sip drinks, sing badly without musical accompaniment, recite verses... And that’s no wonder, given that e Last Chance was frequented by actors like Pavle Vujisić, Pe- tar Kralj, Dragan Nikolić, Bata Živojinović... Gourmets, on the other hand, prefer to visit Madera, named after a wine from the Portuguese island of Madeira, which was brought by some guest long ago. Back then the menu didn’t offer tiramisu or salmon in peanut cream, as it does today, but diners would still eat well. e bard of Serbian theatre, the late Ljuba Tadić, who was once a reg- ular guest there, could testify to the fact that the tables used to be adorned with free boiled eggs for overcom- ing the effects of hangovers. Also among those who are onto a winner in a spe- cial way at this park are lovers of the mysteries hidden in Tašmajdan’s underbelly. at’s because the rock of the Miocene epoch, which peeked out of the Pannonian Sea more than 13 million years ago, hides a network of cav- erns. e subterranean corridors provide silent testimo- ny to a former stone quarry, as does the name of the park itself, given that “taš” means stone in Turkish and “ma- jdan” means mine. However, long before the arrival of the Ottoman Turks, the limestone was quarried here by ancient Romans, who used it to make the city of Singi- dunum, with its own water supply system, sewers and thermal baths. During the period of Turkish rule, this soft stone was also used to construct the city’s Barjakli Mosque. Testifying to the age of this pliable limestone is a fossilised shell trapped in the wall of the Russian Church that’s situated immediately behind St. Mark’s Church. “During World War I, the corridors of the caverns were utilised as a bomb shelter, while in World War II the Nazi Germans converted it into a secret hideout,” writes Zoran Nikolić, author of the three-volume book series Belgrade Stories, containing interesting facts about the Serbian capital. e sumptuous acoustics of this under- ground space were utilised by choral societies in the peri- od between the wars, adds Nikolić, hoping that what he’s described will soon become a tourist attraction. Even the magnificent Church of St. Mark, which re- sembles Kosovo’s Gračanica, is not without its own mys- teries. e new church took the remains of the murdered Obrenović royal couple from a small temple. “ ey say that Queen Draga was buried in a pink dress, and King Alexander in a tailcoat and with a bow tie,” writes Nikolić, revealing their final eccentricity. As icing on the cake, historians add that the mortal remains of Saint Sava were burned on the Tašmajdan mound of Čupina umka, renamed Vračar in 1595, and not on the site that is called as such today. With an awareness of it- self, Tašmajdan leaves all the glory regarding this issue to Karađorđe’s Park, where the Temple of St. Sava was con- structed as a lasting memorial to this event. And all of this merely scratches the surface of the many layers and stories that have borne witness to Bel- grade and its Taš for centuries. So, come for a visit, and if you’re lucky it might even snow...
Čuvena kafana Poslednja šansa , sa 24-časovnim radnim vremenom sve do 1982, po čemu je i dobila ime Famous tavern The Last Chance, which operated 24-hours- a-day until 1982, which is how it earned its name
poet Desanka Maksimović, immortalised in bronze, writ- er and academic Milorad Pavić, Russian architect Nikolai Krasnov, Serbian Orthodox Church Patriarch Pavle, Don Quixote et al. ere are also Mira Sandić’s climbing frame, Nikola Vukosavljević’s Boar and Jovan Nježić’s Victo- ry, as sculptures that remained behind after exhibitions staged decades ago. Tašmajdan is also the realm of bohemians, with its cafes and taverns. e most famous is certainly the Last Chance, which operated 24-hours-a-day until 1982, which is how it earned its name. When other bars in the city would close for the night, there people would continue to
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