Making the Belgrade: Serenaded by Serbia with folk songs, Roman ruins (and £1 a pint)



Visiting Serbia in 2012, it is easy to forget that this welcoming and very beautiful country only recently emerged from a ferocious armed conflict.

But the republic, part of the former Yugoslavia, has a lot to offer the adventurous tourist. Its energetic capital, Belgrade, caters to all kinds of visitor, from history buffs who want to explore its vast archaeological history, to committed party animals.

Yet while Belgrade is a perfect destination for those in search of a city break, venture further into Serbia and you will find a country almost entirely untouched and, for the most part, off the tourism trail.

Night light: Belgrade has emerged as a destination known for its vibrant nocturnal scene

It is staggeringly good value for money, too, particularly when it comes to food and drink. A pint of beer costs about £1 and it is possible to eat a decent meal out for not much more than a fiver.

Landing at Belgrade's Nikola Tesla airport on a blisteringly hot late September afternoon, the short drive into the capital offers the first glimpse of a country forging its way ahead.



First, we pass through the brutal communist-era architecture of New Belgrade, a region that didn’t exist until after the Second World War, and is now, our tour guide Srdjan informs us, home to much of the capital’s population and legions of office blocks.

We then enter the old city on a bridge over the River Sava, which marks the point where central Europe becomes south-east Europe and the Balkans begin.

Elegant: The Knez Mihailova Street offers shopping surrounded by historic buildings

Lots to do: Visitors can explore the mighty Kalemegdan fortress (left) or hit the cobbled streets in the arty Skadarlija district



It is markedly different. In place of cold highrises are curvaceous streets filled with weathered buildings. The ruins of structures bombed by Nato in 1999 remain, a seemingly defiant reminder of the not-so-distant past.

Belgrade is a cosmopolitan city filled with restaurants, bars and galleries. Take a walk through the pedestrianised Knez Mihailova Street, home to some of Belgrade’s most famous buildings, which leads directly to Kalemegdan fortress and park.

Overlooking the confluence of the River Sava and the Danube, Kalemegdan offers spectacular views of New Belgrade and the Ada Ciganlija island, overgrown with vegetation and open to all. Free entry ensures Kalemegdan is popular with locals and tourists alike.

Nearby, the historic streets of the bohemian Skadarlija neighbourhood, a long-established home to artists and poets, are filled with the city’s oldest restaurants, some of which have been standing for two centuries.

Getting the point: Graham (left) at the monument which marks the centre of Belgrade in Knez Mihailova Street and beautiful people dance the night away in one of the city's numerous clubs



It is a beautiful quarter in which to enjoy an evening stroll followed by a meal to the live sounds of traditional Starogradska folk music. The good news is that Serbians enjoy their food, so expect huge portions.

Many cities boast of having the best nightlife in the world, but Belgrade, with its huge variety of clubs and hidden bars, lays a better claim than most.

The permanently-moored river clubs dotted along the banks of the Sava and Danube attract the young and beautiful each weekend. Lined up, these hugely popular pleasure barges blast out music until dawn.

For those not so keen on dancing the night away, there are plenty of bars to prop up, all serving Serbia’s national drink, rakia. A great place to sample the various potent delights of this fruit brandy is the Rakia Bar in the Dobracina district.

Off the tourist trail: Nis is located in southern Serbia near the Bulgarian border

The Museum of Yugoslav History offers an insight into how the region fared in the decades following the Second World War until the death of Josip Broz Tito in 1980. It contains his mausoleum and a fascinating collection of artifacts dating back to the 15th century, including the world’s oldest rifle.

It takes three hours to drive to Nis, Serbia’s third largest city, which lies 150 miles south and is within striking distance of both Kosovo and Bulgaria.



It quickly becomes clear that it has a more traditional Balkan flavour, thanks to its status since ancient times as a gateway between East and West.

The city was the birthplace of Constantine the Great in 272 AD and is filled with monuments, museums and archaeological sites.



Chief among these is the fortress, built by the Turks in the early 18th century on the site of an ancient Roman settlement, and littered with ruins.

Making use of the old: The former Roman baths at Nis have been turned into facilities for visitors

Facing the past: The Skull Tower (left) is a reminder of a brutal past while history in this region dates back thousands of years



Due to a lack of investment, these extensive remains are, incredibly, completely open to the public 24 hours a day. This is both tantalising and extremely sad – clambering over the ruins is commonplace and graffiti is widespread. The authorities have even permitted cafes to be built in the remains of the Roman baths.

In spite of this lack of care, against which archaeologists are fighting a hard campaign, the ruins are awe-inspiring.

For a taste of Nis’ more recent history, visit the grisly Skull Tower. A structure made out of the skulls of Serbian revolutionaries killed and decapitated by the Ottomans in the early years of the 19th century, it is a graphic nod to a violent past.

The city’s nightlife is a more relaxed affair than in Belgrade with an emphasis on live music.

There are many rural stop-offs between Belgrade and Nis that are worth making, too. While heading south, we spent a delightful hour wine-tasting at the Podrum Radovanovic winery in the village of Krnjevo, in the heart of the country.

If walls could speak: The Manasija monastery is contained within a fort

A motel in the small town of Despotovac, 80 miles to the south-east of Belgrade, proved an ideal base from which to visit the Veliki Buk waterfall.

The nearby Manasija monastery is spectacular, too, featuring a church contained within a fort that houses wonderful frescoes.

Equally as impressive are the remains of Viminacium, the Roman capital of the Moesia Superior province, located near the small town of Kostolac on the Danube. Among the finds dotted around this vast site are a 1.5 million-year-old mammoth skeleton discovered in 2009.

Bizarrely, this area of archaeological importance is dwarfed by a power station, built in the mid-1970s in the middle of the remains.

It seems a strange decision, and makes for a perfect metaphor for Serbia as a whole - the dialogue between the past and the present.

The Serbian authorities have only recently awoken to the possibilities of Western tourism but what is assured is that this is a nation on the cusp of change and now is a great time to visit.

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