Day 7 - Belgrade, Serbia

6-4 Tuesday

from the OAT itinerary:

Day 7:

This morning, we cruise into Belgrade, the capital of Serbia (and former capital of Yugoslavia), one of Europe's oldest cities, and the center of political and cultural life in the country. Belgrade and the rest of Serbia are just now emerging from many years of repressive rule, with a welcoming spirit for visitors.

Enjoy a full morning in Belgrade, beginning with an included tour around this grand old city, which was built centuries ago along important east-west trade routes and used as a gateway to Western Europe from the Balkans. You'll see the Town Hall, St. Sava—the largest Orthodox cathedral in the world—and the Kalemegdan fortress. You also explore the Tito Memorial, erected to honor Josip Broz Tito, who held Yugoslavia together as an independent country in the turmoil that followed World War II and the subsequent Cold War. After your tour, enjoy lunch onboard. Please note: The Tito Memorial is closed on Mondays.

After lunch, explore the city on your own—you'll have a shuttle bus to and from the city available for your use. Your Program Director will have suggestions for various local sights and activities for learning and discovery.

This evening, join a member of the local gypsy community for an Exclusive Discovery Series discussion. She or he will provide insight into what her day-to-day life looks like, the stigma surrounding gypsies, and how some gypsies are breaking tradition and paving the way for a new generation in this dynamic country. Enjoy dinner onboard.

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Second day in Serbia and today we arrived in Belgrad, the capital city.  We could not see anything though when we woke up because we were docked and our window was blocked which had happened before. Breakfast as always starting at 7 am. On the way to the dining room I was surprised that it looked outside as if the weather was going to be nice today. I thought that the forecast wasn’t that good. 

At 9 am we were supposed to be at the bus with the receivers and headsets for the Belgrade city tour. Different buildings and landmarks were pointed out to us but I have the feeling I really don’t need to get into details. 

Roughly 40 minutes later we were at Tito’s memorial. When he died in 1980 he had requested to be buried in what he called his garden or greenhouse. Our local guide was actually very good and it was very interesting. Josip Broz Tito, a communist leader, was a very controversial person. 

Shortly before 11 am we were back in the bus and drove back close to our ship because we wanted to see the Belgrade Fortress. The driving right now seems to be a challenge because there is so much construction going on, even right in front of our ship. 

The bus took us next to the big park which I think was called Kalemegdan. We only had to cross the street. You could get lost in that place. Lots of the buildings are used for different things. We saw museums, tennis courts, basketball courts, a display of army things and even a little park full of different dinosaurs. Our local guide proudly told us that some of the dinosaurs even have motors to move and roar.

This is the Mausoleum of a Turkish Grand Vizier Damat Ali Pasha who was defeated and mortally wounded in the  1716 battle in Novi Sad. We visited that fortress yesterday.

We had a great view of the city, the Danube and the river Sava which flows here into the Danube.  Our ship is actually docked on the Sava. We hurried our visit here because of a great very dark cloud which had moved in. Luckily we stayed dry...

We heard the next day that one of our groups was not so lucky. They got drenched at Tito's place.

Very soon when we were back we were called to the buffet lunch at 1:15pm. We are always served soup first which is always properly hot (temperature) and nice. The buffet wasn’t missing anything. It was interesting and delicious. And “Mohnkuchen” as dessert. It was even labeled as such. German words keep popping up every so often.

We had been told yesterday that there would be shuttle buses for us to be brought into the town’s center and major shopping street. Tickets were free but we had not bothered to get them for us. After having been to the fortress park where the shopping street starts we could have walked there. When we started out it was exactly as the first bus left and since somebody had just returned two tickets we took them and climbed in.  After we were dropped off we just wandered around. The dark cloud was long gone and it was a lovely day. I could have taken many photos. In every city we have been in on this trip we have seen lovely old ornate buildings.

We also have seen some strange "art".

We had some of the local money and decided to “get rid of it”. We found a nice table in the shade. James had a beer and I had a cappuccino which was very nice. 

We found the Cathedral Church of St. Michael the Archangel. The Orthodox cathedral is one of the most important places of worship in the country. Unfortunately we were not allowed in. James had shorts on and we understand that but I had over-the-knees capris on and that should have been alright. Oh well … 

The church was right opposite the stairs (which we were shown several times) to go down if we rather wanted to do that instead of waiting for the shuttle bus. You could see the railing right about in the middle of the photo.

Photos from the top of the stairs.

And from the bottom.

The stairs were really a great short cut and we were back at our ship in no time. Actually it was about 4:40 pm.

We had time to refresh but at 5:30 pm was another “Learning & Discovery lesson”: A young Roma woman (gypsy) had come to talk about the Roma people which have been discriminated agains for centuries. Again, it was very interesting and enlightening. 

At 6:45 pm the Port Talk with dinner following right away. OMG, appetizer, cream of garlic soup, fillet of trout for me today. Oh yes, don’t forget the cheese cake with blackberry sauce.

After dinner Onboard Entertainment: Serbian folklore Dance Group Talija. Quite incredible performance. Now I am in trouble. I took 8 short videos but really don't want to upload them all. I don't think you would be too interested. It took me a while but I managed to squeeze 4:42 minutes into much less.
VIDEO!   (1:25)

Before midnight the ship was on the way again. Captain had told James and me that he had to wait until the dancers where off the ship. Then the officials come and he never knows how long the paperwork would take since tomorrow we will be in another country. We like Captain Titi a lot. Great guy.