekly Beograd , in English, which is on sale at Plato and at few other book shops, in the leaflet Beograd this week which is distributed at the Tourist Information Center , plus the museum and monument symbols on the city maps . However, these listings have low reliability. About the Author Stig-Arne Kristoffersen |
