The European country that disappeared in the ’90s still lingers here

Do things really go better with… Cockta?

I’m holding a bottle of this soft drink, bought from a service station in the Novi Beograd district of Belgrade, Serbia. Similar in colour to cola, it’s an amalgam of herbs, lemon juice and orange juice. It’s also a surviving relic of the former communist nation of Yugoslavia, having been invented in 1952 as an answer to Western soft drinks.

I take a sip and wince – the herbal flavour takes some getting used to – as I walk alongside Marija Miladinovic, my guide on a tour of the now-vanished Yugoslavia. We pause on the edge of a broad lawn to gaze at an impressive sprawl of white buildings between the road and the Danube River. It’s as close as we can approach for security reasons, says Marija, and indeed I can see a long line of police vehicles guarding its perimeter.

Known as the Palace of Serbia, this H-shaped government complex was once the Federal Executive Council, the administrative hub for the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Completed in 1959, it was the centrepiece of President Tito’s communist regime, breaking with the traditions of the monarchy it had replaced.

Viewed from a distance it’s an attractive building, covered with white marble from Brac Island in Croatia. The interior is bright and modernist, says my guide, with each country of the former federation having had its own specially decorated room. There was also a big nuclear shelter beneath, she adds.

What a pity we can’t see inside, but I am receiving a glimpse into the futurism that was part of socialist Yugoslavia. Not that the past could be entirely ignored; our first stop of the tour was the former Sajmiste fairgrounds, which became a concentration camp under Nazi occupation. Now, after decades in obscurity, one of its surviving towers is being turned into a memorial.

We return to our vehicle: a Yugo, another relic of the past. Sold locally as the Zastava, this was a “national car” with parts from each of the six Yugoslav republics. Launched in 1980 as a diminutive hatchback, it’s nowadays a focus of nostalgia.

With Marija at the wheel, the Yugo takes us to the Hotel Jugoslavija, a massive structure which opened in 1969. It’s hard to believe, but this weathered grey hulk was once extraordinarily stylish. Close to the executive buildings, it attracted international business and governmental guests and thus was a hotbed of intrigue.