The White City - Beograd

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From the airport, there will always be an endless line of cabs waiting to take you downtown, usually for about a 1000 dinar (or ) fare. JAT airlines also runs a bus from the airport to its hotel, the Slavija, in downtown Belgrade. This bus seems to leave the airport after most international and local flights, but I am not sure about the times. It costs 200 dinars. There is also a regular city bus (no. 72) that runs from the airport to the city center for 45 dinars. Basically, there are a number of options that are all relatively simple.

Like a number of hotels in Belgrade, the Union boasts of their "recent" renovations at the end of the 1980s. Needless to say, the decade of turmoil and minimal maintenance have left some things that could stand to be improved, namely the bathrooms. The very basic plumbing system left our bathroom with the most pungent port-o-potty smell.

Overall, it was not a bad place to stay. The location was great and the price was not that bad, 60€ for a double. Check out this website for other hotel options in the Belgrade area: http://www.tob.co.yu/english/smestaj/hoteli/index.html

But, if you are just looking for a chill atmosphere, a kickin' Nescafe, and some awesome chocolate cream cake, then Que Pasa isn't that bad, but I warn that it serves nothing remotely similar to Mexican food.

The museum is named after Princess Ljubica, the wife of Serbian Prince Mihailo Orenović, the man credited with liberating Belgrade and parts of Serbia from the control of the Ottoman Empire. The house was built in 1831 as the private residence of Princess Ljubica and her two sons. However, since their forced eviction in 1842, the building has served multiple purposes. For 150 dinars (approximately $2.40, as of May 2005), you’ll get a self-guided tour of the Konak’s 15 or so rooms decorated with European and Turkish-style period furniture. All the descriptions of paintings and furniture are in Serbian, written in the Cyrillic alphabet. However, the entrance fee also includes a pamphlet in Serbian, English, and French, which briefly describes the history of the museum, the building, and its various residence. It is open every day except Sunday.

As Belgrade’s tourism industry is still in its infancy you won’t find hordes of guided tours traipsing through the park. This definitely has its advantages, as you can experience the park at your own pace without annoying mobs passing you by and blocking the best views. On the other hand, there is so much history to the statues and structures within the park, a simply stroll through will leave you with little understanding of significance of this incredible place. My suggestion is to pick-up a dedicated Belgrade guidebook at anyone of the English bookstores in downtown. Even if you have a Eastern Europe or Serbian guidebook, the Belgrade books provide more detailed information than these overview books (I have all types). I personally recommend the IPS bookstore and guide on Knez Mihailova, but I am sure others are similarly informative.

The material housed in the museum ranges from clothing and tableware to house styles and farming/herding equipment. Although not all artifacts are labeled, there are a number of interpretive signs (in English and Serbian) throughout the museum that add context to what you are observing.

The first floor of the museum is dedicated to textiles and clothing styles of the late 19th and 20th centuries from across "Serbian" regions. Even after living in Serbia-Montenegro for the past year and consistently hearing about the diversity of clothing styles, it wasn’t until I saw this exhibit with all the different styles by region that I began to understand the true diversity of dress.

The second floor is predominantly a weaving exhibit. It highlights the various raw materials used, how and with what they were dyed, standard weaving equipment, and what types of items were produced and their significance in society. The third floor was devoted to the household. Exhibits highlighted the geographical and economic differences of "Serbian" regions and how those differences structured the cultural materials from each area.

Overall, this was great. It is not the most sophisticated museum, but it does an excellent job at providing a fundamental glimpse at Serbian, or more generally, Balkan culture. And the truly great thing is that it is open every day, even Sunday.