A BR E AT H OF NEW LIFE BY LANE NIESET
Out of isolation, the city of Belgrade has become a hip and happening urban travel destination
PHOTOGRAPHED BY MAHESH SHANTARAM
WALKING ALONG DOBRACINA STREET, I’M CONVINCED I MUST BE IN THE WRONG neighborhood. Paint is peeling off the sides of old warehouses, exposing a layer of red brick tagged with graffiti. Each block appears more deserted than the last until I start peering down alleyways and inside some of these seemingly abandoned buildings, and realize that the industrial spaces have been converted into concept shops, beer gardens and hip cafes. I finally stumble upon the place I’m looking for, Przionica D59B. About the size of a doctor’s waiting room, this is one of Belgrade’s first micro-roasters, where artisanal coffee is expertly brewed and poured in a style unlike the traditional Turkish roasters in town. “We have a legacy from Turks and bad Italian commercial companies, and people here still expect coffee must be bitter and black,” says Przionica D59B’s Nenad Stojanović, a national barista champion who is leading Belgrade’s craft coffee revolution with his recently opened pop-up café, Bloom Coffee, at Luff Gelato. “We were isolated in the 1990s but Belgrade is growing now as people are starting to travel more around Europe and bring back this culture.”
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
The Pobednik (The Victor) monument, of a man holding an eagle, commemorates Serbia’s victory during the Balkan Wars; Kalemegdan Fortress. Top right: Intricate chandelier inside the temple of Saint Sava
The café is just one of a handful of new spots redefining the industrial district of Lower Dorćol, the first neighborhood to develop outside the infamous Kalemegdan Fortress, whose walls once contained Serbia’s entire capital of Beograd, the “White City,” named after the limestone-white ridge where the fortress sits. During Ottoman times, Lower Dorćol served as a trading center and Jewish quarter, but after World War II, only one street—Jevrejska or “Jewish” Street—still remains. Belgrade was bombed four times in the 20th century alone, most recently in 1999 by NATO, and Lower Dorćol’s look hasn’t changed since the last world war. While Belgrade was still the capital of Yugoslavia, this neighborhood became heavily industrialized with workshops and power stations, but it has taken decades since these companies shut their doors for empty spaces to finally find new tenants. Now it seems as if every day there’s a new café or boutique popping up