Belgrade lies on the Balkan Peninsula in South-Eastern Europe. The city developed on the high ground above the confluence of the Sava and the Danube, at 116.75 metres above sea level. Thanks to its advantageous position as the natural crossroads of East and West, Belgrade has been known throughout history as the Gateway to the Balkans and the Gateway to Central Europe. The city's first name was Singidunum, apparently coined from the name of the Singa tribe and the Celtic word dunum, meaning fortification. With the arrival of the Slavs it became Beo Grad, the White City. A succession of rulers made frequent changes to the name and Belgrade was recorded for the first time in a letter from Pope John VII to Prince Boris of Bulgaria dated April 16, 878. Under the reign of Despot Stefan Lazarević, Belgrade became, and remains, the capital of the Serbian nation. It is the only city apart from Constantinople which is dedicated to the Mother of God, and celebrates its own religious fete on the moveable feast of the Ascension, the sixth Thursday after Easter and ten days before Pentecost. This old feast symbolises the perennial rise of the city from ruin and its inexhaustible faith in the future.

Belgrade lies on a hilly terrain. It has a moderate continental climate with four distinct seasons and a median temperature of 11.9° Celsius. The warmest months are July and August and the coldest January. Average precipitation is 685 mm. The rainiest months are May and June. The idiosyncratic wind is a southeaster or easterly known as the košava which blows during the autumn and winter, bringing clear and dry weather.

Belgrade has a total of 225 kilometre of riverbank, 161 kilometres of which lie in the inner city. There are sixteen river islands along this stretch, the best known being Ada Ciganlija, Veliko Ratno Ostrvo and Grocka Ada.

The city covers a total area of 322,268 hectares, with 35,996 hectares in the city centre. It is divided administratively into sixteen municipalities, ten urban and six suburban. The most recent census, in 2002, recorded the city as having a population of 1,576,124 permanent residents of whom 1,273,651 live in the inner city area.

Belgrade's Coat of arms and Belgrade's insignia are first referred to in records dating from the time of Despot Stefan Lazarevic in the fifteenth century, although we don't know what these looked like. Under Turkish rule the city changed its emblem several times. The majority of these are known only from engravings or their description in literature. It was not until 1931 that an initiative was launched by a committee of heraldic experts, artists, academics, generals and state counsellors to adopt a new emblem designed by painter Đorđe Andrejević-Kun. The Belgrade coat of arms consists of the national colours, with the image of the rivers as a symbol of the city's power, a Roman ship as a symbol of the ancient lineage and white walls with a tower and an open gate. The walls represent the city and the open gate the free passage of people and goods.

Population

According to the 1991 census, the Belgrade urban area has a population of 1.168.454, and together with the suburban areas the capital city has a population of 1.602.226. Estimates are that Belgrade now has more than 2.000.000 inhabitants. As a result of its stormy past, many nations have been living in Belgrade for centuries, and Serbs are the majority (86%).

Language and alphabet

The official language in Serbia is Serbian - one of the south Slavic languages. Officially the Cyrillic alphabet is used, and the Latin alphabet is also very much in use. Both are taught at school. The Serbian Cyrillic alphabet has 30 letters - one letter for every sound, which makes it quite unique compared to the other alphabets. Foreigners can rely on English to communicate with the locals, and on German French and Russian to a lesser extent.

Climate

Belgrade has a moderate continental climate, with four seasons. Autumn is longer than spring, with longer sunny and warm periods - the so-called Indian summer. Winter is not so severe, with an average of 21 days with temperature below zero. January is the coldest month, with average temperature of 0.4C. Spring is short and rainy. Summer arrives abruptly. Average air temperature in July, the hottest month, is 21.7C .

Time zone

Belgrade lies in the central European time zone CET (GMT+1 hour). The summer daylight saving time is from the end of March to the end of October (GMT+2 hours).

Currency

The official currency is the dinar (DIN) and 1 dinar consists of 100 para.
Coins: 50 para, 1, 2, 5, 10 and 20 dinars
Paper bills: 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500, 1000 and 5000 dinars

Currency exchange is performed by:

• all the banks
• all the post offices
• exchange offices

Exchange rate:
1 EUR = 94 din
1 USD = 70 din

All details about Belgrade, you can find on www.tob.co.yu
(Tourist Organization of Belgrade).