Welcome to Belgrade! Of note as we start this entry, congratulations to my father who has just arrived in his 50th country visited!!! It was nice to offer him a small congratulations at breakfast as we enjoyed our usual assortment of omelets, coffee, cheese, and locks. I do hope we can find an opportunity for a nicer toast this evening – possibly with our spoils from trivia the other night!
As usual, we set out on our morning excursion for an 8:30 departure. Unfortunately, security precautions in Serbia are higher than the other countries we’ve visit so far, so we had to be wary of pickpockets while also traveling with our passports. But that aside, we boarded a bus to take a “Panoramic Tour of Belgrade.” Our guide was terrific, living locally and interweaving personal stories with the historical significance of the locations that we passed. With the overall purpose of “turning around” we were first brought by bus through a local square that had a palace on nearly every corner! This was apparently one of the few areas of the city that has not been leveled frequently due to rotating invasions. Apparently the majority of the city has been leveled and rebuild over twenty times at this point!
The bus dropped us off on the outskirts of Belgrade Castle in Kalemegdan Park. As a
While most of the setting was in ruins, the wall foundations throughout multiple eras of history all stood visible. We could see the original rectangular foundations and the more recent star-shaped walls. Ramparts included both circular and square turrets to mark different time periods. I particularly enjoyed passing through each wall, and their original doors. The doors themselves were marred with bullet holes and cannonball dents to note their historical significance. I wish I could have gotten a picture of these, but the doors were black and poorly lit so none of this was evident. As we approached the high ground of the palace we both saw and were told about why this land was so important, and also why this country has been devastated by war just so many times.
Specifically, it lies on the high ground at the junction of the Danube and the Sava rivers; on one side stood the Roman Empire and on the other the Ottoman Empire; and two religions at odds no less. Seeing how the history and the landscape came together was so cool!
Our next stop was the Church of St. Sava, a modern Catholic Cathedral completed in 2004. It is, massive, awe-inspiring, and gorgeous. As we listened to our guide explain it’s construction and practices, we learned much about local culture as well as catholic religion. But the building itself was stunning! The domed ceilings were high and wide,
the floor was beautifully and seamlessly marbled, the mosaic wall murals were huge and stunning, and more. We heard about the efforts to get different marbles from different regions, about how the mosaics were assembled offsite and transported here … with millions of tiles! And we learned about just how big the domes were! This building was glorious in every way and well-worth a stop when visiting.
Other than a brief siting from the bus of the Parliament Building, this was the end of our morning tour. We returned to the sip for lunch and a nap, before heading out again around 2:00 for an afternoon excursion, this time to the Nicola Tesla museum. This museum was small, but well worth the visit. Our time there began with a video presentation that over-viewed the history of Nicola’s life. We learned about his childhood, his mentors, his education, his impacts and inventions. In 15 minutes I felt
like I’d heard an hour of information! We then got a demonstration of some replica’s of his devices including the “Big Tesla Tower” famously just called the Tesla Coil, as well as some of his smaller induction engines. In the demonstration of the Tesla Coil, we all held one end of fluorescent light bulbs and they lit up as the electricity was transmit through the air, the bulbs, us, and finally to the ground.
Beyond that the museum was – as I said – small. It had effectively 3 rooms. (1) The video presentation and his invention replicas. (2) His personal effects – apparently his family and relatives worked hard to donate any/all of Nicola’s personal effects to this museum. (3) his ashes, preserved in a bronze, sphere urn that was molded around his ashes so it cannot be opened. It was a small museum and well worth 1-2 hours of a visit!
At last it was time to return to the ship for a quiet evening. It included a rest, I was able to “spruce up” the room-bouquet that I made, dinner, and of course, a congratulatory toast to my father and his 50th country.
Nautical Term of the Day: Button Boy
“Another term used on English Naval sailing ships. When the ships were either leaving ports or arriving, the sailors would be situated throughout the rigging on the main masts. On the top of the mainmast was a very small circular platform (the ‘button’). The youngest sailor was required to climb to the top and stand on the platform, with only the upright rod to hold. He was the ‘button boy.’"
