An open-air greenmarket is a good place to visit when you want to catch a glimpse of real life in the city. It is probably the only place where you will see people from virtually all echelons of society rub shoulders together, beggars with bankers, farmers with scholars, as they go about their business navigating through the cluster of highly concentrated market stalls and the noisy crowd. In a greenmarket you can find fresh fruits and vegetables, flowers, meat and deli meats, cheeses, fish, natural honey, teas and herbs, stone ground flour, wild mushrooms, culinary herbs, collard greens, artisan wares, pets and maybe even the love of your life...

The market stalls are located in the triangular square between Maksima Gorkog and Njegoševa Streets, surrounded by many groceries, bakeries, florists. The stall vendors include middlemen reselling imports or produce bought from local farmers. You will easily recognise them because their stalls are laden with very different ware, often out of season. Mingling with them are the actual growers, small farmers, selling their own produce. Their stalls will have related types of fruits or vegetables. For example, a farmer selling his own potatoes or beans will also have only onions and garlic. Growers selling their own carrots will also offer celeriac and root parsley and parsnips.

Feel free to touch, pick, squeeze, pat or sniff the fruits and vegetables. In most European markets, customers are not supposed to touch produce, particularly not with bare hands. But how can you tell if the zucchini are fresh (as in picked that very morning) if you cannot feel their fine prickly hairs? You can ask to try the produce and sometimes even haggle about the price.
The best fruits and vegetables have a delightful fresh scent and they grew in the open, soaking up the sun and rain. Their shapes and sizes may not reflect the picture of perfection, but their taste is great. Stalls are sometimes inherited and most Belgraders have their “own” trusted vendor for each type of produce. If you are visiting for the first time, it is best to walk around and see what’s on offer (sometimes

a reseller will give his ware to the little old lady in kerchief at the stall next to his, hoping she might pass it off as her own). After a while, Belgraders tend to make friends with “their” vendors so the purchase draws out as you linger to hear how the mother-in-law is doing and how the son did in the math test. The market is also a place where you can trade jokes or latest gossips, chatter about politicians and footballers or play a game of chess.

Kalenić offers probably the widest selection of fish and seafood available in Belgrade. The fresh fish is genuinely fresh (most batches arrive on Fridays), and a wild catch will set you back almost double the price of a farmed specimen. If you want fresh river fish waltzed straight from the Danube, or the Sava, you should go to Zemun market, where you can buy fish directly from the fishermen.

At the top of the triangular square, there is a diary hall, a paradise for dairy and deli meats fans. Here you will find traditional delicacies such as kaymak, a large variety of fresh and brined cheeses, made of cow, ewe or goat milk, Užice prosciutto (beef or pork), čvarci - pig cracklings and its subspecies duvan-čvarci - tobacco cracklings (where cooking is prolonged until all fat melts away and what’s left resembles finely chopped tobacco), bacon, sausages, and there is also a section with eggs and poultry, all sold directly by the producers. The best thing is that you can try almost anything on display. There’s no arguing about tastes, but you will not find a nice fatty chunk of cheese at a stall selling kaymak. Watch out as the tiles may be slippery in wintertime. On the outer edge of the market, on Maksima Gorkog Street, you will see a double queue formed in front of a metal kiosk. There they sell loaves of bread and lepinja (round and puffy flatbread) baked in a wood-fired oven. The second-hand clothing and bric-a-brac is to be found in the part of the market under a notice saying “sale of second-hand items forbidden”.

Market working hours: Mon-Sun. 6-20 (winter season 8-16). These are the official working hours, when the market gates are open, but if you wish to see the market in full flourish, best come between 8am and 2pm, and expect the largest crowds on weekends. The parking lot is right next to the market, with the entry from Maksima Gorkog Street, coming from the direction of Krunska Street. Neighbourhood: There is a varied array of cafés and pastry shops in

the vicinity where you can pop into to unwind after a visit to the market. There’s Present patisserie at the corner of Nevesinjska and Njegoševa Streets, with a lovely summer terrace, for those who have a sweet tooth, or Cafe&Factory café if you want espresso or cappuccino every bit as good as they make them in Italy (Nevesinjska 21). They also sell the best mix of traditional ground coffee. Then, there’s Kalenić kafana at the entrance to Mileševska St, if you like to slowly browse the local papers as you sip the traditional coffee brew. For a taste of carefree Belgrade life, there are also Moment and Priča cafés on the nearby Petrogradska St. Pleasant and cool Tegla Bar, at the corner of Krunska and Baba Višnjina St, offers freshly squeezed juices and smoothies .

Bakery Šarlo sells scrumptious breads without additives and the neighbouring "Compania de Vinos" has a good choice of Serbian wines. Steer clear of the bakeries selling croissants made with margarine instead of butter and if you are peckish, go for the best burek in town, to be had piping hot in bakery Čeda, at Mutapova 65. Right next door, you can buy soda water, indispensable for a real white wine spritzer. If you get really hungry, head for "Čubura" at Payton Place for ćevapi and beer. To reach it, take Ivana Đaje Street and turn left at the end, Čubura is across the street, behind the bus stop and taxi rink. The little square on Krunska Street contains a monument to Voyvoda Petar Bojović, a commander of the Serbian Army and liberator of Belgrade in WWI, who lived in the nearby Trnska Street. Several days before the New Year’s Eve, you can buy a Christmas tree at this square.