Belgrade in Spring Time

I was in Belgrade in the last week of April. It was my first visit after 6 months that I spent there back in 2020, during the corona time. I remember returning to London in January 2021. Then, I didn’t travel anywhere in 2021 because of Covid related travel restrictions. Some people got Covid vaccines in order to travel, but I didn’t. I didn’t want an experimental medical treatment injected into me for that reason. In 2022, I ended up with a minor health issue that additionally stopped me from travelling. To cut a long story short, I waited to travel to Belgrade in spring this year because I think that is the best time of the year to visit the Serbian capital city.

 

 

BELGRADE IN SPRING

 

As you will see in photos in this post, the weather in Belgrade was fabulous. Especially after a long and miserable winter in London. Belgrade in spring offers so much. Sunny and warm days are getting noticeably longer. Lush greenery invites you to go for long walks and spend time outside. And that’s exactly what I did. I was out all day long, soaking the sun up and enjoying a life style that’s only possible when the weather is good. Furthermore, all restaurants and coffee shops have opened their outside sitting areas.

But what happened in Belgrade while I was away during all this time?

 

 

WHAT HAPPENED IN BELGRADE

 

Honestly speaking, I was expecting to see a much better looking city. Three and a half years is a long period of time in which a lot can be done. There was a period of time some 4 to 5 years ago when the city authorities did a lot of restoration projects. They enlarged the most central pedestrian area, restored a lot of facades and brought back some beautiful building back to their original glory.

Perhaps, the best thing you can do is to see my post “What is Happening in Belgrade” where I wrote about all these exciting projects in the city from 4 years ago.

However, it seems that all that has stopped. In fact, I’d say that I was rather disappointed to see that only a handful of buildings had been restored during my absence. Admittedly, they are very beautiful buildings but, in a big city like Belgrade, restoring 3 or 4 buildings in 3 or so years makes no difference to the city whatsoever. Had they done 300 or 400 buildings in that time, the city would’ve shined.

The iconic “Department Store Kluz” building in King Milan street looks magnificent now.

 

 

They were restoring Hotel Balkan in Terazije when I was there 4 years ago. At that time, the building was covered by the scaffolding.

 

 

One more beautifully restored building, also in Terazije, is the “Palace Igumanov”, built in 1938. A sculpture that you can see on top of the building was removed after the second world war by the then new communist government. However, it was put back in its original place in April 2021.

 

 

 

SAVA SQUARE

 

In the photo below, you can see the former Belgrade’s main railway station and the newly erected Stefan Nemanja monument. All this was one big construction site during my stay in Belgrade in 2020. They closed and moved the railway station to another location.

Stefan Nemanja was the Grand Price of the Serbian Grand Principality between 1166 and 1196. He founded the Nemanjic dynasty and, by founding what would eventually become the Serbian Empire and Serbian Orthodox church, he became one of the most important persons in Serbian culture and history.

 

 

One more beautifully restored building, not far from Sava Square, is Hotel Bristol. The restoration work on this building started more or less at the end of my previous stay in Belgrade in 2020. You can see in the photo below that they are finishing the restoration works now.

I only ever remember this building as an ugly black edifice. Who would’ve thought that it is so beautiful?

 

 

Hotel Bristol is immediately next to another magnificent structure. The “Belgrade Co-operative Building” is one of the most beautiful buildings in the city.

 

 

 

BELGRADE WATERFRONT

 

Undoubtedly, Belgrade Waterfront is the biggest and most important ongoing project in the city. Furthermore, I think that everything else has been put on pause because of this.

They’ve built a lot in the past 4 years and they continue to build much more. Belgrade looks like a totally different city now. Clearly, the most striking is the tall building that you can see below.

 

 

 

WHEN IS THE BEST TIME TO VISIT BELGRADE?

 

Apart from spring, in other words April and May, autumn is also a time of the year when you should go to Belgrade. Summers are too hot and winters are too cold there.

The best thing about Belgrade in spring is to be outside. You can either go for long walks like I did while I was there. One day I walked all the way to Zemun, you can see the beautiful main square below.

Or you can find a nice coffee shop, sit there for ages and observe the world and people passing by. But as I said, this is only possible if the weather is good.

 

 

Of course, you can go to Belgrade whenever you want. It’s just that Belgrade in spring offers a much more pleasant setting for you to perfectly enjoy your time there.

 

 

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