Of Malls, Markets, and a pink Bra

I visited several malls in the serbian capital, but liked only one of them - the  Delta City mall.

Delta City Mall

Housed in an attractive, blue, modern circular structure, Delta City mall seems to be above the average. It is smaller (ground + two floors), but less crowded and noisy than Usce (near the bridge to the new city) and  Rajiceva (on the pedestrian shopping street Knez Mihailova).

Rajiceva  Mall  (on Knez Mihailova street)

Usce  Mall

Delta City  offers good stuff at affordable prices.(I bought an embroidered cotton top and a small umbrella for travel, and was very pleased both with the quality and the price). Delta has a McDonalds and KCF, a cinemaplex, a  supermarket (Maxi discount chain),cafe-restaurant for gourmet customers, shops (with domestic & international brands), bank, pharmacy, shiny toilets, murals,  and more.

murals on the wall leading to the toilets

Everything about this mall is in good taste (except, perhaps, the pink Bra... painted at the bottom of the mirror in the ladies' room of the toilets. Where are the feminists?! just kidding; it doesn't bother me and probably nor the other women visitors). 

see `pink bra painted on  the mirror bottom in the toilet room

live fish at Roda's mall big supermarket dept. nice attraction.

The city green markets (pijaca = market) are all structured in the same 'trio' manner: stalls with fresh veggies and fruit, stalls with clothing, and stalls with household / miscellaneous items. They differ a  little in size , quality and prices, according to location mainly (for example, the open-air market 'Bajiloni', at the end of the touristy, bohemian cobbled street Skadarlija - its prices are , methinks,  a bit more 'tourist oriented').  
The biggest  of the city markets seems to be 'Kalenic' which is located in the district of St. Sava church and Tesla museum (I went on foot from the museum  along the street which ends at the market;  quite a distance!). 

Bajiloni (in Skadarlija) market entrance (see the green sign)

 market entrance Sign with activity hours of Zeleni Venac

Most of the city markets have a bakery ('pekara' in serbian),cheese and meat shops/or trailers, some fast food eatery, and nearby - a discount supermarket (usually Maxi). 

Zeleni Venac (the oldest) in the heart of the city seen from the outside

miscellaneous items

veggies and fruit stalls

flower stands

When I enter a market I first look for grapes - I'm sickly in love with them. Belgrade markets had a nice supply of both white and black grapes at cheap prices (except the sultanina brand which was more costly).. After  enjoying the sights and  smells of the place, I bought some grapes to fuel my body and soul for the day.

one has to be careful - bag hanging from the neck

Two big markets  - the chinese ('Block 70' on Gagarin street;  big '70' sign over its main entrance), and the somehow isolated market with the outer sign 'Tepih Centar' ( 'tepih' means rug - the sign is probably an ad. for a rug business). These markets, as far as I could see,  sell no agriculture products, only household and clothing stuff. 

I  liked  neither the merchandise (overloaded halls, passages and stalls, which is both exausting and frustrating) nor the atmosphere there. Maybe it was not the right day and time. The Belgrade China Town is closed on tuesdays, I didn't know that and went again the next day. Waste of time; I left empty-handed.

A piquant fact: they say the chinese community in Belgrade is actually a whole chinese village transferred to the serbian capital in the nineties.

exterior of Tepih Centar market seen from the street

The above market, located on a big empty space not far from the Sava river and the Delta City Mall is probably very popular among the locals as it has just about everything one could possibly need (except green, fresh products). For a tourist, with limited time, it's not recommendable. It's discouraging to start looking for some item in such an over dense display of things.