Our guide Bojana is not happy, as a shuffling stream of tourists, all chattering madly, interrupt her explanation of Yugoslavia’s great war hero, Marshall Tito.

“Get yourself a local guide,” she protests.

We are at Tito’s tomb, known as the House of Flowers, and our guide, holding her pole bearing the Aussie flag, is proud of Belgrade and her country. Visitors should get the right information, she believes passionately, and show respect at a mausoleum.

Our group is getting the insider’s view of Serbia’s capital, delivered with panache and enthusiasm. We move on, listening intently to our handsets, our “whispers”, as they are known. Eager for more, as long as we can sit down soon.

Just a day earlier, the features of Belgrade that stand out, as our plane comes into land, are the historic River Danube snaking through it and the phalanxes of apartment buildings marching to the horizon.

We soon learn the river cruises disgorge hundreds of passengers into the welcome embrace of its historic sights and its numerous restaurants, cafes and bars each day, and its vibrant construction industry is keeping pace with its population.

After decades of nazi and communist oppression, the Yugoslav civil war and NATO bombing, Serbia is slowly coming out of the cold.

Belgrade, central to the Yugoslav civil war, has been politely avoided, but no longer. More than 150 river cruise ships stop there numerous times during the warmer months, and WA’s Travel With Me includes Belgrade as a jumping off point for its Hidden Balkans tour.

These groups offer a chance to explore the city beyond its communist-era concrete monoliths and dig down into its Skadarlija Bohemian quarter, with its cobbled streets, traditional restaurants and live Serbian music, and galleries and museums.

I am pleasantly surprised at how my adventurous co-travellers, retired women mostly, set off around the city with their cameras and build a kaleidoscope of images to fill the tour’s Facebook page.

This electronic record developssa life of its own as the tour progressed, a sort of group history that provides a distinct picture of where we have been.

But history is everywhere in the Balkans, and nowhere more so than in this city which began with the Celts in the 3rd century BCE. Excavations for new construction work have unearthed Roman aqueducts that ran for 50km, as well as dinosaur skeletons.

In fact, Serbia has the greatest Roman legacy outside Italy, with 17 Roman emperors born there. Felix Romuliana, a UNESCO World Heritage Palace, is one of the best-preserved Roman complexes built in Europe.

Its position at the junction of the Danube and Sava rivers, and astride a modern highway linking northern Europe with Athens, has only recently guaranteed Belgrade’s place as a bustling city able to show off its rich traditions.

Belgrade is one of the oldest continuously occupied cities in Europe. Its name means White City, after the colour of the high city walls of the Kalemegdan Fortress when seen from the river.

Its museums reflect this history, as well as the communist era under Marshall Tito, a war hero who died just before the totalitarian grip on Eastern Europe crumbled.

Our guide “Bo” has an enthusiasm and love for her subject that takes all our energy and concentration.

The ruins of buildings that were bombed by NATO warplanes in 1999 during the conflict over neighbouring Kosovo are still standing in disrepair, as a reminder. Serbs consider Kosovo to be part of their homeland, which they defended against the Turks with great loss of life.

Driving south, the city of Nis offers a chance to explore the long history of conflict with the Ottoman Empire, which ruled here for five centuries. The tower of skulls and the minarets are a reminder of how Islam dominated this part of Eastern Europe.

We stop for a traditional meal at a local restaurant in Nis. The farms appear to be small, family-run enterprises, but the soil is rich and dark, and the produce in the markets plentiful and cheap.

In European terms, Serbia is inexpensive and well worth exploring for a few days.