The excitement was palpable.
Only the night before we with our friends watching Eurovision, cheering on our faves of 2022 – SERBIA!!
We could not wait to get off the plane shaking our clean hands at people.  This, and the fact that many had raved about all that can be found in the Balkan capital, we expected to arrive and maybe never leave.
At this point we had been travelling for just under 2 months and had developed some ground rules for making the most of wherever we found ourselves.
Rule no 1: If in a City, be there on a weekend!
For events, gigs and clubs are best found in a city on the weekend. Most of what we had been told about Belgrade was the amazing party scene. The River Sava is lined with substantial floating barkas – restaurants and clubs open most hours of the day, on the weekend.
We arrived in sunny Belgrade on Monday.
Rule no 2: Keep an eye on local news.
Whilst we were there, there had been city wide bomb threats, leading to school, museum closures and quiet streets. At this time politically Serbia had been under international pressure to condemn the Ukraine war.  The governmentâs reluctance may or may not have been the reason for threats from Ukrainian allies or it was also rumoured that the threats came from the Government itself. Both theories were interesting and discretely discussed with us by a lovely Dutch man married to a Serbian, it also awoke us to the delicate political situation Serbian citizens have lived in for so long and still live in today. For whatever reason, there was an atmosphere during our stay, another reason why we think we didnât experience Belgrade in its full glory.
Rule no 3: Best to come with no preconceptions
While visiting a new place for a short stay itâs incredibly valuable to gather as much advice and recommendations from friends – this should not limit your own exploration and discovery.
The city is located in and around where the Danube and Sava rivers merge, their banks were lined with extensive bike lanes – perfect for exploring on rental bikes.
We cycled along slicky newly-developed promenades with stylish bars and restaurants slipping out to meet us, reminding us of the South Bank. We crossed industrial rusty bridges shaking under the rumble of heavy traffic that suddenly dissolved into a wide peaceful green park, shaded under large old trees. We ate small fried river fish over looking the Danube in the quaint cobbled town of Zemun. Across the river there seems to always be a green space; North of the Danube looks like a dense, untouched forest in places. Picking up some fresh strawberries we wound our way through New Belgrade, a thriving cool area set in vast blocks of brutalist housing estates developed in the communist period from 1948.
Swinging south along the Sava river, we discovered Ada Ciganlija. A long island splitting the river in two. It was here that we really started to understand the importance of leisure time to Belgrade, they do it so well. The whole island in a beautiful lush park, criss-crossed with cycle lanes, peppered with playgrounds and sports facilities as well as random installations we couldnât resist playing with. The best thing anyone did on this island development was close each end of river that flows to the south to create a man-made lake, with beaches and rows of bars always ready to serve you a cold beer.
The fastest way we have gotten under the skin of a place has been through our choice of AirBNB.
Located in the old part of Belgrade, our apartment was so much more than a place to sleep.  Yugodom is a time capsule, a love letter to the era of Yugoslavia, 1929 – 2003. Â
Drifting from a classic 1960s stereo, filling the air of this mid-century shrine to all things locally manufactured was the music of Radio Karolina. The perfect accompaniment and a nice touch. Being a student to all things mid-twentieth century design, the whole apartment was a feast for the eyes. Literally every item for guest use or display was designed and manufactured in Yugoslavia, c.1960, including the large collection of original porn.
The Yugodom museum was an introduction to what Yugoslavia meant to people here.
We experienced this strong sentiment and nostalgia for the former country right across the Balkan countries we visited, most prominently from our generation of 30-40 y/o who were born into a united collection of beautiful countries populated by a spectrum of beliefs, and then witnessed it be torn apart from the inside out.  At times it felt like for them looking back was seeing solutions and ideals missing today.  Having not grown up in a communist country, it was clear that what we knew about communism is quite 2D.  In particular Communism in former Yugoslavia under Titoâs rule.Â
Food is very important to us. As most of you know. It is what we do, eat, and obviously a hefty part of why we want to travel to all these wonderful places.
Now in most situations the quality, variety and flavours of the local cuisine say all that needs to be said about a place. And we strive to seek out the best a place has to offer – oh the hours that have been spent researching where to eat for dinner!
In Belgrade we really, really tried. We followed friends advice, we trawled google reviews, we asked everyone we met – where is good to eat? Majority of the time it was just a bit disappointing. However, there were some highlights.
The cuisine in the Balkans overlap and blend – every country has their own âTurkish Coffeeâ. They love to grill meat over charcoal – Turkey specialises in lamb, Greece does pork and the ex-Yugoslavia countries have perfected their beef, celebrating veal more than any other place we visited.
Belgrade was not what we expected and perhaps not what we needed at this stage in our trip, so we left feeling disappointed and like we didnât experience it properly. It was also a sudden, unplanned addition – a means to get to Montenegro from Greece (surprisingly hard if not peak peak season). We certainly would like to give it another go, but perhaps in summer and definitely at the weekend.