Earlier this year, we noted that tourists visiting Belgrade feel as if they were in Berlin, Copenhagen, or New York. As we pointed out, you can’t just compare Belgrade to another city because Belgrade is unlike any other city. Liz Kuebler, a student at the Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C. (studying currently in Serbia) is now talking about how she feels at home in Belgrade’s bohemian quarter Skadarlija:
“Living on one of the most beautiful streets in Belgrade, I feel at home. Skadarlija reminds me of quiet tree-lined streets in Washington (although the hundreds years old cobblestones throw me off a bit). “
This reminds me of a great post David Lublin wrote a couple of years ago. Lublin pointed out that while it seems Serbia is a poor country with much unemployment, people dress far better in Belgrade than in Washington. Here’s a short excerpt, but it’s worth reading the whole thing:
“As much as I love Washington, I’m embarrassed to admit that the people dress far better in the capital of Serbia than in the capital of the United States. Of course, people who know Washington well may consider this faint praise. Washingtonians tend to be very liberal people with extremely conservative tastes. We’re the type of people who give a standing ovation to a play at the Kennedy Center because we read in the Washington Post that it was well-reviewed in the New York Times. In contrast, Belgrade’s citizens, like New Yorkers, put far more effort into their appearance. Even though this a poor country with much unemployment, there are lots of stores hawking the latest styles from
Italy, France, and the U.S. And people buy them.”
Tourists visiting Belgrade feel as if they were in New York, Berlin, Copenhagen, or Washington. So, what’s next? Paris?
