Serbia - Days 1 and 2 - Walking tour of Belgrade and van tour of Central Serbia - 12th June 2026
- Brett Sedgwick
- Jun 26
- 5 min read
Day 1
Zdravo from Belgrade,
We parked at Zlavo’s Airport Parking Lot - a.k.a. a big dirt lot 5 minutes from the airport in Zlavo’s backyard in Podgorica.
Man, it was hot. High 30’s away from the coast.
Luckily, wife of Zlavo said: “give electricity to hot people in van.…(to be read in a thick Slav accent)
We then had a fan for the night. Ripper.
We were up at 5 am and the Zlav, drove us the five minutes to the airport. No worries.
50 minutes in the air, boom, landed at Nikola Tesla Airport, Belgrade Serbia.
A free bus into town - it took an hour and we had to stand up the whole time - but it was free and we saw the first impressions of the outskirts of Belgrade.
First impressions - lots of construction and abandoned buildings, many gambling dens and lots of coffee shops.
We jumped off in the centre, found our hotel, dumped the bags and went for brunch.
Brunch was in a posh restaurant street at a retro 70’s looking place called “Jazz.” The food was great, but smoking durries is still big in Serbville, and most of the punters were smoking inside. Man, why didn’t I come here 20 years ago, when I loved the bungers? Now I find them excruciating!
We met our guide Alex at Republic Square, and over the next rainy two hours - a blessed relief from the heat - we walked around the main pedestrian areas and down to the castle.
Top Five Belgrade Facts:
The city has been occupied by everyone over the last several thousand years, hence the architectural style is a mix of everything from Parisian Elegance, to Italian Renaissance, to Russian Brutalism. A truly eclectic mix.
Belgrade has been bombed 4 main times - twice in WW1, once in WW2 and once by NATO in the 90s. It was rebuilt, obviously.
The 90’s war is not discussed, but the ancient ones are.
Belgrade sits at the confluence of the Danube and Sava Rivers and means “White City” due to the white sandstone that the Romans used when they built the first battlements.
The main religion is Christian Orthodox, and there is minimal seating in the ornately decorated churches, mainly for the elderly or disabled.
The tour was pretty good, and Alex was a great guide who tipped us into where to eat, watch the World Cup and what to check out in the city.
The main pedestrian area was beautiful, the bakeries (pekara) were cheap and plentiful and most of the locals were friendly and open to tourism.
There was a lot of political graffiti that, of course, I couldn’t read, but the gist was that Kosovo should be considered part of Serbia, and there were mixed messages about joining the EU…interesting. I am not informed enough, though, to offer a position on any of these ideas, so I won’t.
The fortress was cool, and we saw an iconic statue called Victory Man.
We checked into our room, which was OK - the best thing being the location right near the pedestrian street.
That night, because I love the bungers so much, we went back to Jazz and had some sort of pork and vegies…it was OK, and we sat near the door, so the darts weren’t so punishing.
DAY 2
Early the next day, we met our guide Novi - a big mountain of a man - and Milan, our stoic driver for a day tour of Central Serbia by van. We picked up four others - Michael from Brisbane, Gabriele y Rodrigo (they hadn’t even heard of the band of the same name) from Brazil, and Peter from Norway. As we left the city, Novi told us many facts about the history of Belgrade, pointed out landmarks and demonstrated his wealth of knowledge by answering many questions.
First stop was the Manisja Monastery complex built in the 15th Century. This complex contains a working monastery (it used to have 500 people - monks and nuns, but now has 20), a huge Orthodox cathedral and a fortified wall. The cathedral itself was pretty epic and had been bombed, looted, pillaged, and despite all of this, some of the 500-year-old frescoes were still intact on the walls. Pretty impressive first stop - check it out below.
Next, we stopped at a waterfall, but because we were so spoilt in Croatia, it was a bit lame tbh. Here it is, though.
We then drove to a massive cave complex called Resavska. Description from TripAdvisor:
Resavska Cave (Despotovac): Often considered the most beautiful cave in Serbia, it features a 4.5 km subterranean landscape of incredible 80-million-year-old stalactites and stalagmites. A roughly 800 m trail is arranged for visitors. (Note: Temperatures hover around 7°C, so bring a jacket)
Yep, you read that right, 80 million-year-old structures. Apparently, in the 1960’s (maybe) a sheep ran off one day and disappeared into the cave entrance. The shepherd moved a rock and discovered the massive complex before scientists and spelunkers (love that word) got in there and explored the system. It was a bit clastro in there, but the lighting and the paths made it feel pretty safe, and it was a half hour well spent, even though it was a wee bit chilly! Check it.
We then went to a trout farm and river mouth (meh) before stopping for lunch at a really good restaurant called Gornjak. The six of us on the tour sat together and, over a few local beers and reds, started bonding. They were all well-educated and well-travelled, and the next hour in the sun, eating, drinking and talking travel, was epic.
Jen-Jen and I shared a salad with chicken, a huge loaf of freshly baked bread and some local soft cheese called kajmak (pronounced ky-mak) that was more like a butter than a cheese, but it was delicious on the warm, slightly risen bread. It was a well-spent crowded hour - literally and metaphorically.
As we lumbered back to the van, the stoic Milan had a surprise in store for us - homemade Rakija!! Yeah boyyyzzz!!!
Milan opened right up as he talked about his own world-famous Serbian brandy. He had five types for us to try - honey, grape, apricot, pear, and of course, plum! (Slivovic) Mate, talk about firewater. He was even cracking jokes: Rajika - connecting people!! Classic.
Most people slept on the way home as the combo of good food, walking, and rajika put us all to sleep.
That night I met the Brazilians at the Liga Bar in downtown Belgrade, and we watched Bosnia draw with Canada in the World Cup. Great times - except for all of the bloody durries - inside and out!
Great first few days - learnt heaps about the history of the town and country, religion, food and drink, natural beauty and the hospitality of the people.
It really does go to show that travel breaks down your perceptions and ignorant bias of other cultures. I just wish Poorleen and her One Neuron lemmings would leave Australia to get a glimpse of other cultures.
Oh well, sux to be them!
Ciao!
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