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Belgrade on the up and up, Dec 05
It may have a way to go before it reaches ‘critical mass’ in tourism terms but Serbia looks poised for a change in its fortune. With the European Basketball Championships taking place there this September and a small but steadily increasing stream of tourists visiting the country, Serbians are starting to feel more positive about the future than they have for the past decade or so. There is a tangible spirit of optimism in the air as the country slowly shakes off its unwarranted reputation as Europe’s pariah state.
My recent trip to the capital to research the forthcoming Bradt City Guide to Belgrade (out end Dec 05) revealed just how much development had taken place since my previous visit ten months earlier. New restaurants and cafes have been mushrooming throughout the city, although those along Strahinjiæa Bana, Belgrade’s so-called ‘Silicon Valley’, probably take the biscuit. A particularly good place to take the biscuit is Mamma’s Biscuit House, a wonderful café-patisserie where Belgrade’s beautiful people go to eat cake. For something a little more exotic, Kandahar, further along the same street, has carved wooden partitions and low seating to create an Arabian Nights atmosphere. Not to be outdone, Belgrade’s prime pedestrian street of Kneza Mihaila has several new pavement cafes in its upper reaches too; one is even called Kevin’s Bar, although it’s not really a bar and it is doubtful if anyone called Kevin works there either.
Recently, several of Belgrade’s hotels have been taken under private ownership to be spruced up to attract foreign visitors. Another innovation has been to put tourist signs in English around the city to point out sites like Belgrade Fortress and St Sava’s Church. For the time being at least, less politically favoured sights like Tito’s neglected mausoleum have not been singled out for identification – a shame because Belgrade’s allure lies in the totality of its history, not just the sanitised version that well-meaning city authorities might prefer you to see.
Laurence Mitchell
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