www.express.co.uk
THE SUNDAY EXPRESS (UK)
20 June 2004
Raise a glass to Club Serbia
By LEE KAREN STOW
Serbia's capital Belgrade is promoting itself as the new in-place for a hip
young crowd with nightlife to rival any European city.
LEE KAREN STOW gets to party with the locals
IN A CAVERN beneath the streets of Belgrade is a shrine to the Rolling
Stones, its red brick walls paying homage in old photos and press cuttings
to Jagger and Richards.
Young Serbs shake heads to Old Spice, a three-piece band belting out Hendrix
hits and heavy blues.
It's a typical Monday after midnight at Club Resava and I'm rocking on my
corner chair and cradling my L 1-a-glass local beer.
The new National Tourism Organisation of Serbia is targeting British
revellers with the lure of a nightlife scene promoted as being as lively and
vibrant as any in Europe. Popular haunts such as Sargon, Mondo, Nana and Oh!
are among six clubs in a free or value-for-money package for 2004.
Belgrade, the capital of the former Yugoslavia, is shaking off the chains of
communism, war, and the tyranny of dictator Slobodan Milosevic. He was
ousted in 2000 but left behind a broken Belgrade, which still bears the
scars of NATO's precision bombing campaign in 1999 that sliced open
buildings like coconuts.
"A city of modern ruins, " says the guide on our sightseeing bus.
Today, Belgrade is flourishing and set to become a film capital. Fed up with
red tape and the high cost of filming in the UK and US, a British film
company has teamed up with a Serbian media firm to build an L 11million film
studio.
On our tour we see the Orthodox temple of St Sava, one of the largest in the
world and topped with four tonnes of gold-plated crucifix. There are
splendid theatres, museums and art galleries and parks with busts of great
leaders, poets and painters.
A walking tour takes in the Kalemegdan Fortress, overlooking the point where
the river Sava greets the Danube. Belgraders gather here, strolling with ice
creams or smooching in the sunshine. Everyone meets in Republic Square
beneath the dominating statue of Prince Mihailo (Prince Michael, who
liberated Serbia from Ottoman rule), which dominates Republic Square. They
head for the cinema, the theatre, or to shop along pedestrianised Prince
Mihailo street for Mango tops, Levi's and separates from Italy and Turkey.
They relax with unsweetened Turkish espresso (about 40p), thin pizza slices
(60p) or raspberry ice cream (30p). The average salary here is only L 100 a
month, yet bars and cafes spill over with Belgraders.
TRIBECA on Kiralja Petra street is a two-storey cafe-bar loosely themed on
parts of the world. I sit in "London" near the overlarge red phone box and
browse a light menu of bruschetta, spaghetti in walnut sauce or with shrimp,
and pancakes with pine nuts - costing from L 2 to L 3.
At Cafe Gradonacelnik, with a cosy interior of red mock velvet and walls
lined with pictures of former mayors of Belgrade, my newly acquired Serb
friends suggest something stronger with which to practise the Serbian toast
"Ziveli!"
The Serbs love to drink - "good for digestion!" they assure me as we later
knock back slivovitz (plum brandy) in Gradonacelink, a club beneath the
Automobile Museum in the Jovanovica district.
"Medicine!" they argue, as we drink kuvano vina (boiled wine) in Freska, an
Italian tavern.
Restaurants veer from pizza and pasta along Skardarska Street, an old
Bohemian gathering point, to smoky places with timber beams and wooden
floors, such as the 19th-century Question Mark Tavern. The oldest eating
place in Belgrade, it serves rostilj - mixed barbecue meats - Serbian
cheeses, paprika paste and sour cabbage stuffed with rice.
As yet Belgrade has few tourists and its infrastructure for visitors - such
as good signs for the hot spots - is not yet in place. However, the hotel
scene is improving fast.
You can stay in places as posh as the Hyatt Regency, a taxi ride away from
downtown, or as I did at an atmospheric old establishment like the Hotel
Metropol, worn as a Seventies department store.
But, hey, where else does a laughing hotel receptionist pour you boiled wine
when you drop off your key and raise his glass in a hearty "Ziveli"?
GETTING THERE:
British Airways (0870 850 9850/ www.BA. com) offers return flights from
Heathrow to Belgrade from L 233; JAT Airways (020 7629 2007/ www.JAT. com)
offers return flights from Heathrow to Belgrade from L 262.
Hotel Metropol (dialling from UK: 00381 11 323 0911) offers double rooms
from .93 (L 65) per night (two sharing) including breakfast.
Regent Holidays (0117 921 1711/ www. regent-holidays.co.uk) offers a
three-night Belgrade City Break from L 369pp (two sharing). Price includes
B&B at the three-star Hotel Kasina and return flights with JAT Airlines.
Belgrade tourist information: www. tob. co. yu National Tourism Organisation
of Serbia: 00381 11 323 8540/ www.serbia-tourism.org.
Serbian News Network - SNN
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