Serbia/Belgrade Guidebook?
Dec 10th, 2004, 11:39 PM
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Serbia/Belgrade Guidebook?
I was trying to find a guidebook for my sister travelling to Belgrade this spring and have come up empty so far. I'm rather shocked.
Does anybody have any suggestions for books on Belgrade and the surrounding area? Thanks!
Dec 11th, 2004, 02:27 AM
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As someone who has traveled to Belgrade via land from Skopje, Macedonia I can say that I am not surprised that Serbia does not have a guidebook. As recently as 1999 NATO was dropping ordinance on Belgrade and since then the Serbian cooperation with the international community has been spotty. There are still areas of Serbia near Kosovo that are "no-go" if you are concerned with personal safety. Having said that, at the border I crossed, all they were interested in was when and how I had entered Macedonia.
The comfort level is increased if you have friends/relatives to take you around and/or you speak Serbian or a related language [I speak some Macedonian and was with friends]
Having said all that -- Belgrade is a formerly beautiful city on its way back. If you want, for a start, you can visit my Virtual Tourist page for my "take" Belgrade. http://www.virtualtourist.com/m/21927/b0b44/
The comfort level is increased if you have friends/relatives to take you around and/or you speak Serbian or a related language [I speak some Macedonian and was with friends]
Having said all that -- Belgrade is a formerly beautiful city on its way back. If you want, for a start, you can visit my Virtual Tourist page for my "take" Belgrade. http://www.virtualtourist.com/m/21927/b0b44/
Dec 11th, 2004, 07:52 AM
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I agree with Sfowler that it's not surprising that it's difficult to find a guidebook about Serbia. I did not get as far south as Belgrade, but I did travel through Subotica, Kanjiza, Senta, Zrenjanin, and as far south as Novi Sad, in September 2004.
All 3 of Novi Sad's bridges across the Danube had been bombed in 1999. One, for vehicular traffic, had been replaced fully. One, for trains, had been replaced in a hasty fashion, was not considered 100% safe, and was going to be reinforced at some point in the future. Another, for vehicular traffic, was a pontoon bridge that temporarily was replacing a previous, permanent bridge.
We did not see a <b>single</b> tour group while we were in Serbia, not one. This was so different from Hungary, from which we had just come.
Post cards were not that easy to come by in Novi Sad, and it took quite a bit of effort to find a map of the city, which I eventually did find at a sidewalk vendor's kiosk.
That said, there was the beauty left over from the past to which Sfowler referred, and there even was restoration being done on a former masion in the centre of the city, in the vicinity of the city hall and the cathedral.
The well preserved fortress of Petrovaradin is a fascinating place to visit. I highly recommend it to anyone who has the time to get there. The tourist sees only the top two layers, but there are five more layers beneath the visible ones, because the site has been used as a fortress since Roman times.
The Romans had two pontoon bridges in <b>exactly</b> the same position as the current pontoon bridge that replaces the bridge that NATO bombed in 1999. When I saw an illustration of the fortress in Roman times in the museum that was part of the complex, I felt really sad that a 20th century war had, in some respects, taken the place <b>back</b> to what it had been between 1,600 and 1,800 years ago.
For all that, people showed signs of warmth and friendliness towards me, although it was a challenge for us to communicate because of the laguage barrier.
But the people of Serbia still have tensions amongst each other. There are signs of difficulties amongst ethnic groups, which I found sad. A person who spoke none of the local languages might not be aware of the undercurrents. It's not as if we saw people openly attacking each other in the streets or anything like that. But, because my mom was with us and she speaks Hungarian and Serbian, she could translate for us, and we found out more about the goings on than we could have done on our own.
Although it contains a lot of family information that your sister would find irrelevant, she is welcome to read my travel journal so she can pick out the bits that she thinks may apply to her.
The dates that cover Serbia are September 12th through 16th.
http://judy.squarespace.com/trip-summary/
All 3 of Novi Sad's bridges across the Danube had been bombed in 1999. One, for vehicular traffic, had been replaced fully. One, for trains, had been replaced in a hasty fashion, was not considered 100% safe, and was going to be reinforced at some point in the future. Another, for vehicular traffic, was a pontoon bridge that temporarily was replacing a previous, permanent bridge.
We did not see a <b>single</b> tour group while we were in Serbia, not one. This was so different from Hungary, from which we had just come.
Post cards were not that easy to come by in Novi Sad, and it took quite a bit of effort to find a map of the city, which I eventually did find at a sidewalk vendor's kiosk.
That said, there was the beauty left over from the past to which Sfowler referred, and there even was restoration being done on a former masion in the centre of the city, in the vicinity of the city hall and the cathedral.
The well preserved fortress of Petrovaradin is a fascinating place to visit. I highly recommend it to anyone who has the time to get there. The tourist sees only the top two layers, but there are five more layers beneath the visible ones, because the site has been used as a fortress since Roman times.
The Romans had two pontoon bridges in <b>exactly</b> the same position as the current pontoon bridge that replaces the bridge that NATO bombed in 1999. When I saw an illustration of the fortress in Roman times in the museum that was part of the complex, I felt really sad that a 20th century war had, in some respects, taken the place <b>back</b> to what it had been between 1,600 and 1,800 years ago.
For all that, people showed signs of warmth and friendliness towards me, although it was a challenge for us to communicate because of the laguage barrier.
But the people of Serbia still have tensions amongst each other. There are signs of difficulties amongst ethnic groups, which I found sad. A person who spoke none of the local languages might not be aware of the undercurrents. It's not as if we saw people openly attacking each other in the streets or anything like that. But, because my mom was with us and she speaks Hungarian and Serbian, she could translate for us, and we found out more about the goings on than we could have done on our own.
Although it contains a lot of family information that your sister would find irrelevant, she is welcome to read my travel journal so she can pick out the bits that she thinks may apply to her.
The dates that cover Serbia are September 12th through 16th.
http://judy.squarespace.com/trip-summary/
Dec 11th, 2004, 07:19 PM
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I am not sure whether it is proper to mention, but a well-known fodorite Mr Ben Haines has more than 70 pages of info about Serbia culled from other travellers, it is really informative. He is always very kind to send to whomever asks for it.
You could find out his e-address by doing a research on the Forum.
You could find out his e-address by doing a research on the Forum.
Dec 11th, 2004, 10:34 PM
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Ozwild, I thought of something else. No doubt it's in the information that Ben Haines has collected, to which JudyC has referred, and it very well could be on Sfowler's website about Belgrade. But I do think it's important enough to warrant emphasis.
Your sister would do very well to learn the Cyrillic alphabet before she visits Serbia. Knowledge of this will come in very usefully.
Your sister would do very well to learn the Cyrillic alphabet before she visits Serbia. Knowledge of this will come in very usefully.
Dec 11th, 2004, 10:50 PM
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Ozwild: If you will kindly e mail me I shall gladly send you my notes, which I am afraid are now a year old. Serbia is beautiful, and welcomes us
ben.haines@:btinternet.com
ben.haines@:btinternet.com
Dec 12th, 2004, 12:14 AM
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The site http://www.bookfinder.com/dir/i/Belg...de/8677810692/ lists a book: Belgrade Tourist Guide by Ljubica Corovic, ISBN:86-7781-069-2 / 8677810692, Publisher: Kreativni centar, Softcover. I think the book was suggested by a reader on the thorn tree six months ago.
Gooogle took me to http://www.gerila.com/knjige/katalog/504.htm, which gives a price of $25.90 and offers online ordering. It says the book has 284 pages, in colour, and was published in 2004. The blurb says: Take a look into this guide and you will discover a completely new Belgrade, even if you live in this town. You will find many forgotten and unknown details about Serbian capital, out of its deep past as well as the last decades of the XX century. The book is superbly designed... English edition of this book is intended for foreigners visiting Serbian capital, the representatives of foreign companies, the diplomats already living in Belgrade as well as all those preparing to visit the city. There are 10 routes through Belgrade which can reveal the past and present of the city in the interesting ways.
Ben Haines
Gooogle took me to http://www.gerila.com/knjige/katalog/504.htm, which gives a price of $25.90 and offers online ordering. It says the book has 284 pages, in colour, and was published in 2004. The blurb says: Take a look into this guide and you will discover a completely new Belgrade, even if you live in this town. You will find many forgotten and unknown details about Serbian capital, out of its deep past as well as the last decades of the XX century. The book is superbly designed... English edition of this book is intended for foreigners visiting Serbian capital, the representatives of foreign companies, the diplomats already living in Belgrade as well as all those preparing to visit the city. There are 10 routes through Belgrade which can reveal the past and present of the city in the interesting ways.
Ben Haines
Dec 14th, 2004, 10:48 AM
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Wow -- you have all been extremely helpful.
Ben and JudyC - I'll definitely send you an email to check out your notes and that book does look good.
Judy -- thanks for the pointer about learning the alphabet. I'm competent in Russian, so I'll try to teach her the basics at Christmas. Just an amusing side story -- I went to Mongolia after graduating from college and the Cyrillic there was extremely confusing. I could sound out all of the words, but none of them made the slightest bit of sense. However, if I sounded out the words, sometimes my friend (who was Chinese) would recognize something familiar. It was a team effort
Thanks again!
Ben and JudyC - I'll definitely send you an email to check out your notes and that book does look good.
Judy -- thanks for the pointer about learning the alphabet. I'm competent in Russian, so I'll try to teach her the basics at Christmas. Just an amusing side story -- I went to Mongolia after graduating from college and the Cyrillic there was extremely confusing. I could sound out all of the words, but none of them made the slightest bit of sense. However, if I sounded out the words, sometimes my friend (who was Chinese) would recognize something familiar. It was a team effort
Thanks again!
May 7th, 2006, 01:28 PM
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I would recommend two guide books about Serbia and Belgrade in english:
http://www.yu4you.com/items/en/knjiga/item_2936.html
http://www.yu4you.com/items/en/knjiga/item_4030.html
enjoy Serbia!
http://www.yu4you.com/items/en/knjiga/item_2936.html
http://www.yu4you.com/items/en/knjiga/item_4030.html
enjoy Serbia!
Jun 1st, 2006, 07:11 AM
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The series is Bradt and this is the link to their Serbia guide:
http://www.bradtguides.com/?page=sho...a5bb6bd3028933
http://www.bradtguides.com/?page=sho...a5bb6bd3028933
Aug 12th, 2006, 02:58 PM
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You can find a selection of guides for Serbia, including maps and dictionaries, on http://www.travelserbia.info/books.php
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