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’
I arrived to Vittoriale degli Italiani on 13 August, exactly 111 years after Gabriele D’Annunzio was (in)famously defenestrated from his villa. This – yet unresolved – act of violence in Gardone della Garda is one that arguably led to Mussolini’s rise to power -as his much more charismatic and accomplished rival was left incapacitated during key political events – and certainly led to creation of … Continue reading Italians build it better: Vittoriale degli Italiani and Brescia
Last year I finally got back into my travelling mode. Here are the twelve places that I visited that really stand out in my memory, and to which I come back often in these grey winter days in Belgrade. Thankfully this year I also discovered how easy it is to edit and post videos on TikTok so I can revisit them often :p Sils Maria … Continue reading Nietzsche, villas and suspicious art benefactors: top twelve places I visited in 2022
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
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
As a twenty-something third year student at Belgrade’s art Academy in 1960s, Slobodan Kojić dreamt big. A Kikinda native, he envisaged creating an art colony which would make use of his native city’s clay pits – which powered the city’s brick and roof tile industry – so artists could create majestic, grandiose works of terracotta. The use or clay in the arts in what is … Continue reading Terra, Kikinda: How a local artist used home turf to create a world’s best terracotta art collection
Even with the current petrol prices, the best way to enjoy Monetnegro is by car. There is stunning scenery almost literally wherever you look, you can see many unexplored places, you don’t have to rely on public transport (although scenic rail is still notoriously unreliable) and/or get stuck in the usual tourist haunts all of which, after a few days, become a bit stale. Furthermore, … Continue reading Montenegrin roadtrip: Tito’s villas, best lamb roasts in Grahovo, castles and monasteries
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
Train travel used to be the stuff of nightmares in Serbia. While I was in highschool I remember packing up lots of food for a 90km train ride to Novi Sad, while any attempts to venture further – to Zagreb and Budapest (both about 400km away from Belgrade) – were day-long out trips in crappy trains that stopped in crappy stations. I n a lot … Continue reading Belgrade to Novi Sad on Soko express
Straša Tončev je pokretač 21grams – izuzetnog restorana balkanske hrane u Dubaiu koji je uspeo da dovede dušu naših protora na ovo zahvetno tržište. Pričali smo o nagradama koje su ona i 21grams uspeli da osvoje, pokretanju posla u stranoj zemlji i tome šta je duša naše hrane. Beleške Lokacije 21grams u Meyan Mallu kod Jumeriah beach-a i u TimeOut Marketu kod Burj Khalife Tekstovi … Continue reading Pokretači #135 Staša Tončev iz 21grams o balkanskoj duši u Dubaiu
For a tourist, who is not a jet setting merchant or businessman, an Expo is a mix of Disneyland and the Olympics – both of which I love. Despite my enthusiasm for both, xpoO in Dubai was my first and, overall, it was a great experience – especially given the Emirati penchant for pomp. Although Dubai’s contribution to the world of invention and collective imagination … Continue reading Expo 2020 Dubai: Hits and Misses
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Given that the culinary scene in Serbia not only expanded, but changed sufficiently to attract the interest of Michelin guides, a few friends and I lamented the receding prominence of good Serbian kafanas on the culinary landscape. Yes, this is probably overly nostalgic and curmudgeonly, however once one hits a certain age, has had the chance to taste enough varied dishes and has been overcharged … Continue reading Karafindl: The Nutshell Times Good Kafana Guide
Driving down to Vrnjačka Banja, on a hot July day without a working AC in my car, like we did in our Lada in 1990s, was my Madeleine moment. I was there only once before – with my maternal grandparents in May 1990 – when they decided to christen me on the sly to avoid my atheist father’s protestations, which made that trip have an … Continue reading Vrnjačka Banja: Remembrance of Things Past
For a long while I only considered Brussels as a transit city, a sort of a non-place that no one really stays in, and thus not exactly offering anything to a visitor. My first, very brief, visit was on a post-high school tour of Europe, as my friends and I were visiting storied cities that “we should not miss” – actual destinations like Florence, Rome, … Continue reading Brussels: Belgrade of the Benelux
Dragiša Mijačić i InTER su uspeli da kroz Outdoor In od Ibarskog Kolašina naprave tursitičku destinaciju izgradnjom via ferrate Berim, jedne od najdužih i najuzbudljivijih u Evropi. Pričali smo o razvoju Severa Kosova, turizmu posle 2020e, kao i uzbudljivim avanturama koja vas čekaju kad se uputite put Zubinog potoka. Beleške Outdoor In i Dragiša na Twitteru i Facebooku Moj putopis sa Kosova Via Dinarica Interesuju … Continue reading #96 Dragiša MIjačić o tome kako je Via Ferrata Berim transformisala Ibarski Kolašin
In the past few years much is made about Serbia’s alliances, whether old (albeit tumultuous) ones like those with Russia and France and or relatively recent ones with China and the UAE. Despite many memorial events in the past few years related to 80th anniversary of the start and 75th anniversary of the end of WWII, it is remarkable that no one decided to mark … Continue reading Hidden Belgrade (57): Friends in need… or how Czechs and Slovaks shaped Belgrade
I often passed through Nova Varoš and Prijepolje on my way to the Montenegrin coast as a kid. While it is from Užice (or some would say Ovčar Kablar gorge) that the landscapes in Serbia turns truly majestic, I never stayed much, rushing towards the coast around Budva or towards Nikšić, where my family hails from. This year, of course, there was no trip to … Continue reading Serbian South by South-West: Exploring Uvac and Prijepolje
August used to be the best month for me. As everything would grind to a halt and most people would escape to the coast, I would enjoy wandering around scorchingly hot but blissfully empty Belgrade (and before that London and for one summer each Ljubljana and Athens). If I were to travel somewhere, I would feel pangs of regret as I would be missing out … Continue reading Med Times
Gost je Tomislav Ivanović, jedan od najvećih poznavalaca domaćih vina i istorije domaćeg vinarstva. Tomislavov blog Vinopedia.rs je osvojio Millesima Blog Award 2016 za najbolji evropski blog o vinu i gastronomiji, dok je njegov projekat “Svetski Dan Prokupca”, koji se obeležava 14. oktobra svake godine privukao pažnju što domaćih poznavalaca i proizvođača, što svetskih vinskih ekeprata kao što je Jancis Robinson. Pričali smo o tajni … Continue reading Pokretači #83 Tomislav Ivanović (Vinopedia.rs) o domaćem vinarstvu nekada i sada / Beograd
