Karadžić Tour of Belgrade to be Offered in Serbia’s Capital
Text by Ekaterina Petrova
Karadžić, the former Bosnian Serbs’ leader, became a fugitive in 1996 after the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia indicted him for war crimes, including genocide against Bosnian Muslim and Bosnian Croat civilians, during the Bosnian War between 1992 and 1995. During his fugitive years, it was recently discovered, he established a fake identity as a white-bearded alternative healer under the alias Dr. Dragan David Dabić.
Since Karadžić’s capture on July 21, the Vekol tourist agency says journalists and foreign tourists can’t wait to see some of the places in which he spent time during his time on the run.
“We plan to organize the tour shortly, maybe even next week. The demand is huge and people are really interested,” Vekol spokeswoman Dragana Tubić told media on Wednesday.
The tour, mostly in New Belgrade – the socialist-era housing projects across the river from the old part of the city, will include: the Luda Kuca (Crazy House) bar, where Karadžić played gusle, a traditional instrument, under the Dabić alias; a grocery shop where he bought bread and wine; the restaurants in which he ate pizza and pancakes; and the place where he was arrested.
Old copies of Healthy Life magazine, for which Karadzic wrote under the Dabić pseudonym, will also be offered for sale.
“We already organize a Tito tour and a Tesla tour and they are extremely popular among foreign guests. I believe this one will be popular as well,” Tubić said.
In addition to tours dedicated to former Yugoslavia’s communist leader and the famous Serb-American electrical investor, other tourist agencies offer tours based on the late Serbian strongman Slobodan Milošević and around the places in Belgrade destroyed during the 1999 NATO bombing raids.
Read more about Serbia on BalkanTravellers.com
Use BalkanTravellers.com's tips to organize your trip to Serbia
Epicure
Balkans
Three Bizarre Watermelon Recipes
The watermelon – this bright, contrasting symbol of summer, according to many residents of the Balkans, is a kind of trademark of their peninsular heat. Full Story
Curiosity Chest
Balkans
The Red and White Strings that Welcome Spring in Bulgaria and Romania
I remember walking along Canal Street in New York’s Chinatown on March 2 a few years ago, when I saw a man sporting a small ornament made of red and white thread pinned to his coat lapel. He must be Bulgarian, I thought to myself with a sudden rush of homesickness, but now realize that he may have been Romanian as well.
Full Story
Useful Reads
Bulgaria
Street without a Name: Childhood and Other Misadventures in Bulgaria (2008) | By Kapka Kassabova
Danube blues
Text by Nicholas Lezard for The Guardian*
Full Story
Music
Bulgaria
The Choir that Turned England a Bit Bulgarian
One of the few constant sources of pride for Bulgarians is traditional folk music, and especially singing. But not the Oriental-beats-modified kind that often booms in nightclubs, giving their clientele the urge to jump atop tables and chairs and sway their hips around; rather the kind that, when heard, mesmerises you and gives you goose bumps, the kind that is haunting with its out-of-this universe quality, mostly figuratively but sometimes literally as well.
Full Story
-
Photogalleries
-
A Perfect Shot
