Kirke left early on Sunday morning, while Hanna and I still had one more day to spend in Belgrade. We decided it would be a much more relaxed one, without fighting and parties and tons of have-to’s. It was a hot day, clammy – but we covered our heads with scarves and packed our bags full of water bottles, and then we went out into the sunshine.
One of the main tourist attractions in Belgrade is the mausoleum of Marshal Tito. Josip Broz Tito held many of the highest positions in the Yugoslavian state between the 1940’s until his death in 1980. On the grounds of the Museum of Yugoslav History, the House of Flowers is an old summer residence of Tito’s, where he requested to be buried.
It is a weird thing, a mausoleum. Everyone talks about Tito in the former Yugoslavian countries, he is still very much loved and his time as leader of the country is seen as the glory days of the Balkans. So I guess, with that in mind, it’s not hard to understand that they’ve wanted to honor him with a place like this. But to make it into a museum? For me, that feels kind of morbid.
Next to the mausoleum, this exhibition of relay batons covered the wall and showcases of an entire room. Apparently, it was something that people sent to Tito on his birthday. Weird tradition.
After that, we walked into town.
Greetings from NATO. A memento of the bombings right next to the central train station.
St. Mark’s Church.
Inside, it was cool and dark, the icons painted with gold.
The street Skadarlija is one of the main tourist attractions in Belgrade. Apparently, it’s supposed to be the ‘bohemian quarter’. And it is possible that it once might have been, but now it’s a street lined with restaurants serving food from photo illustrated menus. That is, dense with tourists. It didn’t feel very genuine at all.
But we continued our walk, and ended up seeing some pretty cool streets, where walls were covered in graffiti and the plaster was wearing off. Our goal was the botanic garden, which showed as a green spot on the tourist map – but when we arrived at the main gates, we were met by a large sign written in Serbian, but with a big EU logo at the bottom. I’m pretty sure what it said was that the garden was being renovated, funded partially by the European Union. So, I didn’t get to go to the Belgrade Botanic Garden. Well, maybe it wasn’t such a great loss. I’ve been to a couple botanic gardens before.
After that, Milena called and we decided to meet up with her at Ada Ciganlija.
Ada Ciganlija is the artificial island in the Sava River that creates a lake, which in turn is surrounded by beaches, boardwalks and bars. Tons of people come here, especially on sunny weekend afternoons. A favorite spot for Belgradeans to spend their leisure time. From the northern tip of the lake, the Ada Bridge is in plain view. It is a magnificent bridge. Really beautiful.
The beaches around the lake were packed. We met up Milena and two of her friends for lemonade and then took a walk around the lake, eating ice cream and talking about the Serbian Orthodox church, hidden architectural gems of Belgrade, Novi Beograd and Balkan food. It was a very enlightening walk, which concluded with us getting a ride in Milena’s friend’s Yugo (a tiny car model, from what I hear a very Yugoslav piece of machinery). The perfect ending to a very exciting and intense visit to Belgrade.
Katja Malmborg 