Re-posted from the GWSB Writers in Residency blog:
5. Zemun:
This little suburb just down the Danube from Belgrade is the New Jersey to Belgrade’s New York. Derided and overlooked, but charming and essential. We’ve made our way through Zemun twice this past week, once for a visit to an open air farmers market and then again on our Sunday evening boat tour and visit to one of the areas best seafood restaurants, Sharon.
4. Silicon Valley:
The eponymous silicon is of the cosmetic variety, not microprocessers, on this strip of swanky bars and restaurants. Saturday morning, after a dizzying 4:00am bedtime, Drew, Karen, and I headed down to the street where the rich play and just totally demolished three pizzas. For sustaining us during a brighter than comfortable morning, Silicon earns a memory.
3. The Rivers:
I admit, our actual visit to the rivers Sava and Danube was less than ideal. Our boat cruise was beset by pollen and thunderstorms, and our captain just had to drop us off a good half mile from our dinner destination (still raining, of course). However, from certain spots in the city, the confluence of the Sava and Danube provides a stunning backdrop for great group photos and history lessons alike.
The weather kept me from grabbing a great river pic, but I did get a pretty effective video of some astounding pollen levels. Watch, and be horrified:
2. Kalemegdan:
I came to the old fort Kalemegdan twice within 24 hours. First, on Saturday night, a small group of us ventured out to a few museums for the city’s annual Noj Muzea, a Night at the Museums where the museums are open late and the citizens get a taste of what they have to offer. We visited a few museums that night (the Science and Technology Museum was particularly bizarre), but it was our after-midnight visit to Kalemegdan and the Military museum that provided the best and most beautiful memories
1. Knez Mihailova
This is THE street in Belgrade. A meeting, eating, shopping, drinking place all wrapped into one. It's got the best parts of Santa Monica's 3rd Street Prominade and Jerusalem's Ben Yehuda Street. I've eaten nearly every great meal I've had in this city within a block of Knez Mihailova and snuck in some great people watching while at it. Multiple Burberry stores, late night crepes, boxes of puppies... what's not to love?
An honorary mention goes to the roof of our very own Hotel Prag. We've spent about as many hours inside this hotel as we have outside, and the conference room and patio on the top floors have become our second home. You can probably guess why:
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