Belgrade, the City of 1000 Fountains

Belgrade became the first Balkan city that I visited during my Balkan trip episodes. Well, maybe not really the first because I already visited Ljubljana (Slovenia) 2 months ago before this trip. Firstly, I will explain what is actually Balkan.
Balkan is an area passed by the Balkan Mountains that stretch from the Serbian-Bulgarian border to the Black Sea. The countries that are included in this area are: Albania, Bulgaria, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Croatia, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia (sometimes Greece and Turkey are included in the list).

Took a picture before crossing the street toward city square

As the famous traveling quotes ever said, traveling is the best done if we do it with local guide. I did this in Belgrade because I have a classmate who comes from Belgrade, named Nada.

Me and my friend, Nada

Vienna – Belgrade trip took 8 hours by bus (I took Fudeks Bus). It was a long journey but I managed to sleep (as long as there is some soft fluffy part on the seat, I will sleep right away…). In additional of these 8 hours, I got some Serbian snacks from the bus.

 

Some refreshments from Fudeks

I was so lucky because the day when I toured around Belgrade, the weather was so lovely so that we could visit lot of places.

View from 6th floor in an office building

The first spot that we visited was the most iconic Orthodox temple in Belgrade, St. Sava Temple. Since this is the first time I saw an Orthodox temple, I was so amazed with the architecture’s uniqueness.

St. Sava Temple during the day

For sure it has different style with Catholic church, which has more edges on the roof. In my opinion, Orthodox church building has more ouval roof which almost resembles to onion or helmet. I took another picture of this temple at night, and the view was even more amazing.

St. Sava Temple at night

After this temple, we then continued to some other famous places in Belgrade such as the city hall, Danube River, the Kalemegdan Fortress and the city main square. All of these places are very beautiful!

City Hall

Between the fortress and the river 

Intersection of Sava and Danube River

The Victory Monument in Kalemegdan Fortress 

Fooling around

Unique ceiling in a restaurant

Beautiful graffiti

Still amazed with Danube River

The spot that makes the Danube river in Belgrade so special is because of the place where I had lunch with Nada. It was a floating restaurant that the local people call ‘splav’. The view from this restaurant was exquisite and the foods were delicious (and cheap)!

Interior ambience of a splav

Laying around enjoying the river, anyone?

Delicious chicken with mushroom sauce

Chillin

View from a splav

Menu example (1)

Menu example (2)

Menu example (3) 

In the evening, we also had a really fancy dinner in a restaurant called Three Hats. The location of this restaurant is really interesting because in this area people can enjoy Serbian acoustic traditional music. And the ambience is so romantic… even though I didn't go with my boyfriend (that I don't have).

Romantic friendly dinner

Balkan grill 

One thing that I recognize the most, Belgrade has so many fountains! Almost in every building that I went to, I can find a fountain close from the building.

Near the House of the National Assembly

Near the City Hall

Near the city square

In front of random building

As a starting point in my Balkan trip, Belgrade gave a wonderful impression! I love the buildings, the food, the price, and also my beloved host, Nada. She and her family treated me so well in their house. I felt so comfortable staying in their place. Sadly, I only stayed there for 1 day because I have other 2 countries to catch up in my Balkan trip.

Overall, I really recommend Belgrade as the city where you can enjoy different type of sightseeing compare to Western Europe and if you want to try delicious cheap Balkan grills.

To be continued to Sofia...