Lady Gaga gets a taste for Belgrade
Belgrade has boldly carved a name for itself as a year-round party capital where anything goes and everything is possible.
This is just the type of place for an international superstar to let her hair down.
So it came as no surprise that, when Lady Gaga flew into Belgrade to visit her fiancé Taylor Kinney who is filming there, she was irresistibly drawn to Belgrade’s exclusive dining and clubbing hotspots.
After all, this is a woman who loves to party.
International media has splashed paparazzi shots of Gaga enjoying the best of Belgrade.
She has been pictured enjoying romantic moments with Taylor beside the Danube, leaving restaurants and enjoying cosy drinks. All very cosy, all very managed.
Lady Gaga gets a taste of the Belgrade VIP treatment
What will not be seen are the moments that Gaga and Taylor did not want to share. The times they enjoyed away from the cameras – such as their visit to a strip club.
From the moment Gaga’s SwissAir flight from Zurich touched down at Nikola Tesla Airport, she was in the hands of ringmaster Ivan Agbaba (pictured right), who choreographed her high-gloss experience in the city.
As the well-connected frontman of leading concierge agency Belgrade VIP, Ivan Agbaba has become the city’s go-to person for visiting celebrities, businessmen and oligarchs looking for a truly five-star experience.
Ivan’s reputation for remaining tight-lipped about what the antics of his celebrity charges is why details of Gaga’s trip are so scant and controlled.
When dealing with people for whom discretion is often a luxury that even money cannot buy, that kind of loyalty to a client’s privacy can be priceless.
AirSerbia ensures Gaga can party from Belgrade to London
Lady Gaga has now flown the coop, taking an AirSerbia flight to London for a concert at the Royal Albert Hall and, inevitably, more partying. In Belgrade, the show goes on.
Now that the city’s trademark splavs – river barge bars and clubs – moored along the Danube have opened for a summer of fun, the whole of Belgrade seems to have moved to the river.
For those who prefer to keep their feet on terra firma while enjoying good music and fine food, there are stylish waterside bars and restaurants, such as the gorgeous Iguana, Comunale and Žabar, where Gaga and Taylor enjoyed their second night on the town.
To get the full Gaga experience, a visit to the Toro Latin Bar and some of the city’s glamorous strip clubs would also need to be on the cards. But maybe that would not be to everyone’s taste.
Belgrade tourism numbers on the increase
Like Gaga and Taylor, who have experienced Belgrade’s life after dark, increasing numbers of tourists from the UK, Europe and the US have seen that this is a city that loves to party.
No wonder then, that the Belgrade Tourism Organisation makes such a song and dance about the city’s entertainment credentials. It seems to be working, too, with inbound tourism up 15 per cent.
Unlike other cities that shy away from attracting planeloads of revellers keen to drink themselves silly in bars and clubs, Belgrade is unafraid of welcoming partygoers with open arms.
The city’s own figures show that the top five tourist groups visiting Belgrade are from Croatia, Germany, Slovenia, Turkey and Bosnia.
In 2014, 16,344 tourists visited from the UK – significantly up on the previous year.
Of course, not all of these visitors will have spent their time clubbing or rubbing shoulders with celebrities. Increasing visitor numbers are from the international business and conference community, who usually have other things on their minds.
As anyone who has visited the city can testify, though, Belgrade caters for all tastes.
But in the summer, hedonism is all the rage. Cue Gaga.
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