Ian Furniss Photography » Blog Archive

Skadarlija

Skadarlija. It’s a place where time has no meaning. Walk the length of this cobbled street and time will stand still. Stop for a moment, and it’ll subtly shift you backwards to the days when actors, & writers would gather to eat, drink, and be inspired by its beauty and atmosphere. Turn around, and it’ll move you forward, leaving you breathless, imagining the evening ahead, and the delights yet to come.

It’s a place I fell in love with as soon as I took my first tentative steps into the lights and sounds that had captivated me and pulled me towards them like sirens from Anthemusa … and then I drowned in it … the smell of fine food and an atmosphere of pure delight! Go there in the day and you can relax, drink coffee, maybe pass the time just sitting and talking with friends or perhaps browsing for souvenirs, but go there in the evening, and the place comes alive to the scent of roštiljska and the sound of music drifting towards the heavens. There is no place quite like it on earth, of that i’m sure, and should you take the time to visit Belgrade it’s one place you most definitely shouldn’t miss.

My name is Skadarlija…or Skadarska street, however you like it. I am no boulevard…or avenue…or highway. I am a common steep curved alley in the middle of Belgrade. And that would be everything meaningful to be told about me if it wouldn’t be for my bohemian history, my crumbling roofs, my shaking chairs… —Zuko Džumhur