Belgrade, Serbia and The Iron Gates

Belgrade and the Iron Gates, May 18-19, 2013

Belgrade is not as beautiful as the other cities we visited but it was still interesting. In the morning we took a bus tour around the city. Our first visit was to Marshall Tito's grave site and museum. Our guide had been a professor at one of the universities in Belgrade and was friends with one of Tito's sons. While the guide understood that Tito was a dictator he was still nostalgic about Tito's reign in power. The then Yugoslavia experienced its most prosperous time while Tito was in charge. Yugoslavia's employment was the highest in Eastern European and the workers wages were the highest. Tito was able to successfully play the U.S. off the U.S.S.R. unlike any other dictator at the time. The grounds surrounding the museum and grave site were lovely and featured many sculptures that had been gifts to Tito. After leaving the park where Tito's grave was located we passed by the St. Sava Cathedral. It is a large cathedral that is finished on the outside but won't be done on the inside for 30 years. We also went past the bombed out remnents of buildings bombed in 1999. The government has been trying to sell these sites to hotel chains but like governments everywhere seem to have a higher expectation for the value of the sites then the private sector. Our next stop was at a hotel near the main shopping area of Belgrade (Serbia). Here we were offered a free drink, an opportunity of use free restrooms and a few minutes of free time to explore. The final stop was at the fortress that overlooked the confluence of the Sava and Danube Rivers. As you can imagine, the fortress had a commanding view of the two rivers which made for great photo opps. We briefly lost Lynda in the fortress as she was geocaching rather then taking our tour.

After lunch we had free time. So, while Lynda and Don napped, Lyn and Tim went back to the shopping area. We were both on the lookout for souveniers. It was a beautiful, sunny and warm afternoon and the "pedestrians only" street was very crowded as were all of the cafes along the street. There were a lot of local artists who were displaying their art work on the street. Tim found some small paintings that he thought would work in the house. Upon returning to the boat he conferred with Lynda and Tim returned to the city center to buy the paintings. Upon actually seeing them Lynda declared that Tim had good taste. Tim knew it all along.

On the Danube River

After dinner we had another folk group on board to entertain us. There were four men and four women to perform what we assume were traditional native folk dances in traditional native costumes. It was a very good high energy show. After the show we sat on the sundeck (moondeck by this time) with a drink and enjoyed the lovely evening and the good local music coming from the bar near our dock while we waited for our boat to leave Belgrade.

On the Danube River

Belgrade, Serbia

Today, Sunday, we have spent the entire day cruising through the iron gates section of the Danube. The term "iron gates" refers to the two dams and three locks that were built on the river back in the 1950's. The dams were built by Romania and Yugoslavia to provide more electrical power for their struggling countries' economies. Unfortunately, there were many villages along the river that were lost when the river level rose almost 100 feet. The scenery during the morning was spectacular; not so much in the afternoon. But it is another beautiful, sunny day on the Danube River and we just sat back and enjoyed it.

St  Sava Cathedral, Belgrade, Serbia