Day 167: Belgrade

Sept 17 - Drizzly morning, decide to go out early and see what is up at the Trg Republike Plaza, where I saw all the bleachers being set up yesterday. Turns out that is where the Formula 1 race will be held later today.

In the background is the National Museum of Serbia, where we were yesterday.

Well, at least the flags are up. Still isn’t clear if the parade will take place today or not.

Remember seeing barriers set up at the National Assembly building about five blocks away. Head there and begin entering crowds of people, attending the ceremony.

A good opportunity to load up on your patriotic Serbian gear today.

The ceremony at the National Assembly building was a graduation for the youngest army cadets of the Serbian Armed Forces.

It was suitably grim and militaristic, with plenty of army personnel staged all around the area. On this photo, the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, can be seen at the podium.

An example of the abundant graffiti everywhere around Belgrade. We’ve seen a lot of it since Riga in June, but here they just seem to have gone the extra mile.

Plenty of rain as we head west to Kalemegdan Park and Belgrade Fortress. This is a densely historic portion of the city, located on a prominent hill overlooking the confluence of the Sava and Danube Rivers. It is easy to see why it would be an important place for a fortification. Some evidence still exists of a settlement of the Vinca culture (Neolithic), and remnants of the Roman fortifications much later. However, massive leveling on the terrain in 1717-36 by the Austrians destroyed much of what could have been found here. The Ottomans modified and upgraded the structures through the mid-19th Century, until their departure.

The Outer Stambol Gate, called this since it was the main entry from the road to Constantinople. The flag above it is for the city of Belgrade.

Sahat Tower, built after 1740.

A somewhat random display of military hardware is just outside the old walls. The three pieces shown are, left to right, a Panzerkampfwagen (made in Czechoslovakia), a Skoda 47mm Kanon PUV (also made in Czechoslovakia) , and a Leichter Schutzenpanzerwagen (German).

Another view of the confluence, from the western ramparts of the fortress.

The underground entrance to the Roman Well.

A look down the ‘Roman Well’, hosting the water supply that would be necessary in case of siege. Called ‘Roman’ only because everyone knew the original well was very old. The current form was designed by the Austrians in 1717-31. Not the entrances along the walls going down.

Outside of this cylinder is a spiral staircase going nearly to the bottom, which could be used to collect water by hand regardless of the water depth in the well.

A kid-sized turret, where your children can defend themselves from the rain.

Dizdar’s Tower, at the northwest corner of the fortress.

We head to a Venezuelan restaurant, which we haven’t seen yet before on the trip.

It is called, appropriately, Simon Bolivar Restaurant. The dough for the arepas (harina pan) can only be found in parts of western Europe and has to be brought here.

Beaten back to the apartment by continuous heavy rain. We are soaked, and have to dry everything before packing up tomorrow morning.

I hear on the news that in fact, the Pride Parade did take place, despite being banned, though it went just a few blocks and in a different location than originally planned. The ultra-right protesters were there too, a number of them were arrested for throwing stuff and breaking through police barriers. Apparently their version of ‘Christian values’ include attacking paradegoers.

Serbia