Category: Serbia

Posts about the culture, events, language, etc. of Serbia.

The Serbian Royal Palace

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I took a special tour of the Royal Palace this week as part of charity fundraising event. The Princess Katherine’s Foundation is doing a “Children Helping Children” campaign and asked the school to participate. A delegation of our students donated gifts for the impoverished children of Belgrade.

It was an informational and highly interesting tour. I took the photo above of the dome of the church on the palace grounds. Jesus has a bullet hole in his forehead from the Partisans who took over the palace after World War II. The church was used as a storage room at that time and the Royal Family kept some of the artifacts of the history of the place. I especially loved the basement private cinema, which Tito used to watch Westerns back in the day. I sat in his favorite chair.

The tour guide gave us a lot of information about the art works and the history of the rooms in the palace. Currently the Serbian government owns everything, but allows the Royal Family to live in an apartment on the grounds. It is a huge piece of land in Dedinje and the Karadjordjevic Family has refurbished much of the palace. It is quite spectacular and a fascinating place. I highly recommend a visit. The rooms below are done in a Russian style because the family gave refuge to Russian architects and artists fleeing the Bolsheviks. They were allowed to design many rooms. There are also spectacular views and every room has a story.

The Russian Rooms

I also received an invitation to the State Funeral of King Peter, which will take place next month. I’ll definitely blog on the that event. The Royal Family hold no power or political office in Serbia as it is a parliamentary government. We sadly didn’t have time to tour the White Palace on the grounds, but I will definitely come back for that tour.

Royal Palace Views

 

Sad Memorial

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The other day I was walking along the Sava River and I came across the memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust. In World War II, The statue was erected in front of the old fairgrounds that served as a concentration camp for Jews, Roma, and Serbians. You can see the tower in the background.

I wonder how many visitors, or even Belgraders understand what took place here. I’ve blogged about the site before.

Parking Belgrade Style

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This folks is the perfect Belgrade parking technique. Parking is an adventure here and it takes awhile to figure out the parking system here. I have perfected the art of finding a parking space downtown. As you can notice, we have a big “family truckster” vehicle and it is a challenge to find parking spaces when we go to the center of the city. Belgraders park on the sidewalks. There is an etiquette to this however, and one must leave space for pedestrians to walk on the sidewalk. You can see by the woman about to go by my car that she has plenty of space. One also has to make sure that the car is not too far out into the street to block traffic, like in the photo below.

Slowing traffic while getting some milk, eggs, and cigarettes from the Maxi!

There is an organized system of paying for parking as well. The city is divided into zones and one can pay for parking by an SMS with one’s mobile phone. It is quite easy.

Here is an example below of people parking and blocking the entire sidewalk. This is also bad because it endangers or inconveniences pedestrians. I guess this is a busy street so they drivers didn’t want to risk their cars being hit while on the road.

The city makes wide sidewalks, and I guess it is for parking. The system does work and I always find a parking spot. I would like to hear some more parking stories from Belgrade readers of my blog.

Baba Marta

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March Snowstorm, originally uploaded by bill kralovec.

Grandmother March! This is a saying in Serbia when the weather turns cold in the month of March, Grandmother March is a cranky old lady and is quite capricious, and when she gets angry, the weather can quickly change. This week we had a couple inches of snow fall. Quite depressing. Attached is a photo from my balcony from Tuesday. This is quite depressing when we’ve had some hints of spring earlier in the month, and now it is back to snow.

With the sun coming back out today, perhaps Baba Marta is back in a good mood.

Hotel Jugoslavia

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One of my ideas is to renovate this hotel in New Belgrade. The Hotel Jugoslavia was opened in 1969 and many international celebrities and dignitaries stayed at the hotel including two US Presidents, Nixon and Carter. The hotel was partially destroyed during the NATO bombing campaign of 1999.

Today the hotel is abandoned as you can see by the photo I took last weekend. Behind the hotel is the Grand Casino Beograd. The hotel lies on the banks of the Danube, just south of Zemun and very close to the city center on the New Belgrade side of Belgrade. The property was purchased by Greek developers in 2011 who had plans to renovate it into a luxury hotel, but I don’t see any evidence of progress.

My idea is to renovate to its original 1969 style and make it a “Jugo-nostalgia” hotel. I would play up the socialist and Yugoslavian aspects and have 1970’s style carpeting, panelling, etc. Perhaps the employees could be dressed in Tito’s Pioneer uniforms. Lots of photos of Tito, etc. I think you could build a nice client base of former Yugoslavian republics and tourists interested in getting a feel of Eastern Europe “behind the iron curtain.” If someone has the money and team of Yugo-experts, I would give my input to the project.

For now it stands as a monument to a by gone era. Will it ever be brought to life again?

The original logo of the hotel (only three stars?)

 

Medovača

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The national drink of Serbia is rakija (brandy), which is distilled from fruits, the most common being the plum. The drink is popular throughout the Balkans. The name probably came from the Turks, whose anis-flavored “raki” is their national drink. I think the Serbs were probably fermenting and distilling plums before the Turks arrived in the late 1300’s, but they did give the name to the drink.

Serbia is the number one consumer and exporter of Rakija. It is drank at all special occasions like births, weddings, family renunions. It is sipped slowly from a special glass called a čokanjčići. Rakija is also a common apertif. There are many different kinds of rakijas based on different fruits. The Serbs use many of the common fruits of the region like apricots, pears, grapes (similar to the Italian grappa), and even quince.

My personal favorite is medovača. It is a rakija with honey added to soften the harshness of the high alcohol content. It is known as the woman’s drink, but I always order it proudly. I’ve also noticed that the design of the special glass makes it taste better. When I’ve drank medovača from a shot glass or other type of glass, it is not the same. I also like to accompany it with gas water. Medovača is a great way to start a meal or a social evening. I am not that big of a drinker so I like the time consuming rituals of sipping that allows me to drink less than say a large beer or glass of wine.

I would like to know the origin and meaning of the name of the glass, čokanjčići, and if it especially designed to enhance the flavor of the brandy.

I was inspired to write a Japanese-style haiku about medovača:

biting sting
sweet earth, smooth glass
awakening bubbles, friendship

My daughter Ocean a couple of years ago is pictured checking out the fermenting vats of plums (Stari Majdan – Šumadija)

Kuglaš

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Belgrade is famous for its night life and has an astounding number of bars, clubs, cafes, etc. Nadia and I sampled one on Saturday night to see a friend’s band play. The bar Kuglaš, (Bowler) is a venue in the neighborhood of Dorćol known for live music. They mostly book hard rock, metal, and country bands.

It was great to hear a bit of live music and get a taste of the nocturnal life of Belgrade. There is a temptation as one gets older to stay at home on weekend nights. It is good to get out. The bar was once a bowling alley, hence the name. I would have never found it as you can see by the front door (below) without my friend playing there. The bar was quite big and reminded me of any dingy bar in the USA.

Serbian Statehood Day

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Entrance To Parliament, originally uploaded by bill kralovec.

I snapped this photo yesterday outside of the Parliament Building in Belgrade. The red carpet and soldiers were out for the President’s speech on the National Day of Serbia, February 15 or in Serbian, it is called Dan Državnosti. The day commemorates the first Serbian Uprising against the Ottomans in 1804 and the first Serbian Constitution in 1835.

It was a pretty subdued day in Belgrade. There were no fireworks or parades. The nationalist parties had a rally in the afternoon but it didn’t even make the news. I was expecting a bit more and I wonder why it is not that big of a deal.

The double eagle and Serbian crest outside of parliament building on a cool and grey February day.

Čestitam!

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nemi and bill, originally uploaded by bill kralovec.

Čestitam means congratulations in Serbian and last night I celebrated with my friend, the birth of his nephew. In Serbian tradition and medical practice, when a mother goes into labor, the father cannot be in the operating room. In fact, for several days after the birth, only one visitor to the hospital is allowed at a time. This is very different from the US or Latin America where I was in the operating room with my wife.

So what can the father do? In Serbian tradition he throws a raucous party and guests rip a piece of his shirt for good luck and health. A father may go through several shirts in an evening. If any of my readers can tell me the origins of this tradition, why is this done? I guess if you can’t be there, you might as well have a good time and there is no better reason for a party than a birth of a child.

Nemanja in the picture is not actually the father but the uncle, but the party guests got carried away and ripped three of his shirts as well as shirts of his brother-in-law. I had a great time and need to learn some Serbian folk songs. The accordion player was belting out some traditional songs and I recognized many words, “srce” – heart, but I could only dance and not sing like the rest of the party. I wish Americans celebrated like the Serbs do. We don’t get many occasions where everyone is drinking, singing, and dancing with a live accordion player in the apartment! Such a warm feeling of togetherness!

Congratulations to Nemanja and his family! All the best for many more healthy children!

Sava River Bridge

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Sava River Bridge, originally uploaded by bill kralovec.

Last night I was running along the Sava and snapped this photo of the stunning bridge at night. The construction continues with the various on and off ramps and they even have a set of stairs for walkers wanting to cross from the river’s edge.

It was a lot of money, but it has made Belgrader’s crossing of the Sava easier and it does provide another “icon” of the city of Belgrade.