Belgrade Off The Beaten Path Tips by KonstantinII

Main Post Office building in Belgrade.

VThis is a view on the Main post office building from the Park of the Serbian Royal Palace (nowdays unfortunately known as "Pionirski park" - Park of pioneers).

One more buidling that survived the Bombings in WWII and NATO agression on Yugoslavia in 1999.

Black horses in front of the Parliament building

"Konji vrani" (Black Horses) made by Toma Rosandic in front of the beautiful Parliament building in Belgrade.

These are just some photos I took (or ones I "borrowed" from people that took them) of Belgrade.

Belgrade is an incredibly beautiful City with many contradictions and cultural varieties in it.
Hope I can describe some of it’s “extravagance” here. ;o)
Enjoy the Off The Beaten Paths of Belgrade!

Republic (or Freedom) Square - Trg Republike

Republic Square is connected to the "Knez Mihailova ulica" - Prince Mihailo street.

The center of all centers in Belgrade is Knez Mihailova street. And dtough you may think this is not "Off the beaten path" in Belgrade, 'cause it's the most famous street here, most of the peolpe you meet in this street do not live in Belgrade.

It's the street for nice strolls and shopping, but the soul of Belgrade is somewhere else.
At least Beogradjani (people that live in Belgrade) will tell you so.

Gable in one of the old streets in Belgrade

Belgrade is one of the few Cities that was bombed so many times that we stopped counting. Only in the 20th century it was bombed in 1915 (Austro-Hungarian Army), 1941 Germans (70% of the city completly destoyed), then 1943 US and British (they were aparently bombing the Germans, and in 1999 by NATO.

Only few buildings survived the WWII.
This is one of them, because it says on the galeb of the roof that it was built in 1921.
You can see on it a man holding a traditional Serbian (and Montenegro) instrument GUSLE and I can't tell what is the woman holding 'cause of the damages on the sculptures.
The initials, probably belonging to the owner of this building (at that time) are written in Serbian Cyrilics and they are D. J.

King's Gate and the Victor (again) ;o)

This is one of the nice preserved gates inside the old town in Belgrade and it's one of a few that has the bridge crossing right there. It is called The King's Gate - "Kraljeva kapija".

The Kalemegdan Castle is enourmous!
And it is very beautiful. And of course from half of the Kalemegdan parks and terases you can see the Belgrade Victor. ;o)

Facades in Raicheva Street - "Rajiceva ulica"

Facades are just beautiful in Belgrade,new or old.

This is a building right accross the Kalemegdan Park neer Knez Mihailova street (most famous one in Belgrade).

City wanted to give the spot just beside this building to the Sheraton Hotel chain and then the "old" owners appeared. (the ones that the land was taken from after the WWII by the Comunist regime) and they said, they wanted to build a Hotel there.
Aparently they made a lot of money abroad ;o)

Parisian street - "Pariska ulica"

Parisian Street separates Kalemegdan from the downtown famous street (pedestrian zone) "Knez Mihailova ulica" - Prince Mihailo Street.

Beautiful building of French embassy is there and Austrian and few others.

Beautiful details all around...

Just take a long walk through Belgrade any day. It can be sunny (which is most of the spring, summer and autum) or rainy (sometime during the spring, in few summer days when it can be really beautiful) or bad weather (autumn and winter) or when it's snowing (winter time, mostly December and January)...
And you'll love it!
It's all the same, you just have to look Belgrade in the face.
But be careful, he may seduce you and you'll never leave Belgrade again! ;o)

Belgrade Victor - "Beogradski pobednik"

One more of the beautiful peaces phenomenon Ivan Mestrovic made for Belgrade is this guy, Belgrade Victor.

The spot is perfect. Right on the top of the Kalemegdan (hill) above the place where Sava (longest Balkan river) meets Danube (second largest European river - largest, longest one is Volga, people tend to forget that ;o)).

Victor looking towards New Belgrade

You can see Victor is holding his sward upside-down and a pigeon, as a symbol of peace in his hand.

In the background you can see lots of buildings. They are actually much further away than they seem. That's the New Belgrade, a part of Belgrade built after the WWII on the spot where only swamps were ones.