We flew from Tampa with stopovers in Washington and Frankfurt. We arrived at the Belgrade’s airport in early afternoon. We picked up our rental car and drove the few miles to our downtown hotel, the Metropol Palace, which is part of Marriott’s Luxury Collection. The staff was great and after a long flight we enjoyed relaxing in the a 25-meter-long indoor pool, which is part of their spa.
For our first evening we walked around outside of the hotel and had dinner at a very eclectic restaurant named Lorenzo & Kakalamba, an Italian restaurant serving Florentine cuisine. The food is excellent and the décor is as good as it is described on their web site.
The next morning, we drove around the city and visited the fortress, the Kalemegdan Garden and the temple of Saint Sava. To our surprise, when we returned to our car we had a parking ticket. It was in Serbian and it took almost an hour for the hotel's concierge to figure how it had to be paid.
After lunch, we drove for about an hour to the St George's Church, located in Oplenac. It is the mausoleum of the Serbian and Yugoslav royal house. The church of Oplenac was founded by King Peter I of Yugoslavia. Many members of the royal house are buried in the church and in the crypt beneath the church. We really enjoyed the visit and would definitely recommend it.
We spent our last evening in Belgrade at Madera’s restaurant, located only a few steps from the Metropol Palace Hotel. We were glad that the concierge made a reservation for us because the terrace was full of locals enjoying a summer evening in this magnificent setting. The service and the food were excellent. We order Wiener Schnitzel. It was the biggest cutlet of veal we had even seen. With the currency exchange it only cost $13.00 per person.
We left Belgrade on a Sunday morning. We dropped our rental car at the airport and took our flight for our next destination, the city of Kotor in Montenegro.
