A weekend in Belgrade, Serbia

I guess, there must be at least one trip per year I don’t plan at all. This year I went to the capital of Serbia, to Belgrade without doing any prior planning and research. The whole trip was organised by a friend, who had been to Belgrade plenty times before and knows the town very well. He organised the accommodation and restaurant reservations, he planned most of the activities and even act as a tour guide on our walk around the town.  He did an amazing job. No wonder, our group had a great time in Serbia.

Sunset by the river Sava

The main purpose of the trip was to attend basketball matches. We’ve attended two:  Crvena Zvezda (Red star Belgrade) vs. Anatolu Efes from Turkey and Belgrade derby Partizan vs. Crvena zvezda. Those were my first professional basketball matches and, oh boy, they were unique and unforgettable experiencee. Not so much because of the basketball, but because of the cheering of the supporters of both Belgrade’s teams.

At Crvena zvezda vs Anadolu Efes basketball match

The atmosphere in the arena was at the both matches amazing. So much cheering, so much emotions. At the derby Partizan vs Crvena Zvezda it even got scary with all the fanatic fans who gathered in the hall to support their teams. Some of them were really spooky. Just before the match, after we just stepped out of the taxi in a street next to the arena, we had an incident. Three girls from our group wore red jackets. Red is the colour of the Crvena zvezda and an angry fan of Parizan who just walked past us got very upset. From his angry face, voice and gestures it was clear, he was super offended. He cursed us all just for wearing the “wrong colours”. Crazy! Event though it was cold, girls took their jackets off, and walked to the arena just in their jerseys . Without any further accidents we got inside the arena. Even though most of us didn’t really care which team would win, we’ve actively cheered for Partizan team, just to avoid any unwanted problems with their fans. At the end Partizan won, the fans were happy and all ended well.

At Crvena zvezda vs Anadolu Efes basketball match

Apart from basketball, the highlight of our trip definitely the amazing food. We ate so much, we ate so well.

Food was definitely one of the highlights of the trip to Belgrade

Another fun aspect of our trip was exploring Belgrade’s night life. After two nights of partying, I can say, it definitely lived up to mine expectations.

Street of Belgrade

Apart from attending the sports events, partying and eating well, we also did some sightseeing.  We walked around the town and saw the main tourist attractions: Knez Mihajlova Street, parliament building, church of Saint Sava, church of Saint Marko, Danube and Sava waterside etc.

Parliament building

Church of St Marko

The female part of the group also explored some of the Belgrade’s history while visiting Museum of Yugoslav History (Muzej istorije Jugoslavije). A museum supposed to be dedicated to 20th century history with the focus of Yugoslavia (Serbia was constituent part of Yugoslavia), but it mainly focus on the persona of the former Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito. Despite it wasn’t the most informative and exciting museum I have ever visited, I still enjoy the visit.

Inside the Museum of Yugoslav History

I usually prefer travelling alone with my husband, but every now and then it is nice to travel in larger group of friends. Belgrade was a perfect town to be explored in such way. It was definitely fun and exciting trip I would love to repeat at some point in the future.

Historical Museum of Serbia (Istorijski Muzej Srbije)