Down By The River: Belgrade
With this sun shining brightly, we couldn’t help but have Bailey’s and Coffee on our own balcony. This gave us time to plot out the day. Since we have so much time in the area, we really don’t have to rush through… which is nice. We are finding that there are special neighborhoods tucked into side streets in the heart of the city.
We took a different route today…turns out we have passed by this little spot tucked between two streets we often pass by. There were many shops and small restaurants. My favorite was the owl typewriter! Double keys… letters from two languages. My photos really don’t do this neighborhood justice…
Everywhere we go, the maps take us through Knez Mihailova… the pedestrian shopping area. Maps apps take us all different ways to start, so we think we are going somewhere new… but lo and behold, we end up walking the same route. This time was no different. At least it gives us a chance to take notice of the changing leaves…
Visiting the Belgrade Fortress was quite an experience. From the pedestrian area, we walked straight into the park. My first impression from what I could see, was a sense of peacefulness. Grassy areas lined with benches, statues and monuments honor Serbia’s rich history. This is a well-used area.. families, couples, writers, readers, people watchers. Vendors strategically placed, offered trinkets and light snacks. We took our time through this treasure… munching on popcorn purchased from a kind local gentleman.
So much energy! These young ones ran circles around their teachers! As we approached the popular observation area, we noticed the bright yellow jackets. No toys, no technology… just simple play. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen kids be kids in such a free and joyful manner. No gonna lie… I sat and watched them enjoy each other for quite a bit of time. No fights, no boredom… pure happiness in the sunny outdoors!
Currently under massive construction, the park and fortress areas remained serene. Kalemegdan Park comes from two Turkish words: Kale=Fortress and megdan Battlefield. This park is made up of several sections… from the lazy, grassy areas to museums to a zoo. The landscape is incredible despite the “improvements” being done.
Wow! A bird’s eye view… this is where the Sava River meets the Danube River. For many year’s I have heard of the Danube River, but until today, I didn’t realize how many countries this river travels through! Here’s the list: Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova and Ukraine. Impressive! We attempted to find a river tour just to see it from the water, but we couldn’t locate one. We have not given up!
Usually, I am the one holding up touring by constant photo taking. Not today… It was fun watching Barry enjoy the sights! We were shutterbugs trying to capture the beauty our eyes were taking in. The fortress wall was impressive, the river with the city buildings in the far background caught our attention. Fun photo day!
We were slightly caught off guard to come across this Jurassic Park area. Giant replicas of many dinosaurs placed throughout a little park area. With this being mostly dedicated to the history of Belgrade, it definitely caught our attention.
In close proximity to the dinosaurs, was a tennis court… of course, it seemed to fit in the park setting more. The fortress walls lining the courts made it a unique setting. When we passed by, we noticed a boy having a tennis lesson. When we passed by later in the afternoon, there were seven or eight young boys enjoying a lesson. Perfect day to be outside playing!
The vast grounds had so many treasures! Around every corner, we found something new and amazing. This is the gift that keeps on giving!
Also inside the park/fortress is a Military Museum. It was closed for the day but the outside had quite a collection of artifacts. We really wanted to go into the “Torture Instruments” portion of the museum! By the way… on a side note… every night, as I organize pictures and add them to my post, loud singing can be heard below. We are eight floors up! It’s the same voice… night after night…
More from outside the Military Museum. The equipment was interesting and the setting amazing!
In the mood for coffee, we went looking. There are a few places to get a cup on the grounds. From our vantage point, it didn’t look open so we took a few more photos and headed down toward the river.
Before we took a slight detour from the park (there is MUCH more beauty to see), I had to stop to photograph the patch of roses. With all the greenery on the grounds, the splash of red really stood out. So, snap, snap, snap…
Through the park, down the stairs, down the train tracks for a bit, we ended up on a cobbled pathway. We then crossed over a bridge than ran along the Sava River, heading toward the Danube. (By the way, I couldn’t stand it any longer…I had to find out who was singing! As I mentioned above, we have heard singing night after night. The first time we heard it, we thought it was a drunk guy… after hearing it nights in a row, I had to know. Turns out, it is a street performer! He sings hoping passersby will toss him money! So… another mystery solved!)
Life along the river. We saw many fishing… a solo guy, a family… and then there we saw the house boats. Many of these boats were transformed into restaurants with living quarters. I’ll have to read reviews before I try one but they do intrigue me.
The other night, I was sending messages back and forth with my friend Tanja. She’s originally from Serbia and has been a wealth of information! Suggestions of things to see, restaurants and just hints on getting by in this beautiful city have been extremely helpful. On Saturday, she mentioned a place called Lafayette. It looked quite crazy.. live entertainment, cocktails… quite the nightlife. We figured we would track down this club later in the week. Looking for coffee, we saw a restaurant on the river and sat down at a table with a perfect view. As soon as I looked at the menu, I had to laugh! It was the exact restaurant Tanja told us about!
Our plan was to have coffee but we ended up with this… incredible eggs benedict for me! Barry had the Monte Cristo… On mine, instead of ham, the meat was a baked Prosciutto. Delicious! And then….
After Tanja told us about Serbia’s obsession with desserts, we couldn’t say no when the waiter asked us if we wanted any. So we looked at the menu and ordered something out of our wheelhouse… to split. WOWZER! This was more than a dessert… it was a work of art. Fraise Au Chocolat was a baked chocolate mousse with strawberry jelly, ruby mousse and mint ice cream. It was sprinkled with pistachios and dried strawberries. What an unexpected taste sensation. We are ruined!
Time to walk off our feast! Back to the fortress… spectacular entering it from this side. We thought of trying out the drone here but not until we check the local laws. We have found restrictions in many places. One never knows…
I can never get enough of historical rock structures! Just amazing to realize these structures are where the military protected the people during battles in the past. So much to learn about Serbia’s wars from long ago and more recent. On our walk up the path, we noticed an opening which led to a restaurant. It looked like the steps led down to seating but as we turned the corner and got a better vantage point, we realized it was a rooftop eatery. That would have been fun!
To end today’s post (not the end of our day, but the end of the post), Church Ruzica! This is the oldest church in Belgrade… unique in that there are chandeliers made of ammunition and the swords of officers. One of the interesting facts I read about this church is that many of the soldiers who fought to defend Belgrade during World War I, took Communion at this very church. They died shortly after in the trenches by the river and were buried in a grave under Jaksic Tower, near to the church. My friend who is helping us around Serbia is a Jaksic… knowing there is a family relation makes this all the more exciting to explore!
Until tomorrow…
