Skadarlija

Skadarlija is a vintage street, an urban neighborhood and former municipality of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located in the Belgrade municipality of Stari Grad (Old town). Skadarlija partially preserved the ambience of the traditional urban architecture, including its archaic urban organization, and is known as the main bohemian quarter of Belgrade, similar to Paris’ Montmartre.

After Kalemegdan, Skadarlija is the second most visited tourist attraction in Belgrade, contributing to one third of the city’s foreign currency income.

Skadarlija is located less than 300 metres (330 yd) north-west of Terazije, central Belgrade. It begins right below the Republic Square and stretches along the short, winding Skadarska Street and the surroundings streets of Zetska and Cetinjska. One of the most famous streets in Belgrade, Skadarska is less than 400 metres (440 yd) long. It connects the Despot Stefan Boulevard with the Dušanova Street, near the Bajloni open greenmarket and the Mira Trailović Square, where it extends into the neighborhood of Dorćol. Neighborhoods of Kopitareva Gradina and Jevremovac are to the east.
Though today the term is mostly applied to the street only, Skadarlija is a former municipality of Belgrade and a wider quarter which includes some 20 neighboring streets.

The present Skadarlija, a short and curved street, is a remarkable Belgrade tourist attraction. It includes well-known restaurants, hotels (e.g. Le Petit Piaf), art galleries, antique and souvenir shops. At the end of the street there is the Sebilj fountain. It is an ornamented drinking fountain, copy of the Sebilj fountain in Baščaršija in Sarajevo, and gift from Sarajevo to Belgrade.

Groups playing Serbian brass or traditional urban music and actors dressed in traditional Serb costumes perform down the street. Unlike other similar and popular places in Belgrade that are considered posh, Skadarlija is known as a place visited by young couples and entire families with children. Restaurants offer the typical national cuisine, most notably the grilled meat with beer. Skadarlija’s cafés, restaurants, art exhibits and cobblestone promenade attract up to 20,000 people daily. The street is a car-free zone but it would be unsuited for traffic anyway because it is too narrow and with bumpy cobblestones.