It’s official -  Madonna, undoubtedly the queen of pop, is returning to the Balkans following her Budva, Montenegro, concert last year. Gigs in Belgrade, Ljubljana, Bucharest and Sofia have been added to the the second half of her Sticky & Sweet Tour, which will visit 22 European cities this July and August.

Rumours have been circulating for weeks that Madonna would play at Usce, at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers in Belgrade,  and they were officially confirmed yesterday by the State of Exit and Live Nation organisations. Madonna will play in Ljubljana on the 2oth of August, Belgrade on the 24th, Bucharest on the 26th and will finish the tour in Sofia on the 29th. Paul Oakenfold will be her support act.

I bet there’s some annoyed Belgraders who wished they’d waited and had not spent a small fortune on travelling to and accommodation in Budva last year! Usce can hold 50,000 and it’s no doubt going to be a sell-out.

© Adam for Balkan File, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Belgrade, culture, Ljunljana, Madonna

Photo by Violentz

According to a report (in Serbian) by the Union of Economists of Serbia, Belgrade is the cheapest capital city in the region when it comes to the price of food. The researchers recorded the prices of 28 different food products, such as bananas, yogurt, bread, apple juice, beer, flour, potatoes, chicken and toothpaste, in small corner shops to large supermarkets in eight Balkan capitals – Belgrade, Bucharest, Budapest, Ljubljana, Podgorica, Sarajevo, Sofia and Zagreb.

The researchers say that the average price of a basket with 16 products is 18.33 euro in Belgrade, while same basket in Zagreb costs 29.20 euro. Also, 1kg of beef costs on average 6.37 euro in Belgrade, while in Sarajevo you pay on average 7 euro.

I must admit I was pretty surprised when I read this report because in the relatively short amount of time that I’ve been living in Belgrade food prices, as well as everything else, have been steadily rising and rising.

The report fails to take into consideration the average monthly wage of the cities’ residents. So even though on the surface it is true that Belgrade is the cheapest, for your regular Jovan Jovanovic Belgrade is far from a shopper’s paradise. 350-400 euro a month makes it difficult for many to cover the monthly flat rent and bills, never mind the groceries. Also, with the Serbian dinar weakening and weakening against the euro, your average Serbian citizen is having to hand over more and more money to feed themselves and their families. I have nothing but admiration for those people who manage to feed a family of four on such a small amout of money.

I remember a time a few years back when a single bus ticket cost 20 dinars. I paid almost 80 dinars when I hopped on the bus last week to go, you guessed it – to the supermarket!

What’s your take on Belgrade being labelled as the cheapest for food in the Balkans? Have you noticed your shopping bill rising?

© Adam for Balkan File, 2009. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Balkans, Belgrade, cost of living, food, supermarket

Earlier this week I spent a few days in Kotor, Montenegro. Kotor is really, really lovely and I would recommend it to anyone wishing to get away from the busy, intense and suffocating city for a few days. The Old Town, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site, is just stunning. The coastline and the mountains rising up from all around you are unreal. I’m a city child – born and raised surrounded by concrete – and I was slightly apprehensive about the very slow-pace of life in Kotor, but I quickly adapted to simply drinking coffee, eating some delicious food, walking around the streets of the Old Town for the 40th time (which didn’t become dull or repetitive), drinking some more coffee, having a beer or two, walking around again, and ending the day with another satisfying meal (and, of course, another beer). Ice cream was also most welcome at every opportunity with temperatures reaching 35C or even higher.

There are a lot of individual and group tourists in Kotor (mainly Australian, Russian and French judging from the accents I heard), but they are not too imposing and I mainly heard Serbian/Montenegrin during my short stay in the town. One thing you should certainly do when in Kotor is climb up the 1,300 ’steps’ (sometimes steps, sometimes broken rocks, sometimes nothing) to Kotor Fortress for some amazing views over Kotor Bay. It is extremely hard work and tiring so bring water and food with you! Flip flops were not the ideal footwear for that adventure…

I also took a daytrip to Bar, which is a bit further down the coast towards Albania. I wasn’t impressed. The food I had was terrible (but that could be down to the particular ‘restaurant’ I chose) and the beach was not particularly nice and lacked amenities (apart from a rather unsafe looking fairground and an ice cream kiosk selling black market cigarettes). The new town does feature some rather astounding architecture with three dome-shaped buildings housing some shops – apparently the locals refer to them as the ‘Three Albanians’.

Ideally, I would have loved to have spent a few more days relaxing in Kotor and perhaps visit some other towns along the coast. The people are generally very friendly, the food is good (just follow the crowds, and you’re in luck if you’re a fan of fresh seafood), and the prices are not extortionately high considering the large numbers of tourists descending on the town every summer. So, if you have the chance to visit Kotor, go for it. You won’t regret it one bit.

© Adam for Balkan File, 2008. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: beach, holiday, Kotor, Montenegro