Day 2 in Belgrade
We woke up at around 10 in the morning ready for the second of our 2 days in Belgrade. We had taken a look at different free tours and decided to go with Belgrade Free Tour. They have free tours in English from Friday to Saturday at 10:30 and at 14:00. After checking their itinerary and finding out that the “City Center” tour didn’t include the Church of Saint Sava (included in the “History and Heritage” tour), we decided to go visit it ourselves and, after that, attend the 14:00 City Center tour.
The Church of Saint Sava
The Church of Saint Sava was at 2.5 Km from Hedonist Hostel. Since we were not in a hurry, we decided to go by foot, do a little exercise and enjoy walking around Belgrade. It turned out to be a good decision. After leaving Republic Square behind, we ran into one of the most recognisable Belgrade’s landmarks. In other words, we ran into one of the oldest hotels operating in Serbia, Hostel Moskva.
About the Church of Saint Sava
The Church of Saint Sava is one of the largest Eastern Orthodox church buildings and ranks among the largest church buildings in the world. It is a landmark building of Belgrade, with a dominating dome that resembles that of Hagia Sophia (Istanbul). The construction of this giant started in 1935 and its exterior was complete in 2017. The work of the interior is expected to be finished at the end of 2020.
After the Hagia Sophia’s, the dome of Saint Sava is the biggest in any Orthodox church. The Church is divided in three stories with different galleries. Information on Russian interests to contribute to the mosaic cladding became public during the 2009 visit of the director of the Russian Academy of Arts, Zurab Tsereteli. In 2011, during his state visit, Vladimir Putin announced financial contribution to the mosaics. And, because of that, the mosaics have been designed by the artist Nikolaj Muhin from the Russian Academy of Arts.
Visiting the Church of Saint Sava
We had been walking for around 30 minutes when we started to distinguish the shape of the Church of Saint Sava. We were still 10 minutes away from it but, with such a huge size, no wonder we could spot it already. As we were reaching the entrance, we saw the statue that gives name to the Church.
The statue is located in front of the main entrance of the Church of Saint Sava. We walked to the main door and then turned left. We arrived at a room where people were lighting candles and praying. From there, we took the stairs downwards until we arrived to the crypt. The stairs, made of marble, were beautiful and luxurious. Therefore, if the stairs were like that, you can imagine how the inside of the Church was, can’t you?
It was so beautiful it seemed unreal. Huge lamps, beautiful mosaics and plenty of golden glow everywhere we looked at. The only downside was that, because the Church was undergoing some renovation, we couldn’t visit the dome. The dome looked pretty impressive from outside and I guess it would have been incredible from inside but, what could we do? We might need to go back and spend another 2 days in Belgrade 😉
We left the main entrance of the Church of Saint Sava and walked around it. It was then that the bells starting ringing. We had a better perspective from there than from the main entrance and we really enjoyed such a beautiful moment. It looked and sounded like this:
There was a souvenir booth right next to where we were. We had an important event later at night and we wanted to be dressed for the occasion. Therefore, after some trial and error, I ended up buying a šajkača, a hat worn by Serbian soldiers during World War I. Paco bought a pretty funny t-shirt with the image of Putin saying something like “Putin is a lovely guy”.
Belgrade City Center Free Tour
We stopped at an Italian restaurant to have lunch. It was a pretty tiny venue with super cheap prices and with alright food. After that, we kept walking to Republic Square, which was the meeting point our Free Tour. As we were approaching the square, we started to listen to some music. There was a girl playing the violin and a guy playing the double bass. They played pretty well. We sat on a bench in front of them and enjoyed their music and the nice weather for a while.
Republic Square
We arrived at Republic Square at 14:00. We looked around and found the orange umbrella, the sign of the Belgrade Free Tour. After meeting Katarina (our tour guide) and the rest of the group, the tour officially started.
Republic Square is one of the central Belgrade squares, located in the Stari Grad municipality. It is the site of some of Belgrade’s most recognizable public buildings, including the National Museum, the National Theatre and the statue of Prince Michael.
The bronze statue of Prince Michael on a horse was erected in 1882. It was erected in honor of the Prince’s most important political achievement: the complete expulsion of the Turks from Serbia and the liberation of the remaining 7 cities within Serbian territory, still under the Turkish rule. The names of the cities are carved on plates on the monument itself. On the statue’s pedestal, the prince is sculptured with his hand pointing to Constantinople, showing the Turks the way out of Serbia.
Behind the statue of Prince Michael we find the National Theatre of Belgrade. It was built in 1868 but underwent several renovations, following different phases of the architectural and artistic development, surviving as a symbol of Serbian culture, tradition and spirituality. Today, under its roof, there are three artistic ensembles: opera, ballet, and drama.
Several gates were built around the site occupied by Republic Square today, being the most remarkable ones “Württemberg Gate” and “Stambol Gate”. The first was built in 1725 by the Austrians during their occupation of northern Serbia. They were then defeated by the Ottomans, who built the Stambol Gate. Katarina explained to us that, the gates were built in a way that showed the way from Belgrade to Austria (Württemberg Gate) and from Belgrade to Constantinople (Stambol Gate).
The Art Gallery
With these interesting facts in mind, we left Republic Square behind. We kept walking and Katarina told us that the influence of the Ottoman Empire was so important that, as of today, they still keep several words from the Turkish language. Eventually we arrived at some sort of an Art Gallery (whose name I forgot) where she told us that, during war, some people living there became extremely rich while other extremely poor.
Their currency (Serbian Dinar) experience a high inflation and that led to people having to spend the money as soon as they got it. If not, their banknotes were as good as postcards. Crazy, isn’t? As of today, the Art Gallery is made up of Fine Arts students who have started their business there. While there is still some room for improvement, it seems their situation and the one of the quarter has greatly improved.
Our next stop in our Belgrade City Center Free Tour was a quarter whose main street we had already visited last night: Skadarlija. On the way there, Katarina told us about one of the greatest artists in Belgrade: Queen Ferry (TKV). She painted murals with women faces and tribes symbols. One of her murals looked like this:
Skadarlija, the Bohemian quarter of Belgrade
It was nice to be back at such a beautiful street/quarter. This time we were able to deeply appreciate its beauty thanks to the sunlight. The fact that we were walking with Katarina, who told us some interesting facts about the Bohemian Quarter, made it even better.
The history of Skadarlija began in 1830 with the settlement of Gypsies in the abandoned trenches in front of the ramparts. The Serbs and the Turks began settling in 1835, building the first proper houses with gardens. The street stretched between two gates of the Belgrade Fortress: Stambol Gate and Vidin Gate. A few decades later they found a stream running down the alley. At the time, Belgrade was divided into quarters and the locals found another use for the stream: an administrative border. One of the quarters next to the stream used to limit the playing of music to midnight. So, what did people do? Jumped across the stream to the other quarter to continue with festivities.
Soon after the aqueduct was built, the first inns were built along the foothill of the wall. Skadarlija began to acquire its bohemian character in the last few decades of the 19th century, and particularly after 1901, when the well-known Dardaneli inn, located where the National Museum in Belgrade is today, was demolished. That forced their guests, prominent writers and actors, to move to the Skadarlija inns or kafanas.
The end section of Skadarlija is known as the Skadarlija atrium. It is mostly occupied by the brewery that belonged to one of the most distinguished Belgrade families before World War II, the Czech-originating Bajloni family. It produced “Aleksandar” beer, made from thermal waters that spring out in the brewery’s backyard. By 2008, the entire inner complex was abandoned and was ready for demolition. However, as the project of massive reconstruction failed, the brewery became home for many coffeehouses and clubs (which we didn’t see the night before lol).
After all these interesting facts, Katarina also told us about two of the most important people in Serbia. The first one was Vuk Karadžić, who, among many things, was the major reformer of the Serbian language. His face appears on the 10 Dinar banknote. The second one was some guy known as “Nikola Tesla”. Ever heard about him? Lol. His face appears on the 100 Dinar banknote and I guess you know a little bit a bout him. For those of you who don’t know him, you have to come to Belgrade and check out the Nikola Tesla Museum. If you do, let me know how it was because, unfortuantely, we didn’t visit it 😭
Pobednik or The Victor statue
From Skadarlija Quartier we walked to the Belgrade Fortress. Again, we had already visited it the day before (why didn’t we check the itinerary of the Belgrade Free Tour on Thursday?). Katarina explained to us some additional facts we didn’t know and, among them, there was the story behind “The Victor” statue. Remember how I told you there was a pretty important and controversial statue at the end of the Belgrade Fortress?
Unfortunately, we couldn’t see it because it was undergoing renovation but, thanks to Katarina, we got to learn about it. Basically, The Victor is a monument in the Upper Town of the Belgrade Fortress, built to commemorate Serbia’s Victory (which gave name to the statue) over Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian Empire during the Balkan Wars and the First World War. Erected in 1928, it consists of an standing bronze nude male figure with a falcon in the left hand and a sword in the right (as symbols of peace and war).
The Victor statue was originally planned to be placed at Terazije Square, but it never happened. The public challenged the erection of the monument on moral and artistic grounds. Several female organizations considered the placing of a figure of a nude man in the center of the city as “rude”. They also alleged that it would damage the moral of the girls. After much controversy, debate and criticism, the city council decided not to set up the monument in Terazije, but to find a location outside the city. And… that’s how it ended up at Belgrade Fortress 🙂
After such interesting and funny facts, we walked to a nearby church, where the City Center Belgrade Free Tour came to an end. We thanked Katarina for her time and walked back to Hedonist Hostel. On the way there we stopped at a supermarket to buy some drinks. We were going to take a nap, a shower and pregame for a while. We needed to be ready for what was about to come.
Pregaming at Hedonist Hostel
I didn’t sleep much. I was too excited to sleep. After taking a shower I felt ready to go to the courtyard of the Hedonist Hostel. I wanted to check the ambience and see who else was going to No Sleep Festival. Before leaving the room though, I put my special t-shirt on. I hadn’t bought it just for the festival but I felt it was the perfect fit for the night ahead of us.
I hope you know that guy. If you don’t (maybe you’ve been living in a cave for the last 20 years), please, take a look at this video. You will thank me later 🙂
I felt confident walking with the image of such a powerful guy on my chest. Thus, I had no problem making it to the courtyard and getting everybody ready. The rest of the team started to join me little by little. We had some drinks and spoke with several people. There wasn’t anyone from Western Europe but there were plenty of them from the surrounding countries like Albania, Croatia and Bosnia. Some of them had come to Belgrade just for No Sleep Festival. Can you believe it?!
We started to listen to songs by Amelie Lens (we were going to see her in a few hours) and even by Paul Kalkbrenner. Those guys knew them all! After some more drinks and some more talking, we even met people from Morocco and Australia! And… by the time we realised, we had to get going. The festival had already started!
No Sleep Festival
There might be some of you wondering about the No Sleep Festival thing and I feel obliged to give you an explanation. So, basically, we bought the flight tickets for our Eurotrip ’19 in July. A few days later, I was checking my Twitter and saw Amelie Lens was playing in Belgrade. What? I did some more research and it turned out she wasn’t just playing in Belgrade but she was playing the night of Friday the 8th of November, which meant, we were going to be there!
I went to the No Sleep Festival website and registered for the early bird tickets. After a month or so, I received an email stating I could already buy the tickets, even if they were not officially available yet. I checked the prices and couldn’t believe it: 20 Euros for a regular ticket and 30 for a VIP. The ticket allowed you to enter the festival both on Friday and Saturday night. Unfortunately, we wouldn’t be in Belgrade on Saturday night but that didn’t matter much. 30 Euros for a VIP ticket? Right on! And, just like that, we got the first VIP tickets of our lives 🙂
Back to our story, we could have taken a bus from a nearby square which was taking us straight to the Main Hangar in the Port of Belgrade. That was the location of No Sleep Festival. We were late though and the bus had already left. So, we just walked there.
As we were approaching the Main Hangar, we started to see a stream of people. We were on the right path. We arrived at the main door and showed our tickets but they told us we needed to walk around the building and make it to another entrance. Why? Because we were VIP, damn right! They checked up on our tickets and gave us the official No Sleep Festival VIP wristband, which we needed to keep throughout the festival. After that, we entered the Main Hangar.
Our location was super good. As soon as we entered, we had some toilets and a bar on the right side. Then, after going upstairs, we had some sort of a corridor with tables, couches and another bar on the left, the stage in the middle and another corridor on the right side of the stage. We could make it to the corridor on the right and take the stairs downwards to join the plebs on the ground.
We arrived at No Sleep Festival right when Joyhauser was finishing his set. After him, it was turn for Farrago. We ordered some beers and enjoyed his set and the ambience. We even went downstairs to feel what the plebs was feeling lol. Once back with the rest of the team in our VIP zone I found out Paco and Pedro had taken some pictures with Amelie Lens. What?! They saw her as she was entering the stage. Damn!
What did I do then? I walked to the stage and checked who was there. I saw a black pair of boots, black stockings and a black skirt. Amelie Lens normally wears black clothes so I was kind of sure it was her. I asked Pedro and he told me it was in fact her. I looked around and saw a bouncer next to me, but inside the main stage. Would he agree to do me a favor? I asked him if he could ask Amelie to come where I was to take a picture with her. I wasn’t sure she would come but… she came!
She was super nice and kind. I wanted to tell her I had previously seen her back in Melbourne and she even grabbed my hand (bimbo going crazy screaming) but… the words just didn’t come out. It was like seeing Messi. I was too excited!
Farrago’s performance was pretty good. And, after him, it was turn for the Queen of Techno. We couldn’t believe it. Amelie Lens was going to play her set and we had the perfect spots. We were so close from her!
Her set was just spectacular. She isn’t one of the best DJs in the world by chance. She is super good, professional and even kind with the fans. The ambience and the setup of the Main Hangar were also pretty good. We met some locals and spent pretty much the whole night with them and, overall, we had great fun. There were many people who had travelled to Belgrade just to see her. Crazy! At around 05:00 her set came to an end. It looked and sounded like this:
By that time most of the team had already left but Manolo and I stayed. It turned out to be a good idea. The next and last DJ of the night was Kobosil and he was super good. His music was darker and harder than Amelie Lens’ but we also enjoyed his performance quite a lot. He finished at 07:00 and, if we wanted to, we could have gone to another building to start the No Sleep Festival official Rave. But, we needed to take the private transport back to Timișoara at 16:00 and we needed to check out from Hedonist Hostel at 13:00. So, we just walked to the hostel with the beautiful sun already above us.
So long Belgrade!
Not sure how but we managed to wake up, take a shower and got our stuff ready. We were completely destroyed but Friday night at No Sleep Festival had been pretty worth it. The second of our 2 days in Belgrade was over and we would be leaving the city in a few hours. There were different places we hadn’t visited (like Tesla Museum) but, overall, it felt great spending 2 days in Belgrade. The city had its charm, it was full of history, people were nice, food was good and the party, specially at No Sleep Festival, was amazing.
The group split and some had lunch at Little Bay (a theatre-looking restaurant pretty famous in Tripadvisor) while the rest (myself included) went to a nearby Wok, with pretty good food, at a fair price and with some cool decoration. After that, we walked back to the hostel and waited for our private vehicle to take us back to Timișoara. We were surprised to see the same kind driver again and even more surprised when he showed us Nacho’s witch hat. We thought he had lost it but the driver had kept it there for him. How nice of him!
So, how did you like the second of our 2 days in Belgrade? Did you feel 2 days in Belgrade was enough? Were you lucky enough to visit the dome of the Church of Saint Sava? What about Tesla Museum? Have you ever been to an electronic music festival in this city? What do you think of Amelie Lens? Let me know in the comments below!
