Hip Belgrade

 *** turn the music on before starting to read :)***

Serbia has never been a country I would plan to visit, however, when my the most favorite Portuguese friend Filipe suggested to meet there during his conference stay, I was immediately in! Me, Kristina, Zuzu and Katka, we took a car and went wild on the roads! Chatting, listening to Serbian radio, playing games, 7 hours ran out fast.The traffic in city of Belgrade was even worse than the whole journey, ha ha. We lived in a flat in the center, booked through the airbnb, the website, that is getting more and more popular. The accommodation is not expensive and central location is very handy, cause you do not have to use public transport at all. Good for everyone, after all drinking and eating junk food! You should be aware of Serbian cuisine, it is not healthy. A least service and the quality of food is nice almost everywhere, when you are in the city center. When to decide where to eat, I would visit again Smokvica in a bistro style or a traditional Serbian restaurant, KAFANA TRI ŠEŠIRA. This restaurant is situated on well know Skadarlija street, that is a must visit in Beograd. If you want to please your eye, go to check Moustache bar, originally called Blaznavac kafe - bar located in Kneginje Ljubice street, which is full of similar bistros like SS-bar, for example. If you have a party mood and you are a fan of hip places, you cannot skip culture centrum  KC Grad. Otherwise choose any other club in this area of  Braće Krsmanović street. Peron might be an option, if you wanna hear some indie rock or indie pop (but you cannot avoid Serbian music ha ha).

Did you know that Belgrade is a home of Museum of Nikola Tesla? Now you do, so no excuse not to visit! I suggest to buy ticket in advance cause it is usually  crowded :S Meantime you can go for a drink&food to ancient restaurant with old good classy service, called  Na-cosku (At the corner), which is only 50m distant from Tesla Museum.

around the castle

city center - bombed building - castle - by Danube

around Tesla Museum

KC Grad - Blaznavac - SS bar - Tri Sesira - bakery - Smokvica - random bar

zebra - KC Grad - dinars - by Danube - random bar - street

streetart

***

there is always sth left to see in Budapest

This blog is going to be in English. Hope you dont mind...

I like Budapest, I think I could go there anytime, just like that. I ve been there several times, but everytime with different people, that made it special. The best timing is summer for sure, but if you know where to go and what to do, it does not really matter. The last time I went there was now in December, when I decided to meet my Hungarian friend. Actually, we were not real friends, we met only once in Stockholm when I was doing small trip around Sweden. 

/Short story, we both were searching for a good company to party in our favorite city and we found each other via Couchsurfing site (the spirit of this community, oh yeah!:))). Unfortunately the party did not happen, but at least, we managed to grab some beer and introduce ourselves :D We kept in touch and organized sth in Budapest./

After reading Adrienn's profile on CS and meeting her, my trust to her "taste" was pretty high, so I had no doubt that we visit the best events that weekend in Budapest could offer. Even though the weather was shitty, we found a shelter in following spots:
/Sorry for the quality of the pictures taken with my poor phone. I will have a new one soon, so it gets better next time. Cant wait!/

 1. Szimpla. One of the best known ruin pub in Budapest. Dont go there if you dont want to meet tourists, however, it is worth to stop by and admire the interior design. If you want to experience it empty, go there in the afternoon hours and you can make, for example, Szimpla teaser like my masterpiece below :D

 

2. Room8. I would rather not to comment the people that were in the club that night, but the beats coming from Finish dj (producer, music director) were gooood, so we shacked our ass a bit! This is kinda new place, so I would give one more chance to see, which community will occupy this place. 

Roberto Rodriguez (Fi)

3. BEAT ON THE BRAT. Very cool and small pub with indie music on week-ends playlist where you can  meet Hungarian hipsters. Definitely wanna come back!

4. Kuplung. A nice chill out bar with concerts held. There are also some parties for sure, but you need to check it out, cause the concept of this place has not been clear to me yet. The reason why we went there was Scandinavian party organized by Nordic House Foundation where my friend is volunteer at. I need to admit that Im fanatic in Scandinavia, moreover Sweden, so I did not argue O:) Two highlights from this event: Norwegian girls and their project Smerz and the guy from Sweden, Henrik José.If you know some "strange" Scandinavian electronic sound, that is exactly what you can expect :)

Smerz (NO)

Henrik José (SE)

 5.LÄRM. An underground club with good electronic music located on the 1st floor of a big complex named Fogas Hás. It is one of the ruin bars with several rooms, so you can easily jump from one place to another and hear different sound! We went there to see American dj Boo Williams, but Jaffa Surfa was not bad either! Party hard till the morning hours, wasted like hell :)

Boo Williams (US)

The one good and handy thing these places have in common is that they are all  situated in the same neighbourhood, around Kazinczy and Király utca, in District VII., very well-known for the hipsters :)

The best what you can get into your stomach after the party is definitely a warm soup :) The one we took was from BorsGasztroBar, tiny bistro with international food suitable also for veggie clients. After the lunch you might wanna have a coffee, so I would recommend TelepGaleria or Konyha. If you are lucky like us, you hit up a flea market there. Nearby MyLittleMelbourne is also a good choice, they offer variety of chai latte that you can buy as a package, back home with you, as a souvenir :) And you can finish your food&drink tour at Italian bistro A presto with tasty pizza or pasta for affordable prices. 

Special thanks to Adrienn, for a nice company and for showing me these cool spots! 

Seen ya soon! ;)

photo taken by LOMO La Sardinia

Cheers.