The Balkans' wildest city — where ćevapi on lepinja bread fuels nights that begin at midnight and end at 8am on a floating river club
Belgrade sits at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers with the most unapologetic nightlife in Europe and a food culture that is intensely, proudly Serbian. Ćevapi (minced pork-and-beef sausage grills) in a lepinja flatbread with raw onion and kajmak clotted cream is the essential dish, eaten at any hour; roštilj (grilled meats) is the religion; and pljeskavica (a Balkan-spiced burger patty) is the street food of choice at midnight. The splavovi — floating river clubs on pontoons anchored in the Sava and Danube — are uniquely Belgrade: open-air parties that attract thousands of people…
Belgrade has been conquered and destroyed over 40 times in recorded history — Celts, Romans, Byzantines, Crusaders, Ottomans, Austro-Hungarians, and two world wars have each left their mark. The Ottoman period (1521–1806 and 1813–1867) left Kalemegdan fortress and the street plan of the old city. The Kingdom of Serbia then Yugoslavia established Belgrade as one of the most significant cities of 20th-century Europe — site of the 1941 Nazi bombing, the German occupation, the post-war communist transformation under Tito, and most recently the 1999 NATO bombing campaign that left the former Minis…