Car Museum

The Museum of Automobile in Belgrade is Located at Majke Jevrosime 30. It was founded by Bratislav Petkovic owner of the Museum and collector of about 100 vehicles in Belgrade. The collection entails a list of historical cars and archival materials on the advance of the car industry.

 The building was designed by a Russian architect Valerij Staševski, it was built in the city centre in 1929 as a public garage with capacity of about 40 cars.

The collection includes cars from the 50s to the 70s of the twentieth century. The first car in the collection is; the Ford Model T from 1925, while the oldest car is a Marot – Gardon, France, from 1897. Popular cars such as the Mercedes C 300 – D convertible, the first luxury sports car Jaguar MK2 (1963), and Cadillac de Ville convertible (1957 are also included I the collection.

The museum also contains a collection of photographs, documents, old tools and equipment, as well as a library with thousands of titles; it has become the meeting place for the legendary riders, museum car collectors and lovers.

 The museum organizes shows and races of museum cars.

Zlatibor

Zlatibor is a mountainous region in the western part of Serbia. It is abundant with vast highlands, rich pastures, cut across with numerous rivers and streams.

All villages of Zlatibor are scenic and beautiful, which makes it extremely suitable for development of the village tourism. These villages are well equipped with comfortable accommodation places for guests. Zlatibor is an important tourist area of Serbia, with resources for health, skiing and hiking tourism.

 The main city of the region is Užice, located at the foothills of the mountain, and most of the area belongs to the municipality of Čajetina. Town of Zlatibor emerged from a group of vacation homes into a full-fledged urban location.

There are numerous possibilities of tourist attractions from walking, sport, recreation, excursions to nearby caves, springs and waterfalls, hunting and fishing, riding, climbing, mountain biking to simply collecting wild herbs and forest fruit.

This area is famous for its mystical stories, myths and legends. Traditional feature are represented in buildings architecture which is a product of ancient trade and handicraft. Exhibits of local artistry, performances, folk dances and native creative work are all events that enlighten the traditional customs of the village life. 

The Residence of Princess Ljubica

The Residence of Princess Ljubica is one of few buildings surviving from the first reign of Prince Miloš Obrenović. It is located in one of the oldest parts of Belgrade, on street kneza Sime Markovica 8, on the corner of the streets Sima Markovic and Kralja Petra.

The construction of the residence of princess ljubica was carried out under the supervision of one of Serbian pioneers of architecture, Haji Nikola Zivkovic and lasted from 1829 to 1830. It started by orders of prince Miloš Obrenović, who wanted to have a residence built in the vicinity of the Ottoman masters stationed at Kalemegdam. It was built for his wife Ljubica and their children, the future rulers Milan and Mihailo, and represents combination of Turkish and European style of building.

Due to the dynasty overturn and the rise of the Karadordevic dynasty to the throne, the residence of princess Ljubica lost its residential function in 1842 and over the following 130 years it housed various state institutions. It was declared Monument of Culture of Exceptional Importance in 1979, and is protected by the Republic of Serbia.

Due to its Historical and cultural significance the residence became part of the Belgrade’s city Museum in 1980. The building is used for exhibitions which depict the historical change and the social development in the 19th century.

The exhibition includes a representative selection of fine and applied art objects. One section of the interior is furniture with sofas, low dining tables, Braziers and various Turkish vessels, while another section display a more urban interior as Belgrade went through the process of Europeanization.

Guests can experience a show called "A coffee with Princess Ljubica" where actors dress as Princess Ljubica, and greets the guests.

Serbian Slava

The slava is a Serbian Orthodox Christian tradition of the ritual glorification of one's family's patron saint. The family celebrates the Slava annually on the saint's feast day. It is an annual social event in which the family gathers together at the house of the patriarch (head of the household). Friends are also invited to the house for slava, regardless if they have the same Saint.

There are 4 basic elements that have to be present on Slava table, candle, slava cake, red wine and cooked wheat. Slava cake is ritually cut either by a priest in the church on the morning service or by the man of the house and first guest that comes. Slava cake represents Christ’s body, wine is his blood, cooked wheat is a symbol of resurrection while candle proclaims Christ as the light of the world. Usually families prepare large feasts for their guests and entire roasted pigs and lambs can be found on the table followed with many side dishes, salads and desserts.

The family saint is inherited to the patriarch, from father to son, while women do inherit the patron saint of their husbands upon leaving their families. As several patron saints are venerated twice a year, the main day is the Slava, while the secondary one is called preslava.

The most common patron Saints and Slava days are:

St. Nikola, 19th of December

St. Archangel Michael, 21st of November

St. John the Baptist, 20th of January

St. George, 16th of November and 6st of May

St. Dimitrije, 8th of November

St. Luka, 31st of October.

Things that do not exist in Serbia

Adjusting to life in Serbia, there were a few things we were accustomed to which we had for live without. It wasn't because they were expensive or hard to find, they just simple did not exist in Serbia for purchase. Some things include:

Food/Drinks

Plantain (similar to a Banana but different)

Green Banana (usually cooked or fried)

Corned Beer

Ginger beer

Ribena 

Mountain dew

Salt fish

Macaroni and cheese

Vienna sausages

Malt

Porridge

Powdered Milk

Coconut Powder

Browning

Things

Rice Cooker

Popular Places

Burger King

Sub-way

Although life in Serbia takes you away from some of  the things you maybe used to, it offers and exposes you to a new taste and culture that can only be found here. 

Cricket in Serbia

Even though it may look complicated and confusing at the first sight, cricket is very interesting and enjoyable sport. Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of around 11 players each on a field.

The game requires a few pieces of specialized equipment to play with safety. At the bare minimum, six stumps (three on each side), four bails, two cricket bats and a ball are required. Most teams also have uniforms, and safety gear for the wicket-keeper.

Serbian Cricket Federation… 

Cricket was officially established in Serbia in October 2007, when Vladimir Ninković, along with Darko Ivić, Haris Dajč and Nenad Dugić, decided to found the first cricket clubs in Belgrade (Stari Grad and Mirijevo). 

On June 5 2009, the first cricket match in the history of Serbia took place in the village of Karlovčić, some 20 miles from Belgrade. The match was played between a Belgrade Cricket Association XII and Carmel & District CC, from Flintshire, North Wales. The guests won, having scored 175 -107.

Apart from domestic players the teams are comprised of expats such as Indians, Pakistanis, Caribbeans, Brits and New Zealanders.

The Serbian national cricket team has represented Serbia in international cricket competitions. The team made its first away appearance in 2009, losing one and winning one match against the Slovenian team Mezica CC. In August 2011, Serbia reached the semi-finals of the EuroT20 tournament in Budapest.

How the game is played…

There are four main positions for players of which each team has its own, they are; Batter, Bowler, fielder, Wicket-keeper 

Cricket field consists of a large circular grassy ground with a rectangular strip in the center called the pitch. A boundary line should be clearly marked all around the outside edge of the field.

 The game is split into two halves where one team ‘bats’ and the other team ‘fields’. One of the two batsmen faces the bowler whilst the batsman at the other end gets ready to run. The team which is batting initially sends out two batters, one to stand in front of each wicket. The team that is fielding positions its players around the ground to limit the batters’ runs or to get the batter out. One of the fielders is the wicketkeeper and one fielder is the bowler, each fielder can take a turn at bowling. When a batter is out, the next batter gets the opportunity to bat and this continues until there are no more batters left. At this point the team is now said to be ‘all out’. The teams, after a break, now swap and the batters become the fielders and the fielders now become the batters. In order to win the match, the new batters need to get more runs than the opposition.

In professional cricket, the length of a game ranges from 20 overs (T20) per side to Test cricket played over five days. The game is most popular in Australasia, England, the Indian subcontinent, the West Indies and Southern Africa.

Belgrade Children's Orphanage

        One of my most memorable experiences in Serbia so far, was the opportunity to visit an orphanage for children. Located in Belgrade the orphanage caters to children who were victims of violence, abuse, neglect, victims of trafficking and those children without parental care. The orphanage is called 'Prihvatilište za decu, Beograd' and accommodates for children all around the country, from ages 7 to 18.They have housed  over 70,000 children during 57 years of operation.

         On one of our many discussions about our purpose and role in society and life, we thought about ways in which we could help as students in our current society. The options became narrower, simply because we were foreigners in Serbia and had our individual obligations as students. 
       We all agreed that the Orphanage was a great idea and the most meaningful thing we could offer was our time, care and company. We then decided to organized a creative, musical and sports workshops for the 23 children residing at the Shelter.

 

During the two-hour meetings with them, we drew, read and sang songs. After the indoor activities we went outside for some sports and games that were specially prepared for them.

       Girls and boys aged 8 to 18 years were able to learn about the life, culture, and sports activities of the Caribbean islands but we also learn something. The kids were eager to show us their dance moves, songs and collection of things including medals.

        At the end the of visit the kids were all happy and cheerful, and we were even more happier when we saw the smiles on their faces.

Shelter for Children, Belgrade (Prihvatilište za decu, Beograd)

Students from the Caribbean played basketball with children from the Shelter..Blic Online.

Students from the Caribbean played basketball with children from the Shelter... 24 Sata.