A Life of Countless Dreams

New Yorkers and other Americans throughout this vast country say that New York City is something else, that it is not the real America but another planet or country with Manhattan at its centre.

By Milorad St. Ilić
Photo by Dušan Drakulić

With a population of nearly eight million, New York City is among the world's largest cities. This megalopolis was borne in 1609 when British trader Henry Hudson founded the Dutch West India Company and began trading through several ports in North America, one of which was present-day New York City harbour.

Seventeen years later, the Dutch attained full domination of this area. At the time, they traded 24 dollars worth of goods with American natives for what is today Manhattan. They christened it the port of New Amsterdam, while the British named it New York in 1664 after the Duke of York.

During the Revolution of 1775, New York City was a large trading centre and an important northern port in the war. In the 19^th century, when the first immigrants began to arrive here, the city already boasted a population of some three million. The immigrants worked hard to help economic development, and ethnic diversity became the city's trademark. To this day, to pass through New York City means to mingle with many different nationalities.

Signs and monuments from many cultures are everywhere. This large city is known for its skyscrapers, museums, theatres and yellow cabs. Manhattan is the cultural and trade centre of New York City. The hallmarks of New York include Wall Street, the Brooklyn Bridge, and until recently the twin towers of the World Trade Center that were destroyed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The Brooklyn Bridge is among the largest and longest bridges in the world, spanning the East River from Brooklyn to Manhattan Island. The city consists of five boroughs - Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island.

The magic of this city is its ethnic diversity. In Astoria (Queens), one can order the best Sarajevo-type ćevapćići, and a few meters away have an ouzo and retsina wine with traditional Mediterranean snacks. At the Academy of Music in Brooklyn, one may watch a Japanese buto theatre performance, and just a few blocks in the DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) area, enjoy a concert by American performance artist Laurie Anderson.

Should one prefer a ride on the water, there is the Staten Island ferry. Board the ferry near Battery Park and head towards the Statue of Liberty, where after circling it, the ferry heads for Ellis Island, the famed historical entry port for immigrants from around the world. Today, it is a museum devoted to immigrants - those who helped build America. Between 1880 and 1920, some twenty-three million immigrants arrived to the United States of America. Vast numbers of them came to this country by disembarking at Ellis Island, the site of the first immigrant reception station where it was decided who to let into the 'promised land'.

The museum walls show photographs of families that arrived from various European countries, including our own. What all these people had in common was the conviction that they would have a better life in America. The dream of a better life to this day accounts for the irresistible charm of this city's spirit.

Jat Airways flies to New York via Hamburg three times a week in cooperation with Emirates Airlines. Jat aircraft depart from Belgrade airport every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at 11:05 a.m.   At the Hamburg airport, passengers spend a maximum of forty-minutes in procedural control of travel documents, and are then directly transferred to the Emirates Airlines company B777 aircraft for the overseas flight. The airplane lands in New York at 5:30 p.m. local time.

Manhattan Island is the best known section of New York City. Some one million people live there and another one million come to work there every day. Walking slowly from Manhattan's southernmost tip - Battery Park - it would take almost an entire day to reach the opposite end at 215^th Street. New York City is easy for getting around, as it is divided into avenues spanning the length of Manhattan, with Streets cutting across it.

New York City's famous China Town is one of the biggest Chinese communities in the world outside China.

This quarter is made up of a series of small streets full of restaurants, shops and vending stalls selling all kinds of goods. One of the best places to lunch is a stand serving tasty noodles. China Town almost imperceptibly transforms into Little Italy, the location of one of the oldest Italian shops in the city selling smoked ham and parmesan cheese. Little Italy borders the East Village, a bohemian quarter, which maintains its image of an immigrant neighbourhood by way of its 'thematic' streets. Thus, Ninth East Street, for instance, is devoted to Poland and the Polish people, one of the neighbouring streets is India street, another is Russia street.

The East Village has the most colourful theatrical life in New York City, on the famed Broadway. Its neighboring quarter is the legendary Soho, full of galleries. However, the ever pulsating visual arts scene has moved to Chelsea, some twenty streets to the west, where artists have moved into storehouses and depots on the docks of the Hudson River. Great media attention in the field of visual arts has been focused on the opening of the renovated Museum of Modern Art, known also as MOMA.

After interventions by a famous Japanese architect, it has become a work of art in itself, an art space fascinating for its spatial solutions. Having paused between touring museums, all roads now lead to Central Park, the heart and lungs of New York City. In addition to its large green areas, Central Park has a lake and numerous sport facilities. Then there is the famous Metropolitan Museum of Art. If one walks the length of Central Park, one would end up in Harlem, the section of New York City with the largest African-American population. Though it once had a bad name due to its high crime rate, it is now known for church masses, jazz clubs with the best music in the world and Sunday brunch, the traditional American breakfast/lunch.

Leaving Harlem and reaching the northernmost point of the island after a whole day's walk, one comes to appreciate that the magic of this city is its enormous variety of life in one place, which allows one to dream the most diverse dreams with open eyes.

Jat Airways New York Office   Jat has been present on the US market since 1971. However, regular traffic was discontinued twice due to the imposition of sanctions (1992-1996 and 1998-2001).   The US is the most diverse market in the world and so it is every air company's ultimate goal to fly to this country. Only the best prepared who show the greatest flexibility in their business policies can survive in this highly competitive market. Jat's NYC office, an offline office, is for the most part involved in Jat ticket sales in combination with air carriers conducting flights to Europe, with Jat connecting flights to Belgrade. The latest arrangement with the Emirates Airline is certainly one of the best products of its kind, as Emirates is at the very top of international air carriers in terms of services provided and punctuality. This is the third appearance of a Jat office in New York It was opened to pave the way towards establishing regular and direct lines between Serbia and the US at a later date, says Zoran Stjepanović, head of the Jat Airways office in New York.