It's not an obvious destination, but with one of Europe's best music festivals and blossoming tourism and culinary scenes Serbia's an intriguing place to visit.

It doesn't have the beaches and islands of Croatia and Montenegro, nor a wealth of ancient buildings to be explored. But that's no surprise - Serbia has had a bloody and battered history at the heart of the Balkans since Roman times.

It was cherished by the Romans, before being battled over by, among others, the Huns, Byzantians, Bulgarians, Ottomans and Austro-Hungarians - and that was before the horrors of the 20th century's two world wars.

This history adds to the sense of isolation that enveloped the country, especially after the disastrous reign of Slobodan Miloševic. Despite this there's a real warmth and genuinely cheerful welcome from all the people we meet.

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In Belgrade, despite an improving infrastructure and little evidence of the war that ended less than a decade ago, there are a couple of the bombed-out buildings, including the city centre army headquarters recognisable from television coverage in 1999, that haven’t been repaired and bear stark witness to the recency of the conflict.

One other memory of that time is the reputation of peace-loving youngsters of the day, who partied through the bombing, establishing, literally, the underground dance scene.

We head for lunch in the beautiful Kalemegdanska Terasa restaurant in the Kalemegdan fortress. It's the first of many superb meals, beginning with the obligatory appetiser - rakija, a lethal fruit brandy that comes in many flavours, the favourites being plum ('sljivovica') and apricot. Vidac, our Serbian companion, begins the first of hundreds toasts of 'ziveli' ('cheers' - later, whenever there's a chance of having too much drink and all-night dancing his catchphrase comes out, 'goodbye brain!').

It's clear from the outset that Serbs love their meat, and they do it very very well - perfect steak in pepper sauce, veal stuffed with cheese in red wine sauce. They do vegetables equally well - none of your bland supermarket fare, it's presented on side plates and in simple salads that need no dressing. And all this washed down with a wonderful local cabernet sauvignon. Even in this upmarket restaurant you can have a relatively inexpensive feast, with mains under £10.

Starting our tour in the fortress, the city's Austro-Hungarian defences, our guide, Ðina Dostanic (I'm reliably informed that she's the best in Belgrade), takes us through the gate past Despot Stefan Tower, built in 1405. Inside during darker times this was a no go area, but now it's a gorgeous wooded park.

The views across the city are outstanding, sitting as it does at the confluence of the Danube and Sava rivers. It's this location that has contributed to the city's frequent downfall. Ðina tells me that there's been over 140 wars since the Romans arrived, costing the lives of 6 million people.

The former Yugoslavia sounded like a relatively happy place, with Ðina telling me that they were all middle class and content under Tito, though there's obviously a hard core of nationalists who would disagree. Following Bjork's decision to pull out of EXIT this year because of the anti-Kosovo independence demonstrations, I wade into the debate. Looking at me increduously Ðina explains that Serbs feel that Kosovo has always been part of Serbia, they have ancestral roots there. And she points out that only 50-odd countries recognise their independence.

As a final demonstration of the hard times that Serbia's economy went through under Miloševic, Ðina shows off 'the world's biggest bank note', for the amount of 500 billion dinars and available to purchase at souvenir stalls.

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