Belgrade, Serbia

For Labor Day weekend, we jetted off to Serbia. Why? The flight on Wizz Air was affordable and it gave us another country to cross off our list. I do not know anyone who has visited before, so I went in with little knowledge about the city. 

We stayed at Hotel Nevski which was in a convenient location to the places we wanted to see while in town for the long weekend. The room was huge and the breakfast spread was plenty to fill us up for days of touring the city. 

After checking in, we headed to Republic Square and the National Museum of Serbia. They had a ton of great pieces of art on display including some very well known names like Picasso, Degas and more. 

A major attraction in Belgrade is the Belgrade Fortress and Kalemegdan Park. We booked a walking tour through Tripadvisor. Part of the tour included the underground tunnels/bunker which was a really cool (literally and figuratively) part to see. 

This statue was originally in the town center back in the day, but was moved up here because it was offensive to the lady folk. Delicate ladies should not have to gaze upon a naked man. ;)

The military bunker was an interesting place to visit. These tanks were used to hold drinking water for the soldiers living in the bunker.

All around Europe you can find some version of Mexican or Tex-Mex food and most of it is not worth the effort. We strolled by a restaurant after the fortress tour and thought why not! It was billed as "Santa Fe Tex-Mex" which made me chuckle. My chicken tacos had a Carolina BBQ sauce on top. A little weird, but tasted good enough. 

After our inauthentic taco lunch, we had a boat tour. It was a leisurely ride on the Danube and Sava rivers (the two meet here in Belgrade which has led to some turbulent times in the city's history). 

Another tour that we enjoyed during our visit to Belgrade was a street food tour. The first stop was to a "pie" shop where we tried a traditional Serbian dish that is often served at breakfast or dinner. It's filo dough with different fillings like meat, cheese, potato or spinach. 

We also tried "meat fingers" (don't ask me the Serbian name...), pizza topped with "salad" (think chicken salad), a Serbian pre-game wine shot and dessert balls of Austrian/German influence. 

And finally we went on a street art tour. Belgrade was covered in tags, graffiti and street art. Many pieces are inspired by the two soccer teams. The city has also hosted many out of town street artists to create beautiful murals. The bird mural was my favorite of the tour and was created by an Israeli couple.