Belgrade, or Beograd, as the local would have it, is a surprisingly pleasant city - at least as far as the Old City is concerned. The outskirts had not managed to escape the fate of seemingly all socialist towns - ugly prefabs dot the landscape.

However, once a beat-up old Taxi brought you into town, you will be rewarded with a lively centre with plenty of gracious 19^th century architecture, and a vibrant coffee house culture (possibly a legacy from centuries of Ottoman influence).

Kneza Mihailia has been converted to a pedestrian zone.

The Terazije Srpskih:

There also are a number of pleasant public parks (here: Studentski Trg).

The Old Town is dominated by an old fortress, the Kalemagdan:

... where there is a pleasant promenade, with a nice view over the Danube.

The church in the background is interesting: it turns out that many Orthodox churches in Serbia were built in the Baroque style. One might have expected local churches to look Byzantine, but we seem to have a bit of a cultural cross-over happening here...

The same spot, in winter...

Whilst one is likely to be engaged in a conversation on the bombing by NATO, there is virtually no damage left to see - with the exception of Milosevic’ former party HQ and propaganda centre:

The airport isn’t quite that busy yet:

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