Balkans

I call this post "Saturday afternoon meat" in reference to Pengovsky's great "Monday morning meat" series.
In the same fashion, this one is not safe for work either. In addition it's not for the weak of heart, nor for vegetarians. Especially not for vegetarians!
David shows us how the Balkan people are preparing food for winter, (and here when I say food, I mean pig) - be warned though, pictures are very graphic. I remember when I was a kid at a countryside hanging around a pigslaughter, I didn't mind all that blood and guts, in fact it was very interesting to look at. Now I don't know if it would be so charming to observe... but I do still love a good pig roast.

My feedreader usually just pops up meaningless stuff about Belgrade, but this one might be interesting for all interested in the history of conflicts in former Yugoslavia - entitled For A Comprehensive Approach To The Problems of The West Balkans, by Branislav Gosovic. As if that first one wasn't thorough enough, here's the second part.

Macedonian and other Balkan vines finally discovered in the west... "Good morning, Columbus." Found it on Yahti

Our man in Tirana writes about the preparations for G.W. Bush visit. Very informative site and blog about Sarajevo. Check it out! Another blog from the region, with frequent tips for travelers. Well worth subscribing to. Bill Gates in Sarajevo (via Bosnia Blog) Show business, ethnopolitics, and sometimes both at once: Illyrian Gazette. There's a new blog in town: Impressions from Kosovo. So far it's got only one lengthy report, but check it out, it looks promising. Another good blog to keep track of: Luna returns from Belgrade to Kosovo and she's got some cool pictures to share with us. via GVO

A 22 year old bundle of contradictions blogs about Bosnia.

Anthony is ready for his Balkan Break.

Belgrade

The article from the Age is about the eternal mistery - the Belgrade apartment market situation. This line sums it up pretty good:

"I have no idea how people who work for 400 euros a month manage to buy apartments for half a million euros"

Want to follow adventures of a young foreigner in Belgrade showing the city's gritty and sometimes not so pretty side? Than check out Radovan's blog, and grab the feed.

These couple of tips I gave to The Guardian readers are a good sneak preview of what's coming soon at Belgraded -a series of articles entitled "Hundred things to do in Belgrade" - if you want to share some of yours top secret Belgrade tips before the first round is published, now is the time to send them along in the comments below and I'll credit you when the article is published.

So says the Times Online, upon visiting Belgrade this year. Any reason not to trust them? I didn't think so. Read the article to find some good recommendations and tips.

"So I'm staring at my own city like a tourist and let me tell you - it feels wonderful." - a quote from Jana Osorlic's post on Belgrade from her Serbian-English blog you need to follow. See her flickr Belgrade daily set too. (found at MediaMix)

This is the kind of street art embedded in the street itself! Take a look at the pics taken by Skitaonica crew, another new blog you should really follow if you speak Serbian. Hell, follow it even if you don't! Signs say "I wonder I wonder, where does the Universe end?" "Relax and stutter", and my favorite "Ouch Ouch Girls!"

He must've done something wrong while he was being probed at their spaceship - Bosnian resident Radivoje Lajic claims that the aliens have something against him.

Adam gives a detailed report from the today's antifascist rally, and asks:

"Do you believe the neo-Nazi rally should have been banned? Aren’t the anti-fascists just as extreme in their beliefs as the neo-Nazis? Is it OK to ban something just because the majority don’t hold the same view?"

Join the discussion!

Enjoy Belgrade with an experienced guide.

Belgrade Car Show 2007 starts on 23rd of March at Belgrade fair and will last until 1st of April. You can see some photos here, made by Dinke.

Tourist Organization Belgrade

Yankee in Belgrade - a compelling photo-a-day blog in browsers near you.

Another site/blog that ends up in our blogroll: Zofona - lots of info on Belgrade and Serbia from a Dutch family.

Lucy aka Lucija blogs on various topics from Belgrade.

Metro: Hip Belgrade deserves all the buzz.

Official Belgrade site

The very best interactive Belgrade map there is - you can find it on Plan Plus website (previous version of the map is right here)

While we wait for the guys from In Your Pocket make a new guide through Belgrade, take a look at their good, but old Instant guide through Belgrade, saved here on Scribd.

Eniac points me to a great Belgrade souvenir suggestion - Pobednička kecelja

Carine a écrit un superbe guide, ne manquez pas d'y jetter un coup d'oeil: Trivago guide de Belgrade If you wish to experience the city of Belgrade through running and cycling, Hermes can offer advice and company. An interesting new hostel in Belgrade - boathouse ArkaBarka. Check it out! Belgrade fair hosts many exibitions and events throughout the year. Besides Carine's superb guide to Belgrade in French that we mentioned earlier here, Owen points us to another fantastic French blog about Belgrade - Le Belgradois for all you French speaking crowd out there. Useful internet guide to Belgrade and an accompanying book - "How to Conquer Belgrade". Fetish club party at an unknown club in Belgrade (NSFW).

B/H/S Blogs

Ivan "Burek" Minic

Latest Serbian blogosphere buzz: new video by BS - here, here, here, here, and here. And here.

Check this out: Dejan Bizinger's interview with Bruce Sterling where he makes all sorts of connections between technology, future, internet and Belgrade. Food for thoughts.

Blogowski BlogSessions (sr).

Samo malo

Belgrade 2.0 in Serbian language is on.

Nune

Biljana Srbljanovic

Jasmina Tesanovic

Biznis blog

Mracni

BM4BP

Yahti

Culture

A short movie by Belgrade's best supermodel, Natasa Vojnovic and her photographer, Barnaby Roper. Some scenes contain nudity.

Euro sceptics and Euro believers, head for CZKD, Art bioskop or Dom Omladine today if you got time - there will be some interesting discussions. Sorry for not letting you know earlier, I somehow missed it.

Some thoughts and pictures from Jean Michele Jarre about Balkan concerts on his blog.

One good Serbian blog goes English so you can follow as well: PopKitchen brings the story of Ramush Haradinaj from the twisted Vanity Fair perspective, entitled House of War.

The Applied Nostalgia project, mentioned on the blog last year, just got the second part up on the website. This year, it's photos of Paris and Belgrade by artists Nebojsa Babic and Vinciane Verguethen.

The Pirate Bay people, or Piratbyrån, то be more precise, is in Belgrade! Everyday from 5th to 9th of November at "25. Maj Museum" they will be giving lectures and presentations about freely sharing information and culture. Visit them everyday from 17-21h if you get the chance, this is got to be interesting. (via Escape to Freedom)

Check out the artwork on the Belgrade Underground blog, by Srdjan Markovic Djile, one of my favorite Belgrade artists previously mentioned here and here. (via trzisno resenje)

Arte Serbia is the first serious website/directory devoted to art scene in Serbia, so I think it deserves a mention on Belgraded.

If you want to have an informal chat with Serbia's leading IT entrepreneurs, hurry up and register for the first ever Belgrade OpenCoffee meeting, scheduled for Saturday, 18th of October in Movie Bar, Kolarcheva street at 18h (you don't really have to register, just showing up is fine).

If you don't know what OpenCoffee is, take a look over here.

Speaking of obscure websites, how about the one dedicated entirely to ex-yu beat, rock and garage bands... but from the 60's, 70's and 80's, and in English! I knew there's had to be a site like that, and I ran into one of those today: Jugobeat - it says it's been updated last time somewhere in 2000, but I doubt much has changed regarding the topic over the years. Here's the Jugo garage bands page too.

Here's another net radio for you to enjoy: Radio Net1zen, "a non commercial radio supported by artists and listeners, broadcasting alternative sounds from Balkans." Which means most of the stuff will probably be in some language you don't understand, but it's a nice way to get a glimpse of modern, not-so-modern, and cult Balkan music scene.

Danica is blogging about digital communications, web activism, new medias and the effect all these things have on Serbia. I know some of you have the blog already in your bookmarks, but there might be someone unaware that her site has a new address: www.danicar.org

Novi Radio Beograd - or New Radio Belgrade in English, is a new, internet only radio that got the attention for it's no-bull approach to the listeners. Basically what they are trying to become is what B92 was when they first started out an until they turned into a major business. Enjoy if you understand Serbian, and even if you don't the music selection is pretty good. The grand opening is scheduled for October 6th, but they started broadcasting already couple of weeks ago.

Check out Jasmina's videos on Vimeo.

First skate park in Serbia is about to open in Zajecar, 6th of July, more info here and here on Skate Serbia.

Serbian slang dictionary in web2.0 style: Vukajlija. Found at Blogowski

It seems as if this time it's for real: Rolling Stones set to perform in Belgrade, Serbia on 14th of July (The Hippodrome). Rumors say they will play in Budva, Montenegro on 9th of July (Jaz beach). Ticket price:2850 and 4350 din for Belgrade gig and 50 EUR for Budva concert (not confirmed yet).

Net food delivery service Donesi.com just started working.

Making Belgrade prettier, one trafo at a time. Thanks, TKV!

Lots of great Belgrade street art on Transgresor's photo album. If you understand Serbian check out his great blog too.

Belgrade Book fair will be held from 24.-30. October

Internet bussiness conference and expo is being planned in Serbia.

It'll be interesting to see Lost in Transition documentary once it is finished. Follow the production blog here.

Iron Maiden ready to rock Belgrade, March 14th. Ticket sales for Belgrade Arena from January 24th. Price - 2600 din (~33 EUR)

Seems like Kostunica made it to at least one song - he always wanted to be rememberd in history though, so this is a good start.

Queeria 2007 calendar Friends: Prijatelji

If you are in Amsterdam between Dec. 13-15. , you might want to check out A Rough Guide to Belgrade presentation.

RHCP confirm their Serbia concert scheduled for 26th of June in Indjija. Ticket price: 1990din (25eur) for the first 15K people, 2790din(35eur) later, 3990din (50eur) on the day of the concert. You can buy or order tickets from 4th of March on Ticketline or Exit festival site.

Nikoleta Markovic: Making Dorcol prettier, one elevator at a time.

Little bit about the hip hop scene in Belgrade.

Visit one Indie-Go! night in "Ana 4 pistolja" on saturdays and you are hooked for good.

Juliette and the Licks in Belgrade 31st of May, SKC.

Kool & the Gang performs in Belgrade Arena on the 7th of November, ticket price 1800 din (22 eur).

Dusan and Kata are making Belgrade a more beautiful place.

Find out what's hot in Belgrade when it comes to music.

Aleksandra Kovac wins MTV Europe music video award.

Wanna own a piece of history? The excavator that became one of the symbols of the October the 5th revolution in Serbia can be yours for only ninety thousand euros.

Beastie Boys and Wu Tang Clan confirm their Exit Festival gigs in Novi Sad, Serbia.

Belgrade Design Week will be held from 7th-12th of May this year.

Need a rock concert manager in Serbia? This is the man you need. Read also what it's like to tour Serbia and do 15 gigs in 16 days.

Charlestone and Vendetta trailer. Via Doba nevinosti

After a month-long break, one of the best clubbing sites in the region is online again.

Looking for contemporary Balkan music? CrossMIC is the place for you to explore. via CrossRadio

Rapper 50 Cent will perform in Belgrade Arena on the 6th of November, ticket prices 1800 and 2000 din (22 and 25 EUR).

International Blogs

Some good links for the architecture fans out there, via We make money not art, who notify us of the new Balkan architecture exibition. Dubravka has quite a few interesting projects going on. Ljiljana Blagojevic gives great history of New Belgrade. Danica (of Belgrade and Beyond) reports on her favorite Belgrade scenes, city stores and logos.

I recommend two posts from one blog this time: An Experiment in Simple Soultions and When Companie Don't Want Your Money. Read them, enjoy and keep following Beating Tolstoy blog.

Amila shares her imressions of Belgrade and Serbia, from a Bosnian war refugee perspective it does not look so great:

"Although our hosts from the different Serbian NGOs did whatever they could to make us comfortable, there was nothing they could do about the radical graffiti and posters all over Belgrade. Or the daily nationalist rallies in support of Radovan Karadžić. Or simply the fact that I was always very aware that I was a Bosnian in Serbia."

Coturnix shares some excellent thoughts on the US elections.

Now don't mess up and be a good president. And thank your speech writers, Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin and Dubya for world's overwhelming support.

Two new Expat blogs describing life in Serbia and Belgrade: The Belgrade Calverts blog and Bill Kralovec blog. It's always funny and interesting to read about the foreigners' first impressions of Serbia, here are some of the best lines:

"There are many differences here, but, some that stick out that we can't wrap our mind around is the driving here! GOOD LORD, these people are crazy!!!"

"Everybody so far that we have meet is very nice, and so pretty! Good lord are the woman here so pretty!! And tall!!!"

"Even though there are lots of different parties, they seem to fall in one of two philosophical camps. Being an American, I am thinking of it as “red state” versus “blue state” dichotomy."

Week-end à Belgrade - 1ère et 2ème partie. (By Gaylor, in French language)

Another one hits the blogroll: Prle i Tihi (or just one of them) blogging about Belgrade and Serbia all the way from Brazil.

Pengovsky analyzes the Kosovo situation - check out this Slovenian blog for more good regional insight.

Scot Pollard's not blog, but journal (remember, not blog!) from Serbia.

Why is this news? I'm sure you can buy that at any fleamarket in the world.

John Fitzgerald's exclusive tennis in Belgrade blog.

Two more international non-English blogs about the Balkans region: Cafe Turco and Sipi and Timi. See if you can understand something over there. If not, at least most of the pictures are great. (found them via Anegdote)

Help Chris Farmer find book-ends in Serbia.

Heading to Ljubljana? Inform yourself first about all the perils at Carniola

Chiara writes about her experiences in Belgrade and Sarajevo.

Two more Frenchies: Carnet de bord des élections serbes and Blog de veille sur les droits de l'Homme en Serbie. via Alen

Rosemary at her new B92 blog writes about sites pointing to various funny facts about Serbs and gets tons of various funny facts in comments.

Alex is thinking about Belgrade a lot these days.

Photoblogs

Winter is coming soon and it's a good time to see a preview of the snowy Serbian landscape - photos from Jérôme Giraud's last years journey through wintery Serbia show exactly that kind of imagery. Thanks for the link, Jerome!

+ gratuitous bonus link - a Yugo joke via miff.

NikolaT has really mastered the art of postprocessing good photos to near perfection. Take a look at what his dreamy version of Belgrade looks like in Belgrade Experience set, but please take your time to look at his other photos as well, it's a time well spent.

Filip Zrnzevic's photo gallery of Belgrade inline skaters doing their thing. Click, hit F11 and enjoy.

Belgrade is usually a lively city, but not on Sunday mornings. Shtikla puts up four great photos of this "Sunday morning ghost town" feeling.

To those two persons still unaware that Google decided to scan and host entire Life magazine photo archive - this great new photo databank gives lot's of interesting opportunities for researching history. Some interesting photos of: Serbia, Yugoslavia, Bosnia, Balkans, Tito, etc, itd.

Have a look at this magical Serbia photo gallery by Tanja Perovic.

Two great flickr photo slideshows to start the week: Tigric's black and white and 314dzi's color set. Enjoy.

Mina reports on welcoming the NATO ships in her town of Koper, Slovenia and talking to a Polish soldier about war and peace.

For the last couple of years, people all around the world have been trying to figure out what "promaja" is on Napomi's blog. So far, they have managed to only slightly unravel this ancient Balkan secret.

After some time, I bring to your attention one flickr collection - Borkodinus - as a slideshow. The only thing you need to do is click really.

Check out another great "from the hip" photoblog: Shooterama - amateur and proud of it.

Ninetynine great Serbia photos and counting - at this flickr gallery by svetslike

Another flickr gallery that looks interesting - Ivan Todorovski. You can check out photos of Belgrade in the left sidebar of Belgrade 2.0 updated in real-time on flickr.

See all Belgrade photos on TrekEarth.

Belgrade is one of the most surprising cities I've ever met, says Ricardo.

Take a look at the great Marinowski photo blog, with pics mostly from Palic, Vojvodina. (via Dragana)

Another cool gallery of Belgrade and Serbia by Maxivida

Some incredible photos of Belgrade by Nikola Mrdalj.

Belgrade photographer Goran Tomasevic wins 1st prize at Reuters best photo competition. (found at Personalmag.)

Sara's Belgrade photos and travelogue.

Another good photoblog with pics from Belgrade, and some other Balkan cities, made by Garrett.

Bunch of great photos from the anti-independence protest in Belgrade at liduss' profile (via Media Mix)

Street still life in Belgrade, captured by Escapista on flickr

More Belgrade pictures by Biliana Rakocevic

Some incredible photos by Boogie. Check 'Belgrade' and 'Protest' sections.

Izzeta sends a friend to Belgrade and he makes some photos

Christina and Daniel's pictures from Balkan

Two great daily photo blogs of Belgrade: Belgrade Daily Photo and Jedna fotka na dan. Add them to your feed reader!

Two sides of Belgrade at Danica's flickr - on & underneath the surface.

Alan Grant made a lot of photos during his trips through Serbia. Check it out.

Hunderds of great Belgrade photos on Andrej Filev's flickr.

Serbia

Here's my first contribution to Women International Perspective blog. Funny, I'm one of the rare men blogging there. Even funnier than that, I decided to write about what it's like to be a mother in Serbia. Got any comments - leave them there.

Site not to be missed if you need a Serbia travel guide, run and made completely by volunteers and enthusiasts. I particularly recommend their thorough hitchhiking guide to Serbia.

Greater Surbiton gives instructions on how to become a successful "Serb basher" - read it and learn!

Serbia signs trade agreements with Cuba concerning debt Fidel took from Tito or something like that. The agreement includes that from this moment it's possible to buy Jelen (one of the best world beers) in a local Havana bar.

If you've been to the Exit Festival these years and if you had a good time, than you could help it win the best Yourope festival award by clicking on that link and voting for it. Hurry up, voting's almost over!

Besides great new site design, Pescanik now has a section in English.

Check out another blogroll-worthy effort: Rosemary Bailey Brown writes about life in Serbia, business opportunities, and of course, shoes.

Sandra is demystifying Serbian design one post at a time. (via Global voices)

Jonatan of Limbic Nutrition blog discovers such a trivial connection between Serbia and Ireland that you gotta love it.

Great tourist info on Serbia's northern province, Vojvodina

Want do some backpacking accross Serbia? Try contacting the Backpackers' association for more info.

Balkanfile blog description says it all: Adam is a graduate of Serbian studies and fell in love with Serbia during his year abroad. He is a self-confessed 'Serbophile', obsessed with Serbia and the rest of ex-Yugoslavia (plus Albania for good measure).

If you are planning to go camping in Serbia, than please visit Camping Association of Serbia before your trip.

Novi Sad guide with reviews of all the cafes and clubs and restaurants - so far in Serbian only.

Winter season starts in Kursumlija's spas.

Short comparison between Serbian and American healthcare system.

A Brit “gone bush” takes an amateur look at mountain biking in Serbia

Serbian cuisine page updated with a short video of Novak Djokovic guiding you through national cuisine and customs.

43 Places - Serbia

Amber and Matthew's adventure in Serbia (and Slovakia).

B92 News from Serbia in English

Tons of usefull info for tourists on Backpack Serbia website.

Transportation

First Serbian low budget CentAvia announces first flights.

If you're traveling by train to Serbia you might want to consider Interrail pass - saves money.

Another low budget airline, Norwegian Air Shuttle announces new route: Oslo - Belgrade.

Sea travelers can come by ferry to Montenegro or Croatia.

Travelogs

Zuko manages to understand Belgrade even despite of having read way too much Momo Kapor:

Belgrade squats above its own ugly-charming waterfront, the confluence of the Sava and the Danube rivers. Belgrade is raffish and roguish, artistic, under-employed, ill-advised, scruffy, defeated, bleak and romantic.  Belgrade is pretty much punk rock. 

Read the experiences from a great roadtrip through most of Eastern Europe, Serbia excluded unfortunately. Maybe next year? (via Balkanology)

Michael's middle east journal from Belgrade - lot's of first impressions.

Belgrade - A view through a rear-view mirror (pdf).

25 travel and photo blogs from Belgrade on this page.

Triton travelogue de Belgrade - part un et deux.

Short guide to Serbia for beginners by Benjamin Cunningham at Viator

Xtraveler gives some advice on how to spend 8 hours in Belgrade and make most of it.

The Independent - Belgrade in May 2001

NY Metro - The 10-Point Escape Plan: Belgrade

Movement Magazine - A brief History of Belgrade

Lee Abbamonte's brief encounter with the law enforcement in Belgrade.

Balkanbaby Belgrade travelogue - May 2006

Expedition360 buzzes through Serbia on bicycles.

Michael has some advice on how to avoid being ripped off by Belgrade taxi drivers.

Jonatan wonders if Michael Palin's visit in November will have a significant effect on number of tourists in Belgrade.

So...this is Serbia - LA times, June 2006

Belgrade rocks! - The New York Times, October 2005

CNN Traveler - Belgrade in November 2003

The Observer - Belgrade in November 2004 & April 2005