Belgrade + Sarajevo: the Balkans, where everything is close and nothing is simple
Two cities six hours apart, each with its own twentieth century. Both countries are visa-free for a Russian passport, and «European prices» here are a name only.
Why go
Belgrade is big, loud and nocturnal, standing where the Sava meets the Danube, with socialist concrete pressed against Austro-Hungarian facades. Sarajevo is small, squeezed between mountains, and on one street it has a mosque, a synagogue, a Catholic cathedral and an Orthodox one. Together they give the Balkans not as a beach destination but as a place with a history nobody here hides.
Belgrade: three days
Kalemegdan, the fortress above the river confluence and the best sunset in the city. The church of Saint Sava, one of the largest Orthodox churches in the world, with mosaic in the dome. Skadarlija, the bohemian quarter of cobbles and kafanas. Zemun, a formerly separate town with an Austrian character and fish restaurants along the bank. The Nikola Tesla Museum with his urn and working demonstrations. And separately the House of Flowers, Tito's grave, where you understand what Yugoslavia was.
Sarajevo: three days
Bascarsija, the old Ottoman bazaar with the Sebilj fountain and coppersmiths' workshops. The Latin Bridge, where Franz Ferdinand was killed in 1914 — a plaque, a museum in the house, and the realisation that a world war began on this corner. The Tunnel of Hope, through which the besieged city was supplied in the nineties: a hard but necessary museum. The cable car up Trebevic leads to the abandoned Olympic bobsleigh track, now covered in graffiti. And the «Sarajevo roses» — shell scars filled with red resin straight in the asphalt.
Mostar and the road
Belgrade to Sarajevo is about six hours by bus through the mountains — a beautiful road, not a fast one. If the trip runs longer than a week, add Mostar two and a half hours from Sarajevo: the Old Bridge rebuilt after the war, the divers who jump from it for money, and Blagaj with its tekke at the source of a river coming out of a cliff. The route builds neatly as a loop: fly into Belgrade, out of Sarajevo.
When to go
May–June and September–October. Belgrade is hot and humid in summer, but that is exactly when the floating clubs on the rivers work. Sarajevo sits in the mountains and stays cooler. In winter Bosnia skis on Jahorina and Bjelasnica, the former Olympic slopes, and it costs markedly less than the Alps.
What they eat here
Balkan food is simple and meaty. Cevapi are small minced-meat sausages served in a somun flatbread with onion and kajmak; in Sarajevo they are made from beef and treated as the national dish. Pljeskavica is a patty the size of a plate. Burek is a layered pie, and here burek means meat — the cheese version is called sirnica. Rakija before the meal, coffee after: in Bosnia it is brewed in a dzezva and served with Turkish delight, and it is a ritual of about forty minutes.
Novi Sad and the Danube
An hour from Belgrade stands Novi Sad with the Petrovaradin fortress on a cliff above the Danube — famous for a clock with reversed hands so the time can be read from the river. In summer the fortress hosts Exit, one of Europe's larger festivals. Nearby is Sremski Karlovci with its wineries and bermet, a local dessert wine said to have been served on the Titanic. A good day trip once Belgrade is done.
Practical matters
Serbia and Bosnia are visa-free for a Russian passport — up to 30 days. Russian is understood only in patches; English works in the cities. Cash is essential: the convertible mark in Bosnia, the dinar in Serbia, with exchange offices everywhere. One note about conversation: the nineties here are personal for everyone, and it is better not to raise the subject first.
Moscow → Belgrade → Sarajevo
Route and nights go into the form — adjust the date and passengers.