Belgrade is multifaceted: ancient buildings coexist with elegant architecture and socialist architecture. Belgrade looks like several cities at once, so it seems native and understandable.
Belgrade Fortress and Kalemegdan Park
The fortress was founded in the 1st century. Two centuries later, the city of Belgrade was formed around it. The fortress belonged to the Roman Empire, Byzantium, and the medieval Serbian state. In the 17th and 18th centuries it was an Austrian-Ottoman artillery fortification. The territory has well-preserved gates, towers and fortress walls. This is a great place for walking, where it's nice to spend a couple of hours.
From the Fortress you can see the confluence of the Danube and Sava rivers. There are two levels in the fortress — the Upper and Lower City. They are surrounded by a large hilly park "Kalemegdan", where there are many paths and benches, tall trees, alleys with flowers and monuments.
There are several museums in the fortress, for example, the Museum of Medieval Torture Instruments, which is located in underground casemates.
Knez Mihailova Street
Every major city has a pedestrian street with restaurants and shops. In Belgrade, this is Knez Mihailova Street. Many buildings have been standing on the street since the end of the 19th century, they are made in the style of academicism and Neo-Renaissance. There is neat architecture, smooth tiles, flowerbeds and interesting antique lanterns.
St. Mark's Church and Tashmaidan Park
St. Mark's Church was built in the first half of the 20th century. The cathedral impresses with five domes, multifaceted towers, arches and contrasting beige-red walls. And the Church is tall — like a twenty-storey building.
The building was erected as a new cathedral of the capital of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The remains of representatives of the royal couple and some princes are buried in the church. The cathedral is also famous for its large collection of Serbian icons from the 18th and 19th centuries.
Tashmaidan Park with tall trees and benches. There were many families with children there: there are playgrounds on the territory. There are a couple of places on site where you can have a snack, and a large sports center with swimming pools, gyms and a spa is located below.
Zemun District
Zemun, formerly a separate city, became part of Belgrade in 1934. It is one of the largest industrial centers in Serbia: metals and wood are processed there, fabrics, shoes, medicines are produced.
One of the main attractions of Zemun is the Gardosh Tower on the hill of the same name. It was erected in 1896, a thousand years after the arrival of Hungarians in Pannonia, a region in Europe on the territory of modern Hungary, the eastern part of Austria and other neighboring countries.
In Zemun, it is pleasant to walk along the embankment and look at the river. It is a simple pedestrian street without landscaping and art sculptures. But there are trees and many restaurants with outdoor tables.
Among the attractions of Zemun are the churches of the 18th century — Nikolskaya and the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the local cemetery, Zemun Park with a gymnasium and the post office building of the 19th century.
Republic Square
Republic Square is the central square in Belgrade. There are several restaurants and shops around the perimeter, and in winter there are fair tents where they sell mulled wine, Christmas souvenirs and kurteshkalachi, or trdelniki, sweet pastries in the form of a spiral.
The key figure on the square is the monument to Serbian Prince Mikhail Obrenovich. It was executed by the Italian sculptor Enrico Pazzi at the end of the 19th century.
Behind the equestrian statue there is a beautiful building of the National Museum of Serbia. On three floors there is a huge collection that covers the period from the Paleolithic to the 20th century. Among the exhibits are paintings, engravings, sculptures, coins, medals. There you can see works by Picasso, Van Gogh, Renoir, Degas, Rembrandt, Kandinsky.
There is another interesting building nearby: the National Theatre of Belgrade is housed in an eclectic building of the late 19th century. It plays drama, opera and ballet.
Skadarlia Quarter
All guidebooks recommend visiting Skadarlia: the quarter is considered bohemian, in 1978 it and Montmartre in Paris became twinned on the initiative of the French side. The area became famous thanks to writers, artists and actors who stayed in local hotels. The block is small, the main street of Skadarsk runs through the center.
Nikola Tesla Museum
Nikola Tesla is an American engineer, physicist and inventor in the field of electrical and radio engineering. He is a Serb by nationality. In 1952, less than ten years after his death, a museum was opened in Belgrade in honor of the inventor. This is the only museum in the world that houses original documents and personal belongings of Tesla. They were handed over to the city by the will of the engineer himself.
The exposition was located in a two-story mansion and divided into nine collections. On the ground floor, they placed working models of devices that Tesla invented, and documents telling about the life and work of the scientist. On the second floor you can see his manuscripts, notebooks, books from his personal library. There is also an urn with Tesla's ashes in the museum.
The Peninsula of Ada-Tsiganliya
Ada Tsiganlia is a popular recreation area, especially in the warmer months. This is a peninsula on the Sava River, which was made artificially when dams were built from two ends of the island. So the Sava Lake appeared in the city, beaches were equipped on its shores. There are mainly pebbles at the entrance to the reservoir. For the purity of the water and the safety of the beaches, Ada-Tsiganlia has been receiving the annual Blue Flag award for more than ten years.
There are several dozen restaurants, cafes and sports facilities on the peninsula. Football, tennis, golf and beach volleyball are played there. They ride bicycles, roller skates, boots and boats, do yoga, visit fitness and spa centers. There are also adrenaline-fueled activities: zipline, paintball, diving, ski simulator. Playgrounds and a town with slides on the water were installed for children.
The Sava River Embankment and the Beton Hala Pavilion
"Beton Hala" — former port warehouses, which housed clubs and restaurants. These pavilions are located on the embankment along the Sava River. In addition to the pavilions, there is a Playground, areas with landscaping.
Not far from the bridge, there is a museum ship "Monitor Sava" on the water. In 1914, he fired the first shots in the First World War. During the Second World War, the ship was flooded twice, then raised, restored, and in 2021 a museum was opened on board.
The Palace of Princess Lubica
The palace's website says that this is one of the few surviving buildings from the time of the first reign of Prince Milos Obrenovich, Lubica's husband. The residence was built in 1830. The Princess and her sons did not live there for long. After Milos' exile from Serbia, the mansion was used for more than a hundred years for various state needs, and at the end of the 20th century it was restored and made part of the Museum of the City of Belgrade.
The building houses the permanent exhibition "Interiors of Belgrade houses of the 19th century". There you can see objects of fine and applied art that belonged to the nobility.
There is a park around the residence where you can walk, but you can't get there when the museum is not open: the territory is closed with gates.
The building of the People's Assembly (Skupschina)
The National Assembly is the Parliament of Serbia. The building was built for him for 29 years intermittently, from 1907 to 1936. It was built in the neo-Baroque style. Despite the work of the parliament, group tours are organized there.
The Botanical garden "Jevremovac"
There are more than 1300 species of plants growing in the open area, there is a Japanese garden, ponds with water lilies — of course, we did not see them in winter. Among the trees are perennial elms, larches and even redwoods. There are many paths and benches. There are more than a thousand plants inside the glass greenhouse. It is divided into two parts: in one — lush tropical plants, in the other — cacti and succulents of deserts. It was also warm and humid inside, and it was nice to go there on a cloudy winter day.
