• WendyTravelsDanube cruise & IstanbulTraveler
    Friendship with France outside Belgrade Fortress (apparently they helped with their WWII orphans).Entry to Belgrade FortressSava and Danube Rivers confluence1Prince Michael pedestrian streetInteresting all the concerts and events they'll have, including a smaller Expo.1This dog just insisted on enjoying the sunshine!Republic Square with Prince Michael who saved Serbia in 1867.Moscow Hotel, apparently the oldest and still one of the nicest.St. Sava temple, built between 1935 and 2004.250-60 million mosaics built by 150 Russian artists weighing 320 tons and covering 160,000 feet.Love us a mosaicRussian icon holders given to the temple (multiple throughout)St. Sava church - the "neighborhood" one.Frescos in the church.Iranian embassyJosip Broz TitoSome of the more ancient gifts given to him (Greek helmet, 400 BC).1Tito and his wife's mausoleum in the House of Flowers; his death was quite the big world event.1Pubic transportation experts!Intentionally left as reminder of the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia.Victor monument; placement was controversial because he's nude.

    Belgrade, Serbia

    March 24 in Serbia ⋅ 🌙 54 °F

    I don't think we knew what to expect from this capital city of 1.2 million. It's like drinking from a fire hose to learn all this history, and Serbia certainly is - as our guide put it - "complicated." It's one of the oldest continuously-inhabited cities (8000 years) due to its position at the Sava and Danube Rivers. Way back to the Celts and Huns and Romans and well, just about everyone. In addition they are Serbian Orthodox - not Catholic, not Russian or Greek Orthodox - and have preserved that for over 500 years through the Hapsburgs, a bunch of border changes, WWI and WWII, communism, and present day. 1 million Yugoslavians were killed in WWII (they weren't on Hitler's side) and then through Tito's communism run, Slobodan Milosevic, and NATO bombing of the city when there was ethnic cleansing going on. What a history!

    Our walking tour and guide were amazing, through Prince Michael street (Serbian Christmas ornament!), to the 18th century Belgrade fortress (pretty mundane and "new"). Belgrade is translated in Slavic, "white city" or "white fortress." We then got a bus city tour (these bus drivers are amazing) to the St. Sava temple until we got back to the ship for another lunch on the sun deck.

    Then we braved the free public transportation system with the help of Google Maps to get to the Museum of Yugoslavia. (They still use that term liberally despite there not being a Yugoslavia anymore as it was split up.) On the way to the entry we saw the Iranian embassy with their flag at half-mast and a sign outside with pictures of dead children. 😬

    The museum should be called the Tito Museum because it was all about him - things he'd been given by other countries and some commentary on why the country went communist as well as his mausoleum. Apparently Tito and Stalin weren't pals so they did Communism on their own. That may explain why the US and other Western countries cozied up to them (we gave them all sorts of things like the key to Los Angeles, moon rocks, etc.) to keep the Soviet Union at bay.    Read more