I'll be honest. We went to Belgrade because we had to exit the Schengen zone and save a few days for a trip later in October. That, and my husband suggested it as a short stop on our way to Montenegro. I wasn't expecting much. Actually that's sort of untrue -- it turns out I had numerous preconceptions about the place.
I expected gray, monolithic brutalist architecture. I thought the people would not be very happy to host folks from the USA, history being what it is between us. I thought it would be grim. I have no idea how or why I thought these things.
What we got instead was lots of sunny sidewalk cafes. A people that were proud of Belgrade and happy to show it off to us. Beautiful architecture, and lots of really nice green parks. They have amazing pizza. The bakeries are truly exceptional. And I have never visitied anywhere with as many good bookstores as Belgrade. They clearly love music, pop culture, art. It was everywhere. We were safe wherever we went, and we walked all over.
But there were a few things I really felt uncomfortable with. Military posters, military bookstores, military museums, war monuments, military gear/clothing stores are prominent and plentiful. People seem to have a real fear of breaking the law -- people slam to a stop to not run a light, the taxi driver had to pick us up around the corner, because he couldn't pick us up in front of our hotel because it's not allowed there, just a host of things not permitted.
That said, I would gladly go back for another stay.
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