If you are looking for a tour which will give you an overview on most attractive landmarks of Belgrade and an introduction to history of two Serbian royal dynasties which ruled Serbia from the XIX till the mid XX century and made Serbia free from Ottoman reign, then this one should be your pick.
In the beginning of the XIX century Serbs started their liberation from Ottomans who have ruled for almost five centuries. Karadjordje Petrovic and Milos Obrenovic, founders of two royal dynasties, were leaders of the uprising against Turks. In this tour you will discover some interesting stories about these two families, who had contributed a lot in order to have a free and a modern country. During the XIX and in the beginning of XX century, Serbian political scene was very turbulent. Leaders were changed more than ten times. But each leader had left its mark in Belgrade…
We are starting the tour from the arranged point. First sight on our route is the Old palace, today’s City Assembly of Belgrade. It was constructed in 1884 for the needs of King Milan Obrenovic, first Serbian King after medieval period. For this palace is said that it is one of the best constructed buildings in the XIX century.
From the plateau where we greet our sportsmen for achieving outstanding results, where we change political regimes and where we celebrate important events we move on to one of the most important streets in Belgrade, which carries the name of Prince Milos Obrenovic. He was the richest man in Serbia during his reign and known as a man who started the construction of Belgrade outside the medieval borders. This street holds the most important buildings, such as embassies and ministries, which, at the same time, represent an architecture outdoor exhibition.
Further on we continue to Dedinje, Belgrade’s most prestigious residential area, where Serbian kings had their palaces. Although Serbia was very shortly a kingdom, Belgrade has four Palaces. Two of them are situated on Dedinje, Royal palace and White palace. Constructed between two world wars, they were residence of the Karodjordjevic family. Today, palace is a residence of Crowned Prince Aleksandar Karadjordjevic.
After Dedinje we continue to Topcider where we will pass beside third palace, residence of Prince Milos, which was constructed in 1834 as one of the last buildings constructed in the Ottoman style. Today it is a museum dedicated to Prince Milos and to the Second uprising against Turks. In front of the residence grows 160 year old plane tree, one of the oldest preserved trees, which was declared for a natural rarity.
Temple of St. Sava is our next stop. The idea of construction of the Temple had begun at the end of the XIX century during the rule of Aleksandar Obrenovic. On this place at the end of the XVI century Sinan Pasha, burnt the remains of Sava in order to scare the Serbian people. We are sure, that he couldn’t imagine that at the same spot, five centuries after will be constructed the biggest orthodox temple in the Balkan, fifth in the world.
As we continue from St. Sava temple, we drive along Milan Obrenovic Street and arrive to the Republic Square. Three important monuments here stand proudly, constructed in the XIX and the begging of the XX century: National Theatre, National Museum and Monument of Prince Mihailo Obrenovic. Today it is the city center and famous place for recontre. On our way to Kosancicev venac, we will walk through main pedestrian street, Prince Mihailo Street. Three buildings are situated on Kosancicev venac, constructed in the first half of the XIX century as a mixture of an ottoman and a modern western style: Residence of Princess Ljubica (wife of prince Mihailo), Cafe “?” and Church of the Holy Archangel Michael.
The very end of our tour is planned at the oldest tavern in Serbia, Café “?” where will finish our tour with a degustation of a local traditional drink rakija. Of course for those who are not fans of strong alcoholic drinks there is planty more choices for refreshment.
Tour plan given in this description is not fixed, it’s just result of our perception of most interesting points on this rout and result of our own experience. In any moment we can alter the rout and adjust it to interests and wishes of travellers.