Having passed by it regularly on my runs and cycling routes, I was happy to see Ložionica, the new creative hub on the site of the old coal roundhouse, grow. I even felt pride as it was being built based on the design of my friends Anđela and Vladislav from Studio AKVS; this pride by proxy may be since in high school, I had Anđela … Continue reading Belgrade’s Grand Designs: Metropolis in progress
A country where endurance is much more than a sport gets into the endurance sports craze While endurance and the national pride in “inat” (spite) has been crucial for Serbian history and have saved the nation several times – including during a treacherous trek through Albania in WWI – endurance sports in Serbia have been on the back-burner and the country is more famous for … Continue reading In the Land of Resilience: Serbia Is Falling in Love with Endurance Sports
Researching the occult practices in Socialist Yugoslavia, I came across a fantastic PhD dissertation (and book) by Nikola Pešić on the “Occult in the art of Marina Abramović” (I was happy to find out that his mentor was the great Professor Nemanja Radulović who I interviewed for my Pokretači podcast). Apart from Pešić’s analysis of Abramović’s work, he also includes a brief history of occult … Continue reading Hidden Belgrade: Opening Belgrade’s Chakras
I decided to do a very scientific analysis using The Belgradist proprietary data. Dorćol: You were always liked and respected because you worked hard to be. However when you are best when you let cracks show a bit in your façade Belgrade waterfront: You love provoking others as you like to think you see a bit further than them and are a lot more ambitious. You do … Continue reading Which Belgrade neighbourhood do you identify with the most and what does that say about you?
Bogdan Nestorović was the son of the one of the most prolific Serbian arhcitects, Nikola Nestorović. He prusued his architectural education in Paris in 1920s where he developed a penchant for Art Deco (more precisely Streamline Modern) which characterised his two most monumental buildings: the Craftsmen’s Hall (aka Radio Beograd) and PRIZAD (aka Tanjug). Both buildings have a very intriguing history worth dedicating separate articles … Continue reading Hidden Belgrade (69): Streamline Modern at Craftsmen’s Hall and PRIZAD
Through life, one develops but then has to abandon a nostalgic, protective attitude towards things in one’s life, especially places. Any living city is constantly changing, and cherished nooks and crannies, those that remind you of the best of times and people, have to make way.While it is normal to try to protect what is deemed valuable, one has to realize that it is, after … Continue reading Hidden Belgrade (68): Automobile museum, Sablja Dimiskija and my disappearing neighbourhood
When I saw that there is a film in the works about Džej Ramadanovski, a Serbian-Roma pop star who passed tragically during at the age of 56 in 2020, I feared it would be another slapdash cash-grab riding on the wave of “Toma”, a hit 2021 film about Serbian folk singer Toma Zdravković. My scepticism was even greater as I did not like “Toma”. … Continue reading Exploring Džej Ramadanovski’s Dorćol on film and in reality
An elderly man and a pre-teen girl are standing on a branch. A few meters from them, a well dressed man in his late seventies is trying to climb a 6 foot tall wall and refusing help from a young guy watching him struggle in disbelief. In the back a group of people with disabilities are waving flags, while thousands of children perched on their … Continue reading “Doček”: a Triumph, Serbian-style
I often get obsessed with some places I would like to visit. These obsessions can last for decades and can be affect places near or far. The place I want to see starts appearing everywhere: every mention gives it more of a mysterious aura and in turn makes everything related to it magical and significant, much like Balbec for the protagonist of Proust’s Remembrance of … Continue reading Slankamen dreamin’
Walking around Tel Aviv last month I was struck with how similar parts of it looked to Belgrade. Ironically it was not just the sleek Modernist parts, built by Bauhaus architects, but also parts of the city that were haphazardly forced to house Jewish refugees and settlers, much like parts of Belgrade (Altina, Borča, Batajnica, Banjica) were forced to take in people who came to … Continue reading Refugee cities: Tel Aviv/Beograd
As a keen long distance runner preparing for the Athens Marathon, I had to venture outside of my favoured easy routes and up my game. Belgrade’s hilly profile in addition to flat runs by its rivers is great for training, although our very hot and humid summers are not exactly helping the aspiring athletes. Anyhow here are some of the nicer runs I did in … Continue reading Best Belgrade Runs 2: Do you even run, bro?
It has been a while since I did this type of list. Firstly, COVID threw a spanner into a lot of great businesses which did not survive the pandemic or have changed how they work entirely (lots of them, like Proleće and most of Skadarlija becoming basically crap overpriced tourist haunts) . Secondly, when I started writing this blog, Belgrade’s food scene was significantly less … Continue reading Best of Belgrade Food Scene 2023: A value for money guide
How a trad Christian pop folk singer became the most controversial person in ex-Yugoslavia When you listen to Danica Crnogorčević’s music, you will be instantly amazed by her voice. Wonderfully colourful and powerful, she comes across as a Montenegrin Enya, and in a lot of ways the two share a lot in common. Like Enya, she cuts an almost impossibly wholesome figure: a church-going (her … Continue reading Danica Crnogorčević: the trad villainess of the Balkan Arts scene
While Belgrade is very cosy in Autumn and Winter (and can actually have amazing weather), the crowds and pollution can be a tad overwhelming, and make you wish to leave at least for a day. Below are a few suggestions for day-escapes if you enjoy hiking in the autumn and winter. In addition to these, do check out my older article on best day trips … Continue reading Best autumn/winter hikes from Belgrade
Serbia’s and Yugoslavia’s embrace of modernist architecture after WWII has been so thorough that any thought of reviving architectural styles before 1920s is seen as automatically kitschy and a no-no amongst our architects. While some structures were restored (the building housing the National museum, Central Belgrade palace complex) after extensive aerial bombings during WWII many were replaced with new modernist buildings, but there was also … Continue reading Lost Belgrade: Structures that should RETVRN to Belgrade’s street
There is no better sign of (approaching) middle age than reminiscing about the restaurants, bars and clubs which are no longer around, but which left a mark on one’s memories, taste and, in many ways, life. My path towards becoming a kafana connoisseur started in Vidin kapija, across the road from my primary school. I was taken there in 1996 by my mom and grandma … Continue reading Vanishing Majik of turn-of-millennium Belgrade hotspots
Maybe it is the shimmer of the water, maybe it is the people around them, or perhaps it is chlorine or sunstroke, but swimming pools, and especially public pools, have a magical, surreal touch to them. It is no wonder they inspired a lot of great art from Hockney’s Bigger splash, to Cheever’s excellent (yet dark) tale of a man who decided to swim his … Continue reading Hidden Belgrade (67): Swimming palaces of Belgrade
While Serbia and the Balkans come nowhere near Italy in purism about food and food related customs (aka culinary fascism), there are certain things that are not done, and certain other signs that signal to you that you are in the presence of a true gastronomic veteran. For example, one of the main tells that you are a non-local in Serbia is ordering ajvar in … Continue reading Beyond ajvar, burek and ćevapi: building your kafana cred with must-try offal and regional dishes
After two lousy years of the pandemic, now there is a potential world war threatening to sour our „špricers“. However if the years of turbulence taught us anything, it is that it is important to make the most out of a lousy situation, something that Belgrade always excelled at. While most of the guides will send you to swim in Ada, eat in Skadarlija or … Continue reading Beyond splavs and Ada: how to spend your Belgrade summer
For a very long time, SIV, for me, was just a drab government building. While I passed it fairly often, unthinkingly, on my regular walks between old Zemun, much like the whole of New Belgrade – with the exception of Sava Centar – it was unremarkable, melding into the grey mass of what I (and many around me) termed as “uninspiring socialist architecture”, something that … Continue reading Hidden Belgrade (66): SIVilisational decline
