Day 2: Belgrade, Serbia

Before going on this trip, I had briefly checked the weather of the Balkans' area, but the result was quite disappointing that it would be mostly cloudy or rainy. When I woke up with not much expectation today, I saw the sunny blue sky vividly outside the window of my room. I was thrilled and couldn't wait to spend the day out immediately.

Doggie's morning stroll on Knez Mihailova Street

The famous Hotel Moskva

Had no reason to not go out on this sunny day

Political posters?!?

To explore in-depth of this city, I chose to walk on foot instead of taking the 'free bus', after all I might see more while walking around the neighborhood. The first stop of today was the famous St. Sava Cathedral, which is the largest orthodox church in the world. However, it is currently undergoing an internal renovation and I wasn't able to see how magnificent the sanctuary could be. Therefore, I just took some rest in the park outside the cathedral and then continued to walk back to the city on a different street.

The west side of Cathedral of St. Sava

Cathedral of St. Sava hiding behind the tree branches

Love the blue and the green

Finally, I walked back to Skadarlija St., where I had dinner last night. There were many local restaurants at reasonable price; the traditional Serbian cuisine is very meat-oriented, which is actually very similar to other Eastern European countries.

Afterwards, I walked back to the busy Knez Mihailova Street, which is the main pedestrian street in Belgrade. Besides restaurants, there are many cafes on both sides. Surprisingly, it was already crowded with a lot of people in the afternoon on a weekday. Do they need to work at all?

At the end of Knez Mihailova Street, it is the entrance of Belgrade Fortress. Belgrade Fortress is located next to the Danube and Sava rivers, and people can overlook the view of Novi Belgrade (the opposite bank) on the top of the fortress. Novi Belgrade is relatively flat with mundane architectures, hence I decided to go there to overlook the old Belgrade instead.

The tallest building in Belgrade

Dog could also be scavenger

St. Mark's Church

Tram no. 6

National Assembly

Very communist style, love it

Spring's coming

The long unseen climbing frame

Skadarlija Street - full of local restuarants

Skadarlija Street - also very artistic

Art-piece on Skadarlija Street

Knez Mihailova Street

Belgrade Fortress

Military Museum - Tanks for display

To go to Novi Belgrade, I needed to take the tram no. 2 first, which is a circular route and it could take me to the main train station directly from the fortress. The scenery on the tram was notably different from walking, thus it's strongly recommended to spend some time on a tram while doing sightseeing in Belgrade.

I got off at the train station at last. In Serbia, train is not a common transportation, since the intercity railways are very old, so are the trains. On the other hand, the bus network is more developed. If crossing border to the neighboring countries, Serbian people will just take the bus with no hesitation.

Confluence of Danube and Sava rivers

Overlooking Novi Belgrade

West Gate

The other side of Belgrade Fortress

Central Train Station

It did not look as deserted as expected

Empty rail

Then I changed another tram to go to Novi Belgrade and got off after 1 stop. I walked along the river bank and the view from Novi Belgrade was obviously more picturesque.

An hour later, I headed back to the hostel on foot, as I already spent the whole morning and afternoon outside on the street, it was very exhausting especially I am still adapting the jet lag.

At night, I went out for dinner on Knez Mihailova Street. There were many more people. It is so ture that the night-life in Belgrade is indeed very vibrant and lively.