Original subtitles

Hi I'm Laura Alexandra and welcome to Serbia.

I'm exploring this beautiful European country and discovering its rich history, unique culture

and of course its modern-day offerings.

Last time I started my journey in Serbia's capital Belgrade, where a visited a Roman fortress,

one of the largest church buildings in the world, and the memorial site for beloved leader Joseph Broz Tito.

I also enjoyed some fun outdoor activities, some of which I wasn't very good at.

But I'm not done with Belgrade just yet.

So excited to be coming here, it's the royal palace in Serbia.

First time I've ever met His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, I'm going to go in and see what it's like.

So I'm going to hit the red carpet right now, amazing,

Wow

This is absolutely stunning.

This is the first time I've ever been in a palace before and

quite frankly

I'd love to live here.

Well I've got to be honest I can't imagine the amount of time it would take to clean somewhere like here.

As the flags just here,

stunning paintings as well, understand these are actually quite famous.

Just going to explore in here and what I understand to be His Royal Highness, the Crown Prince's actual office

and you can see actually there's, there's tons of pictures

and one thing that really strikes me about this as well, is the fact that on one of the pictures here this is the

most recent royal wedding is actually, they look sort of really, really cool and really relevant

of the actual royal family here.

Stunning red dress there as well but there's just so much history that it steeped around this palace

and quite frankly I'm just excited to find out more.

Wow there's just so many beautiful pieces of art just down here.

I'm coming down, actually right now, to the Royal basement and I'm told once again there's some

really exciting things here including Tito's sort of entertainment lounge I guess you could say

and somebody's actually said to me that I might be able to even sit in Tito's chair.

I'm just gonna see if I'm actually allowed to.

This is the Royal Basment and I've made it down here and it is everything it's promised to be, it's stunning.

It's representative to sort of this massive red ornate ceiling walls,

just absolutely stunning obviously, representing the time communist period as well.

There's various dates reference around here, 1929 is on one of the walls, which is quite interesting

obviously that was when the palace was actually finished

you've also got all of story telling around the ceilings and it's just amazing.

A lot of it representing some of the National Serbian poems which apparently

are really long but quite interesting as well.

What I'm very interested in over here is the CD player. Now the reason I say that,

we've got a pool table over here, CD player here, this is why they're so relevant right now because

the family apparently still come here to relax

and recently I think they've even had a party because there is tons of CDs here.

Perhaps my favourite has to be Ice Cube I mean you can't have a party without him

but it's just really interesting that you know they're still very relevant to this day.

So I'm gonna be even nosier and go down to what is the entertainment room.

Now this is quite an interesting one because apparently this is where Tito used to bring his guests.

Now imagine being back in that period of time and having guests such as you know

Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor's husband of course she would have been here as well,

just sat down here watching a movie up there.

Just incredible.

Over here you've got the chessboard as well and perhaps my most favourite thing,

that I'm just gonna go up to now is Tito's chair.

Now this is a bit that really intrigues me and I'm very, very excited about so follow me up here.

So Tito himself would have actually been sat in this chair at one point

and I've got the pleasure of sitting down here myself and I'm just gonna see how comfy it is this is.

This is a fully worn chair, I like this, he obviously sat here a lot but the interesting thing he would have kept

an eye on all his guests in front of him watching the movie.

More interesting than not is the fact that Queen Elizabeth herself apparently sat down there,

which is just unheard of for the Queen but that just shows you what kind of a person Tito

was and the authority that he actually carried as well.

Now I'm too short, way too short, to see over here but I'm sure if you could you know it would be so, so

interesting and also the fact that the technology at the time,

screen projector you know, would have been absolutely amazing at that day.

But you know what I want to get up and explore another room actually, so follow me through here.

Now the interesting thing again about this room it's obviously still fully functional.

People, I'm sure, still use it and up on the ceiling you've actually got the the, the symbols that would have

represented the monarchy scratched out in favour of communist symbols

again something that Tito enforced and something that he wanted to just,

he didn't care if it wasn't still in keeping with the rest of the decoration he just wanted to make it really

shiningly obvious that the monarchy weren't welcome anymore and there you all the communist arts.

Fascinating,

I don't think I've ever seen a basement with so much luxury or history before.

If you come to Belgrade you must see this for yourself.

After many years of being in exile, the Crown Prince Alexander, the last heir to the throne of the kingdom

of Yugoslavia, now resides in the royal palace. And it just so happens that he's home today.

I couldn't come here without meeting his Royal Highness the Crown Prince Alexander

thank you so much for welcoming us to your beautiful home.

Thank you for coming.

What was it like to come back to Serbia in 1991, when you eventually came back?

That was the first trip, it was not really a legal trip, I was still somewhat an enemy,

Yeah.

So first of all, I should say this was like a Forbidden City.

It's a compound of 330 acres, that's about 130 hectares, and it was closed to the world

up until the time we came back in 2001, Nobody could come in here, I did try and get access in, in 1992,

when I came here to join the opposition in protest and I was met by, at gunpoint they weren't very nice.

Wow!

So now it's open and there's a lot to see. First of all there are two palaces and they're two different styles.

This is sort of Byzantine, oriental, Serbian style with an incredible basement

but the other one, the other palace is known as the White Palace is classic, typically classic,

all square things like that and they serve different purposes.

This is where the head of state lived and operated and people would come and visit him here.

The other palace, it was built for my father and his two brothers as a sort of spill over to leave my grandfather

in peace. But then it was used by Tito as an office and if you were a foreign minister you would pay a visit

there you would, if you're an ambassador, you present your credentials and it was a constant use

so not much was done to repair it

This one was used as a guest house and you wouldn't believe who came here.

The Queen came here, Nixon came here I think, a lot of thieves came here,

dictators and so on. It was, it was active, it was active.

And what was it like the first time you sort of took a look around and went and saw the views outside?

The place needed some help as one might say but,

I've sit in an armchair and said do you think my father sat here? or my grandfather sat here? Things like that.

Yeah.

My father told me a lot about the place, he said there were two palaces, which I understood

and he said if you ever go back you must live in the Royal Palace, which was built between 1924 and 1929.

So we really knew where to come but we didn't know really what to expect and there's some funny things.

We were looking around for a kitchen because we saw a little kitchen up here, we said too small for a big place

and we found a kitchen at the end of a tunnel.

Oh wow

So let's skate down, skateboard down the tunnel, they're dangerous, but it's a big kitchen.

Yeah, why should people come to Serbia? You know, what are the main really amazing points to come here?

This is the last frontier if you think about it. We're very glad that the Serbia is open for tourism,

tourism is very important for us and our people are very welcoming people there are warm hospitable people.

There's a lot to do in Serbia, there's a lot of museums in Belgrade, it's the convergence of two big rivers,

two big European rivers that is the Danube and the Sava.

There's also monasteries, there's also a skiing resort which has become very popular, Kopaonik,

and a lot of tourists from United Kingdom go there and skiing.

We also have, I think there's so much, we have a big music festival called Exit,

I think it's one of the biggest music.

Yeah it is.

It's extremely popular and I'd say hundreds of thousands come there and they enjoy it very much.

And then you've got all the other usual activities Belgrade is a town with a lot of

interests for young people nightclubs, many restaurants of different flavours,

cafes, we have a good climate it's really quite interesting.

There's loads to do by the sound of it

There is quite a lot to do and there's good communications and flights from London.

Yep

Every day, two flights a day, which is not bad

Amazing so no excuses to not come out here.

No there is really no excuse yes

Cruise ships regularly stop at the Palace so that visitors can hop off and take a look around the grounds.

They also get a special presentation from the Crown Prince and Princess themselves,

if they happen to be at home.

A duty that they not only take seriously, but also thoroughly enjoy.

I was granted the opportunity of a quick chat with the Princess Catherine.

So I couldn't come to Serbia without talking to the beautiful Crowned Princess Catherine welcome.

Thank you very, very much so kind of you we're happy you're here.

It's absolutely stunning, we're sort of in one of your gardens at the moment aren't we?

It is lovely we are very proud of it, it's wonderful, it's a hunt for the characters here the Forbidden City like

they used to call it. 50 years ago nobody could come in so now, when my husband came home he says,

we will open the doors and we have our people here and the people of the world. This is a little Versailles.

And you're so welcoming I mean we've just had a group behind us, which we need to get back to you very soon

as well, but you know for tourists coming here as well they can sort of come in and meet you.

Absolutely you know one of the, the best things that could ever happen is for people to come here,

and to find out for themselves what their beautiful country is.

It's not the same as you if you look through magazines or they hear it from friends who have been here,

I think they have to come to see it for themselves.

There is something magic about Serbia when you come here, you see smiley faces if,

you see young people full of energy you see kindness, love, everything.

I mean above all we've got good people who have a lot of life within them,

they have put the past behind and they live for the present, in the future and that's what I love about

people who turn a page and get on with life and the past is gone.

All we have is the present and the future. Thank you for being with us, come back please, and bring us a world.

Thank you

I want the whole world to see Serbia.

Excellent thank you so much.

Thank you very much, all the best

Pulling myself away from the Royal lifestyle I'm back on the road again, this time to discover some Serbian art.

Belgrade has a rich and diverse art legacy. A must-visit is the Museum of Contemporary Art,

where you can discover more about Serbia's contribution to modern art.

And right now, I'm with curator Una to find out more.

Welcome to the Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade.

Thank you can you tell me a little bit more about it?

The Museum is established 1958, a long time ago in ex-Yugoslavia, but this building that we are here now

is erected from the 1960s to the 65 so it's really modern.

It is the masterpiece of the modern architecture in ex-Yugoslavia.

Then we have the collection which is very rich, the Museum of Contemporary Art has 8,000 artworks,

art pieces and artefacts and it's divided sub-collections, different kind of the sub collections but it's also

internationally orientated so we have the collection from the beginning of the 20th century

but also the contemporary international art.

Brilliant it sounds great can we go and have a look around?

Yes, of course, okay let's go.

Laura this is Šumanović one of our famous painting this painting is called the drunken boat

and it's from 1927, actually it's depicts that actually, the some fantasy of the artist that you can see.

Maybe is over there and this naked ladies that actually shows some bonvivant,

or some kind of the bacchanal is, but it's actually the muse that that is around the artist.

Sava Šumanović very interesting artist actually this painting doesn't look that any of other paintings,

that's how he did it.

He's much more in the Picasso style, and this is our maybe the most famous painting that we have in the

collection, from the beginning of 20th century and there is one trivia that artist Sava Šumanović

did it for the seven nights and seven days without sleeping.

Wow yeah just all in one go?

Yeah, yeah

This is Dušan Otašević, the assemblage actually is called Comrade Tito, White flower you see here maybe

the kind of the criticism it belongs to the pop art in Serbia, actually this assemblage or this painting.

You will see the Comrade Tito in the centre of the, of the composition but this whole how to say the heart

and these two curtains that refers in two ideologies that Yugoslavia was described.

Refers maybe on these slides the big parades that was devoted in the Comrade Tito

so it's kind of the criticism a bit about the two ideologies but also this kind of big how to say ideology

over one image or one face or one comrade or one person.

Well thank you so much for telling me about this, and thank you also for showing me around as well Una.

You're welcome

As evening descends I'm about to experience some art of a different form,

this time at Belgrade National Theatre.

I'm so excited I've just arrived at the National Theatre. You can hear below me, orchestra tuning up getting

ready to go and there's a real buzz actually with everyone here.

It's about to start in two minutes, so better go but I’ll let you know what it's like.

Opera singing

I've come to the National Theatre today in Belgrade and I've had a little watch of the Opera already,

and right now I’m in the office of Dejan Savić, thank you so much for having me here.

It's a pleasure, always

and tell us a little brief history if you can of the National Theatre?

Of course the National Theatre is consisted of the three divisions drama, opera and ballet.

We are approximately around 700 people working here, a big technique, big administration, the most famous

and the most popular theatre not only in Serbia, in the region,

we are one of the last theatres of this size that has performances every day.

One on the main stage, one on a small stage, so this is in general the highest artistic level possible.

Many guests from abroad, we also go to visit many countries also inland of Serbia.

This could be in short the history and the presence of our theatre.

That was very concise I like that, and you've got the three different things that you do here, so give us an

example of, you know ,what's going on tonight opera wise? And what plays can be expected as well?

So what we, since at least I am a general manager, there must be something for everybody.

As I always say, so on main stage mostly big dramas, opera and ballet.

However in the small stage some of the opera and ballet, shorter and smaller pieces but mainly drama

What would you say to somebody watching, who's thinking about coming across to national theatre here,

and watching a show what would you say to them?

Well, what I would say for those who are not sure would they come or should they come or not,

I always say like, I always say everybody knows that the theatre is always full.

The theatre is always crowded with the audiences always that performance is sold out,

but I always say whoever comes to the main gate of the national here,

to be sure that he will enter we are always open for every hour.

Visitor’s, is it somebody from my side, is it somebody from abroad, is it for somebody from Belgrade,

whatever, we are always open and whoever comes to our gate to our main door will enter the Theatre.

The National Theatre also houses a museum, and eager to see it Dejan offers to give me a quick tour.

One of the biggest collections we had some original guns

Wow

and ammo from the period of Turkish arrays against their accents.

Does it actually work?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah and everything really yeah.

Now we have famous actors, famous ballet dancers, famous opera singers,

this was the poster from the opening of the National Theatre, this is the poster from.

What's the date? 1869?

Exactly when it opened this was a concept for a variation of a New Dutch, New Guinea's,

how would you translate this?

This was the poster from the opening of the Opera, so February 1920, Madame Butterfly Puccini.

And how much is this now?

No it says the beginning is 7 1/2 like today's 7 1/2

Ah okay yeah

If you ask me about the prices it's even cheaper than today two to five Dinars it's really nothing

That's like a couple of pence

It's an according yeah, is according to the standard weekend.

This is the opening with a Swan Lake of the ballet, National Ballet Company,

it was before me even before 1927.

They actually, they actually opened in 1922/23 the National Ballet,

then we have some historical photos from the performances of the National Theatre

our famous bass singing Don Quichotte.

He's very serious isn't he?

Yes, yes he is

Is this is jewellery? His costume jewellery?

This is, this is from, yes exactly Bravo, from the same in his when he was studying his scores and everything.

And if this is was a real Ruby you need security haha

I know, I know this is one of the oldest photos of the National Theatre inside 1914,

and it's still so busy there

of course at the time, all the time, this is one famous choreographer.

And here all the all the superintendent's or the general manager of the National Theatre

this is also me, from my first period.

I like your headshot very nice pose there.

What can I tell you? Famous history personalities and among them only this lady who is the woman

as a general manager and I'm the only musician as a general manager.

Having experienced so much of Belgrade's cultural heritage,

I thought I should come back to the 21st century, and my next stop couldn't be any more relevant.

Medical tourism is a huge growth area in Serbia.

It offers great value dentistry, cosmetic and also medical treatments in the country.

The majority of people head to Belgrade to get their treatments done,

and right now that's exactly where I am, at St Medica and I'm going to be speaking to

professor Miroslav Georgiavitch to find out more.

I'm with one of the world leading doctors in genital reconstruction right now,

Professor Miroslav Georgiavitch, thank you so much for joining me.

Thank you for your coming, and welcoming in our centre and our country.

Now tell us how many people you will see per year? How many people are interested in coming to you?

Our wellness centre for genital reconstructive surgery started to work twenty years ago here,

and now we are in this facility and we have approximately three to four hundred

persons, who are coming here for different types of surgery.

Aesthetical, reconstructive, functional, transgender surgery.

All other surgeries related to a reconstruction of male and female genitalia.

So tell me a little bit more about dentistry in Serbia?

Yeah this very interesting field, we have a plenty and plenty of persons coming from abroad

for dentistry because we are really a very good place because we have a very nice doctors for this,

very skilled doctors, who perform for example 5200 cases per year.

This is very fast, patient comes here for one day finished for example surgery or dentistry work here

in our Centre, and very much a small amount of money comparing to more developed countries.

And talking about a cosmetic surgery as well you know what people coming here for?

What's the most popular operation for example?

If you discuss about cosmetic surgery, it’s tactical surgery. The majority of nice women come here

for breast augmentation, for facial correction and facial surgery, like face lifting, then lips correction.

So it is very, very often here to have patients for this type of surgery.

Thank you very much professor.

Thank you

Leaving him to his work I move on to something a little different.

Belgrade, it is in the heart of the Balkans and one of the main events in the fashion calendar

is Belgrade Fashion Week.

Unlike London and Europe, it's actually quite easy to get the tickets for this

and I'm off to meet the director of Belgrade Fashion Week, Nenad, to find out more.

Nenad we're in Belgrade Design District can you tell me a little bit about this place?

Actually Belgrade Design District is the centre of a very authentic Belgrade fashion scene,

with independent designers and actually it is one of the biggest results of the work of Belgrade Fashion Week,

which we start 1996. Like a first Fashion Week in East Europe and we are very proud of it,

and after a couple of years we start with the, with our design, young designers and then they have opportunity

to open their shops here.

And that's it you know, now after ten years we have really beautiful little shops here with a

really unique, unique clothes.

Have you got big designers that are involved with you in Fashion Week?

Yes the most important Serbian designs are involved in Fashion Week and actually we grow together all these

years, and that is very important because you know they have opportunity to show their works.

You know it's not easy to present fashion collections, you know and in last couple of years,

we also try to open the doors for them internationally and we collaborate especially with London

Fashion Scouts during London Fashion Week in region,

because about it Fashion Week, week is a capital of fashion for our region for Balkan region.

And most importantly, how much are the tickets and are they easy to get hold of?

Oh it's very easy you know, because we like to treat our international guests you know and easily if you,

if you go to BelgradeFashionWeek.com, our website, or to our

Facebook or Instagram pages you can easily find us and you can ask for the tickets and you will get it.

So now finally when does Fashion Week happen?

Twice a year, end of March and the end of October, and you can easily come to us through our Facebook,

or website and we will like to host a lot of your viewers

or your international guests during Belgrade Fashion Week.

I would love to come back on Fashion Week.

Please, please I will find something for you for sure

Excellent this sounds good, well thank you so much Nanad and hopefully I'll see you soon.

Yes.

Zemun is close to New Belgrade, yet it's actually one of the oldest parts of the city.

In fact the first inhabitants date back to many centuries ago, but today it's the perfect escape from the city

offering a promenade along the Danube, restaurants and a stunning view as well.

Right now Serge is here tell me a little bit about why tourists love coming here?

Oh well you see it is like a West End of Belgrade, and it offers different atmosphere from big hustling

and bustling capital of Serbia, and Zemun that was so many centuries influenced by Austro-Hungarian culture,

today has a very nice fishing village just next to the river and a number of restaurants,

which are offering live music, perfect food and in the evening, very, very cheerful atmosphere.

Sounds amazing can we go and explore?

Of course please

Serge, tell me a little bit about where we're stood?

This we are on, the so-called Millennium Tower, which was built in 1896 by Hungarian people who at that time

celebrated 1,000 years of the existence of Hungarian state.

You see we are at the confluence of Sava and Danube rivers

and what you are looking at right now is this meeting spot of East and West.

Let's travel back through time 2000 years ago, it was the world of the Roman Empire. Over there on the other

side of these rivers, while this area was reserved for the unknown lands of the barbaric tribes

and then, when the Roman Empire divided it was East Roman Empire over there, West Roman Empire here.

Then the Serbs came so that became the Serbian state over there, while the Hungarian state was here.

More borders it was the world of the Ottoman Empire beginning on the other side of the rivers and the world

of the Habsburgs, Austria, Christianity Europe was beginning here.

So Belgrade human settlement on this beautiful spot of the confluence of two rivers became a meeting spot of

east and west, witnessing titanic clash between Christianity and Islam for many centuries

and that's what makes Serbian culture, Serbian heritage rich.

One of the best sentences I have ever found about Belgrade is that the city is an unusual mosaic

built up by centuries of overlapping civilizations, where everyone can find something to remind him of home.

A beautiful sentiment indeed and it absolutely describes what I've experienced here so far.

Being so close to the river, it was time to get into the water

and it just so happens it's the only way to experience a nearby Nature Reserve.

I'm very, very excited about my next adventure so nice to meet you I'm Laura

My names Nicolau nice to meet you too

So what are we doing here? I'm a little bit scared.

Don’t worry we'll be doing some kayaking today, on Danube and on Sava,

actually we’re going to meet the river confluent.

Amazing it, so is it quite interesting where those kinds of currents come together?

yes

Excellent so we're going in a one man? Two man?

Oh okay, I think we should get on two men kayak.

Okay?

Because then you can relax enjoy and I'll do the rest.

Excellent this sounds good to me so what do we need to get in there?

In the beginning safety first, so here is the life jacket, you should put this on

Amazing

and just relax and enjoy.

This sounds really good actually. So I've got my lifejacket on, I've met Nicolau, he's gonna do the work

for me, we're going kayaking and I haven't got anything to do so let's do it.

Let’s go

Oh, do I need to do anything yet?

So which way round do the paddles go? Oh okay this way, I’ve got them the wrong way

like this

Oh this is quite relaxing isn’t it, oh look at us we're steering in circles am I splashing you? I'm sorry

Should you grow tired of the hustle and bustle of city life, then this is definitely the place to come and escape.

We're making our way to War Island, a small River island that doubles as a wildlife sanctuary to

nearly 200 species of birds, many of which are endangered.

I know it's so relaxing and so green and I can't imagine anywhere in the world,

having this incredible sanctuary in the middle of such an urban city, it’s amazing.

As we get closer I have to start putting some effort in,

and it's not long before the serenity of the Danube is replaced by something else.

It's suddenly really noisy, it was really silent out there and now

it's a lot clearer actually the water there, there’s tons of stuff growing below.

So here we go, we coming in now, oh do we need to apply any brakes? Or are we ok?

Well, I don't think we have brakes

Excellent so that's it, so we just putting the paddles down?

Yeah

Should I get out first of all?

Yes, so stand up.

Oh!

Okay, stand up

Ok I've got this

Having just spent some time in the river, it was time to head back to the hustle and bustle of the city.

And I thought I would check out one of Belgrade's trendy artistic spots.

I'm here at a place called Dorćol Platz this evening, and it's got a really cool bohemian vibe. In actual fact,

I'm gonna meet the lady that's created this.

She's an incredible street artist so let's go inside Dorćol Platz and find out what she's about.

We're gonna have a little look around the area and first impressions, it's just quite cool it's just very chilled out.

This seems to be a little section on plants, actually I love cactuses these are brilliant look at them.

But they've got some cute tiny ones as well, love that, and one thing I've noticed as well, you might do too,

is the fact that there's so much of a cosmopolitan kind of atmosphere around here,

in fact there's tons of different languages.

We had French over there, got bit Spanish going on, with the posters over there as well and of course

Serbian. So it's really multicultural, I love it in here. Let's take a look inside.

Look at these guys.

So this is, or used to be, an old abandoned warehouse.

Around about a year ago it was actually taken over by this market, and to me it kind of reminds me of

being somewhere like Covent Garden in London, and having all of these different things you know from

plants to foods, to local delicacies, that are here.

You've even got things like air plants and Aloe Vera, and over this other side you know

naturally, a locally sourced honey, and Mead by the looks of things as well.

In fact right at the back of the indoor market, through these doors,

I think there's someone very special waiting for us, come inside.

Hello?

Hello.

Oh hello.

Hi welcome.

So glad to be here it looks absolutely amazing

Thank you

I'm Laura

Welcome, Alexandra, nice to meet you.

So nice to meet you Alexandra, how did you actually start in this? Did you study it?

Oh no I don't know, I started when I was 16

Yeah.

2004, and it was completely random. My father had lived in Rome for many years,

so I was there most of the time or one part of the time .

Yeah.

And I was a teenager and didn't know what to do, so he was like why don't you try this?

And I cut out my first stencil, and I was completely mind blown. It was a complete

you know, revelation for me, so I am very lucky that I found

medium that I liked so much so in such you know young age.

And it's absolutely incredible, I mean you just touched on it before actually you know,

the stencils, are they things you make them yourself or?

Yes I do everything you know by hand because I mean,

I do use a programme because it's all stencil so I need to layer it out I guess.

Yeah.

But I cut everything you know by hand, because it loses some of it and it gains some of it and then I add

stuff around it, and then it becomes a lot. This one gave me a lot of trouble.

It didn't want to come out no, no, sometimes it's, I mean

especially when you do something on canvas, it's not the same when you do something on the street

because it takes time.

Yeah.

You know and it has the will of its own.

So in Serbia is it quite normal to be able to go out on the street and do graffiti? Is that a normal thing?

Well it's, it's not, it's not illegal

Yep

But I think that it's much easier to do it here than somewhere else.

People don't see it as, as threatening as maybe some other places and the law is not very clear on you know.

Well listen, I'd like to get involved in some of your stencils and some of your art,

so can we have a little go ourselves?

yes yes

Excellent let's have a little look

Safety first.

Yeah.

So please

That's fine.

I don't want to ruin your manicure

I love that, I'm gonna put my decorator just down here yeah?

Excellent so gloves going on.

Here I go.

This is quite, this is quite therapeutic

You don't have to like move it like this, just keep your hand, see it's all in the wrist

And is there a way, I guess there's a way of sort of, oh there we go!

That's really cool actually seeing that for the first time.

But it will it will show up or later on so now you have second layer

I was wondering how it was gonna come together.

It's just like, it's very easy techniques, extremely easy technique. You can learn it on YouTube,

but idea is what comes

Woah woah woah, do it slowly.

Was I a bit aggressive there?

Oh no no

it won’t change anything.

That looks amazing!

That is amazing.

So this has just been an absolutely amazing experience, I've enjoyed every single moment I spent

with you Alexandra, and I would highly recommend anybody coming to this area.

Because it's just so much fun, this, it's so quirky as well isn't it?

Yeah well this area, this neighbourhood is the oldest neighbourhood of Belgrade, and this place is a very,

has a really nice program to it exhibitions and plays and you know?

Just hanging around you can really feel like Belgrade vibe.

Thank you so much Alexandra.

Thank you

Hopefully we will see you soon

So we've left Belgrade this morning and we're on our way up to Avala,

up a beautiful leafy mountain track, and we should be there quite soon.

I'm told there's a TV tower there and a monument as well, it's got a really special story behind it can't wait.

Just 10 kilometers from Belgrade, Avala Mountain is a smallish Mountain

consisting of pine forests and springs of fresh Mountain water.

As a result this natural beauty spot is a popular picnic destination for the locals.

Also here is the famous Avala Tower, the symbol of Belgrade, where visitors can enjoy spectacular views of

the city and surrounding areas from a cafe located at the top.

And just a few minutes walk away you'll find the mountain peak,

where lies the monument to the unknown hero.

So I think I'm around about halfway up the amount of steps to get to the monument.

So tired already, you have to be fit for this,

but I did find out something quite cool actually about Avala mountain, which is

It's 511 meters, so only just classes as a mountain because apparently you have to be over 500 meters.

Anyway I've got to get on with walking, I'm out of breath already,

but it's all going to be worth it when we get up there.

I knew it was gonna be worth it for this, but I'll be honest I didn't know how breathtaking this would be.

Just absolutely incredible. Wow.

So I actually managed to find my tour guide, Serge thank you so much for joining me.

Pleasures all mine.

We are now, well nearly at the top of the monument here.

Can you give us a little background on the monument itself?

Yeah we are on the top of Mount Avala, 511 meters, and after the First World War our King Alexander of

Yugoslavia wanted to build here a monument to the unknown hero.

He contracted the best sculptor Yugoslavia had Mr Meštrović from Croatia,

to make this home of Yugoslavia.

There are eight caryatids, female figures that are holding our common home

and inside is a grave to the unknown hero.

See Serbia was fighting in the first Balkan war, second Balkan war, and then on the winning side in the First

World War and when in 1915 Germans were attacking Belgrade,

finally this was the last spot that was still giving some resistance.

And when they managed to conquer this one, as well on the top of the mountain they found just one boy,

14 years old and machine gun, they were very impressed with his heroism and the enemy, the

Germans, buried him on this top of the mountain putting a sign here “lies unknown Serbian hero”.

So you would say that you definitely deserve this monument here?

Absolutely

And the other thing that really interested me about this is there's several places, where I've noticed, sort of

worn away, basically it looks like it's been attacked here is that right?

Yeah the Second World War and Germans again, occupied Yugoslavia.

In 1945 during the final operations English partisans, together with the Soviet Red Army are liberating Serbia,

as well as Belgrade, and they reach the spot where Germans had their cannons and machine guns,

and the Soviets were firing at them and so they made couple damages of the monument.

Wow. and is it always this busy? It's so busy today.

No, this is a special day, today's the 1st of May and on the 1st of May in this country people like to make

picnics. It's usually first nice weekend after long winter, so warm weather

and Avala Mountain is the recreational place where you can just come out and have a barbecue and enjoy

some time in the in the open and the nature.

Beautiful nature here and first of May is usually the holiday when we have a couple of days off,

so that's the ideal time to come here and enjoy.

Because I was going to say it's a brilliant atmosphere, and I have to say, you know, apart from the monument

itself the fact we actually are on Avala Mountain the views around are amazing.

Serbia on the top of your palm.

Yes exactly I love that thank you so much Serge.

thank you

I need to find out more who was this hero?

So I'm actually standing at the place of the Unknown Soldier, just 14 years old,

his bones were brought here originally by the enemy actually, and the dates you might notice 1912 to 1918,

that's to signify the Balkan wars that went on during this time because they were actually

dedicated in his memory.

The thing is I've actually been talking to the tour guide and I'll be honest with you that, I've actually been really

welling up. I'm not even from here, but it's just to be perfectly honest, it's actually really hard for me to talk

because

even though I'm not from here, you can just feel like the emotion the atmosphere that's here and

the people that are gathering around that…

It means so, so much to them and this is just signifying what you know everything the history of old Yugoslavia

as well, and how everybody comes here to just pay their respects is it's incredible.

Next time on Serbia Old and New.

I depart the capital city and head into rural Serbia, to discover the ancient roman ruins of Viminacium.

Take a trip down the Danube, and stand at some of Serbia's wondrous views.

See you next time.