"The nightlife of Belgrade is supposed to be madness," says Maria from Austria and dissects a fine, small Macaron made of beetroot and goat's cheese. "Hallegale parties in demolition houses and stuff like Berlin in the 90s."

I nod, not knowing exactly why. Maria, who blogs about her visit to Belgrade, should actually be too young to have heard anything about nightlife in the 90s. And, frankly, even at that time, despite the best party age, it was usually just for the pub around the corner rather than for techno clubs on industrial wasteland.

God, I'm closing my eyes right now, at 10pm, and that's definitely not the fantastic food in the restaurant "Iris", where in a cool old Belgrade flat a young chef offers highly refined eight course tasting menus - by the way at a price, for Nowadays you just get an avocado bread with "Eggs Benedict" in Berlin-Neukölln.

Beauty between socialist blocks and hipster cafes

Photographer Stanislav and I arrived today in Serbia's 1.7 million metropolis. On the way from the airport to the hotel we were in a traffic jam more than we drove (Belgrade has very, many construction sites, also reminds of Berlin earlier), and therefore had enough time to collect impressions from the car window : Gründerzeit houses next to socialist blocks. Playful Art Nouveau façades alongside brutalist concrete, small "Trafika" tobacconists and fully glazed hipster cafes, cobblestone lanes with time-honored coffeehouses and wide boulevards with modern shopping malls, banners reminiscent of the 1999 Nato attacks and concert posters by indie bands, and enthroned above them all the medieval Kalemegdan fortress with its extensive park, from which one has the best view over the Danube and the Sava, which clash here - such as old and new, tradition and modernity, Balkan folk and cosmopolitan city life, decay and growth, departure and upheaval.

Impressive socialist buildings

© Stanislav Krupar

I like it immediately. And I can not wait to explore the city. But not tonight. Even if Maria looks at me a little pitying now.

Belgrd is still far away from mass tourism

The next day, Stanislav and I meet with city guide Dimitrije, who leads us around today. We pay a visit to Serbian inventor and visionary Nikola Tesla, now named Silicon Valley company - the urn with its ashes is in the museum named after him, where I try out what alternating current feels like (ticklish to painful ). We enjoy the sun in Kalemegdan Park. We walk through the Skadarlija, a picturesque, car-free cobblestone street full of rustic restaurants, where musicians move from table to table and offer wistful sages. Here Belgrade looks most touristy without being really.

The international low-cost caravan has not yet discovered the city, and that also makes it so enjoyable here.

At the end of the day, which has passed surprisingly quickly, we end up at "KC Grad", an alternative concert, discussion and cultural center in a neighborhood called Savamala. The plaster crumbles from the walls, "the beer from the bottle is cheap, and on the small stage just a few nerds are trying on electro-wound music, it looks wonderfully improvised. In short, it's just the kind of shop where I feel comfortable.

Gentrification - also current in Serbia

"For years this area was here, the last, shabby corner by the river, then they discovered the artists and opened galleries and concert stages, and suddenly it was announced," says Dimitrije (with a slightly Bavarian touch, because Dimitrije lived in Munich for a long time ).

However, that's over as well, because the gentrification has been screwed one more screw: Now here is the "Belgrade Waterfront", the ambitious construction project of Arab investors who want to pull up office towers and modern apartment complexes on the river. Much has not been built yet, but many demolished - the "KC grade" and some surrounding old houses are still left in the shade of the cranes.

Of course, there were protests against the construction and the way things went. Dimitrije also sees the "Belgrade Waterfront" as critical. And at the same time unsentimental: "A living city is changing." Something is happening, something else is going on. "Regarding the going out, a lot has shifted to Dorc? Ol," says Dimitrije. We have to look at each other. Tomorrow.

A district that enchants: Dorc? Ol

I understand immediately why Dorc? Ol is the hip district of Belgrade: Here, on the one hand, the old buildings with floorboards and high ceilings, partly renovated, partly still original gray and covered with street art, love the city dwellers around the world - at least that of the Dreaming quiet cottage in the suburb. And there are a lot of inviting cafés, all of them full. And not just with young people.

Abitur 1967: Each month, these women meet since then in Dorcol

© Stanislav Krupar

Thus, about 15 elderly ladies and gentlemen sit at a long table at the "Rakija", the Serbian fruit brandy: all graduates of a Belgrade school, graduating in 1967, who have met once a month for the tenth year. "I do not have a lot of money," one of the ladies tells me, whose face is youthful despite her almost 70 years. "But it's enough to eat well, drink, enjoy life with friends, that's the most important thing."

Belgrade is a place where you get a little more

And Belgrade, I think, is the ideal city for that: not so many obvious sights or world-class museums (the National Museum has been closed since 2003 due to renovation ...), but the streets are full of life to drift through.

Suzana confirms that to me. We meet the 40-year-old in a fashion shop, where she is currently helping out in sales, and start talking. Suzana, a child of Bosnian parents, grew up in Hamburg and lived there until a few years ago. "Do not get me wrong, I love Hamburg," she says, "but if you spontaneously wanted to do something in the evening and call friends, it was always: Okay, let's make something for three weeks in the future."

Then she got the offer to do the PR work for a fashion designer in Belgrade, and exchanged Hanseatic instincts for a sense of southern optimism.

"Of course, you earn a lot less here, but for me the quality of life is much higher."

In the early evening I explore with Stanislav one of Suzana's outing tips: a winding, former brewery in the middle of Dorc? Ol. There's everything a night owler could look for on the grounds: nice vintage bars ("Polet"), music clubs ("Elektropionir"), hip burger shops ("Foodporn"), student pubs with CraftBeer selection ("Zaokret") and a restaurant with " EventKitchen "(" Belgrade Supperfront ").

In the latter case, however, we do not come in: "I'm sorry, today we are fully booked. Could you come back tomorrow?" The man speaks with an unmistakable Dutch accent, is called Ralph and is the owner himself. He just opened his restaurant the day before: "The room here was empty, so let's try it, if it works," he says. "If not, we just shut it up again." It is not clear anyway, what happens in the medium term with the whole brewery area, "that has bought an American investor.This can be that all here in one or two years also does not stand.You can not plan for eternity in Belgrade. " Ralph has lived in the city for seven years, and this is also his "seventh enterprise or something."

When the night turns to day - 7 days a week

On our last day we do a guided bike tour in the group with the friendly guides of "I bike Belgrade" (which, by the way, pure coincidence, is one of Ralph's seven start-up companies). And I meet Maria from Austria again!

We exchange experiences as we drive along the Danube. Maria says: "Yesterday I was in a bar, and then someone told me about a new club that was hard to find in such a dilapidated house in the middle of the residential area, but then we got in there and it played a band, It was totally crowded and a great mood, I'm just going to bed in the morning and what did you do? " ? "We were in a pub, too." ? "And then?" ? "Well, then it got so full and so smokey, and it was already eleven, and we wanted to be fit today ..."

Maria looks at me as compassionately as at our first meeting in the "Iris". "You have to go out here at least once, that's Belgrade, I'll meet someone in a bar later ..."

And so it happens that in the evening I take a taxi to a snack in the middle of downtown called "Wurst Platz Bar".

No, the name is not meant ironically: there are sausages, there is beer, and it also looks like a snack bar with seating anywhere in the pedestrian street. But then a live band begins to play. It's karaoke night, and a boy gets up from his beer, comes on stage and sings "Killing in the Name of" by Rage Against the Machine, and all sing and dance with it. Then follows a Serbian pop song, and there is no stopping in the audience.

A city that never sleeps

© Stanislav Krupar

I stay until the bar closes. I'm not a bit tired. I'm sweaty. I am happy. Yes, the nightlife of Belgrade is amazing. But maybe I should just go out a lot more often.

Sonja's tips for Belgrade

STAY

• Radisson Blu Old Mill. The hotel has a historic mill, which is a bit decentralized.This is more than compensated by large, tasteful rooms with panoramic windows, excellent breakfasts and a successful mix of tradition and modern design. DZ / F from 105 Euro (Vojvode Mi? Ic? A Boulevard 15, Tel. 11/635 73 57, www.radissonblu.com/de/hotelbelbelden).
• Metropolitan Palace. From the outside, it looks more like a socialist charm, but inside, the name "Palace" is honored: large, modern rooms, spa with pool - and thanks to its central location, many sights can be reached on foot. DZ / F from 105 Euro (Bulevar Kralja Aleksandra 69, Tel. 11/333 31 00, www.metropolpalace.com).
• Hotel Moskva. The building with the eye-catching Art Nouveau façade is a sight in itself - the most beautiful hotel in Belgrade and by no means the most expensive. DZ / F from 124 Euro (Terazije 20, Tel. 11/364 20 69, www.hotelmoskva.rs).

ENJOY

• Iris. The young cook Vanja Pu? Kar has dared to do something completely new for Belgrade: eight-course, sophisticated tasting menus made from regional ingredients (which do not shy away from offal) in modern haute cuisine interpretation. The menu changes monthly, there is next to the option with meat (about 30 euros) and a vegetarian (about? 25 euros) plus wine accompaniment. Open Wednesday to Friday, reservation necessary (Sarajevska 54, Tel. 64/129 63 77, www.newbalkancuisine.com/en/).
• Crna Ovca. The "black sheep" has the very best ice cream: flavors like "white chocolate with baked strawberries in balsamico" sound not only good, but also taste fantastic (Kralja Petra 58).
• Radost fina kuhinjica. Hip vegetarian restaurant, which also appeals to non-vegetarians: Whether bowls, quesadillas, mezze plates, burgers - everything is beautifully presented and tastes great (Pariska 3, Tel. 61/604 44 45).
• Caffeine. The third-wave coffee movement has long since reached Belgrade. In this café young hipsters sit in front of laptops, drinking their "Flat White" and smoothies with spinach and apples (Cara Lazara 13).
• ??? (Znak pitanja). The "question mark" is Belgrade's oldest tavern. What's good is to keep up: hearty meat dishes, plum-stuffed dumplings and Turkish coffee, which is served in a classic way in small copper pots - in good weather also in the backyard (Kralja Petra 6).
• Ambar. Chic bar-restaurant in the so-called concrete halls on the Save. For example, there are eight hours of marinated spare ribs for two people (around € 10), as well as light salads (Kara? Or? Eva 2? 4, Tel. 11/328 66 37, www.ambarrestaurant.com).
• Drama. Okay, yes: there is a lot of meat in Serbia, and it is actually eaten c? Evapc? Ic? I - among other things in this very popular, friendly snack in the district Dorc? Ol (Dositejeva 7a).

GOING OUT

• Blaznavac. During the day a nice café with a slanted interior (half carousel horse with glittering mane on the terrace sets the tone), in the evening an original bar. And you can sit outside on lazy afternoons like on cozy nights (Kneginje Ljubice 18, www.facebook.com/ blaznavac).
• Dva Jelena. In any other city such a huge shop with nightly folkloric live music would be a tourist trap, in Belgrade, however, many locals enjoy the mood. The food is decent, but in the end incidental - it is mainly for drinking, and to be serenaded by the musicians (Skadarska 32, Tel. 11/723 48 85, www.dvajelena.rs).
• Centrala. Vintage coffee house like unpretentious neighborhood bar. However, one should not be too allergic to cigarettes - smoking is allowed, as almost everywhere in Belgrade (Simina 6).
• Polet. Bar with vintage living room atmosphere: there are sofas, art exhibitions, live bands play on a mini stage in the corner, friendly boys and girls stand behind the counter - and on the site of a former brewery there are many other good pubs and restaurants in the immediate vicinity (Cetinjska 15) ,
• KC degree. Years ago, the mixture of pub, club, gallery, cultural center, debaters and concert stage was one of the first institutions to upgrade the once-disreputable Savamala district? Today it is one of the last, which did not have to give way to the ambitious construction project "Belgrade Waterfront" (Brac? e Krsmanovic? 4, www.gradbeograd.eu).
• Dorc? Ol Square. Non-commercial space in a former garage for exhibitions, performances, concerts. There is nothing going on here, sometimes the hut is on fire, you always get a coffee (Dobrac? Ina 59b, www.dorcolplatz.rs).
• Gajba. You have to find this bar, but it's worth it: it's dark and cuddly, the drinks are strong, and later in the evening the music is suitable for dancing (Kara? Or? Eva 44, above the restaurant? Gadost?).
• Sausage place bar. Yes, this is actually only a better snack for Käsekrainer and Co. during the day. But in the evening, the mood is left out, as here almost every day a live band appears. Particularly popular are the karaoke Sundays (Makedonska 4).

SHOPPING

• Design District. Since young, local designers have revived the former shopping center, you can find real treasures here (C? Umic? Eva sokac? E, belgradedesigndistrict.blogspot.de/).
• Ercegovac. The specialty store has been selling handcrafted hats of timeless elegance since 1927 (Terazije 40).

EXPERIENCE

• Nikola Tesla Museum. The small museum dedicated to the ingenious Serbian engineer, physicist and inventor should be visited with a guided tour: only then can you lend a hand and experience the principle of alternating current on your own body. Hourly tours in Serbian or in English - whoever wants to make sure that he understands something should call beforehand (Krunska 51, Tel. 11/243 38 86, www.teslamuseum.org).
• I bike Belgrade. In the summer daily English-speaking guided bike tours, either through the center (3 hours about 17 euros) or along the river? (4 hours about 22 euros)? The latter is even more interesting, as one gets to see much of the socialist architecture of New Belgrade, the part of the city that is often left out (Brac? e Krsmanovic? 5, Tel. 669/00 83 86, www.ibikebelgrade.com). ,
• Ada Ciganlija. The peninsula on the Sava, 4 km from the center, is a popular excursion and resort: Here you can go for a walk, do some sports and stop at the beach bars.
• Food Tour Belgrade. The fact that the Serbian cuisine is not all meat is proved by these culinary tours through Belgrade. You can choose between three variants of different lengths, but even with the short tour through four restaurants, you'll be full. Prices depend on number of participants, two persons z. For example, pay 89 € (Tel 628 71 39 80, www.foodtourbelgrade.com).

PHONE

• The calling code of Serbia is 003 81.

BELGRADE SERBIA ???????? - English tourist guide (May 2024).