Day 14 – A visit to Zemun (Friday 26th April 2024)

We’ve got the whole day to explore Belgrade at our leisure today. Ivana proposed a visit to the village of Zemun on the banks of the Danube, just across the Sava river from downtown Belgrade. Our first experience on the Belgrade public transport system was about to begin. With our all-day transport passes in hand, kindly provided by Ivana, we set off on a bus for Zemun. Belgrade is the only large European city to not have a Metro. The locals rely upon trams and electric buses, drawing their power from overhead wires just like the tram does, to get them around their city. The ticket was cheap – 190 Dinar ($AUD2.50). There are plenty of trams and buses trundling up and down the streets on a regular schedule. Some of the trams are very new while an equal number are very old having been donated by the Swiss people when they refreshed their own network many years ago. Electric buses are the go in Budapest too, by the way.

Zemun is not actually a separate little town, more-so an enclave within Belgrade. The charm of this place is its quiet, little cobble-stoned streets, its central market square, its hilltop fortress dominated by a 50m high tower and its open air cafes down on the banks of the Danube.

 

 

After the climb up the tower for a wonderfully panoramic view of Belgrade across the Danube the group wandered down to a water-front cafe for a much needed coffee. The poor chap waiting on the tables was inundated and overwhelmed a when our group of fifteen descended upon his lovely little shaded terrace. He did a great job getting everyone’s coffees organised in a timely fashion and expressed his appreciation for our custom. By now it was a fabulous, blue-sky day, the cold weather clothes were gone and the short-sleeves and hats were getting an airing for the first time. Bewdiful!! Our gallant waiter was still recovering from our coffee onslaught when it was time for us to move on. It quickly became apparent to Ivana that the poor chap would nit be able to cope with preparing, dispatching and receiving payment for multiple separate bills so she stepped in to save his day and paid all the bills on our behalf. What a angel!

One hundred metres down the promenade we made our next stop at a restaurant for lunch. We were the only patrons but soon filled the place with lots of chat and laughter. The food was good, the wine was good and the company was excellent. Today was a special day – it was Dennis’ birthday. After we’d all finished our meals the waiter appeared with a little cake and candle next to Dennis who, unbeknown to him, had been placed at the head of the table when all sat down for lunch. We sang arousing rendition of “Happy Birthday” before tucking into a selection of little cakes and slices that had been placed on the table. Organised by Polly, I think! Very yummy cakes, indeed. Everyone got into the spirit of the occasion and set aside any crazy ideas about diet and “healthy eating”. Sometimes “healthy eating” means eating for the health of the soul!

A magnificent lunch done, we assembled back on the promenade. Some were keen to walk it off so headed off along the river back to town – a walk of about 90 minutes. The rest of us had some places we wished to visit back in the city so elected to catch the bus. I must make an observation on the skyline of Belgrade at this juncture. The city has a bit of a mish-mash of architectural styles – some well preserved 19^th century buildings, some not so well preserved, some 1960-70 abominations, and a small handful of skyscraper scattered here and there. Also dotted throughout the streets are literally half-destroyed multi-storey buildings, apparently the victims of terror attacks and the like in previous decades allowed to stand there half falling down with no intention of letting a wrecking ball finish the job. But the buildings that take the prize are the horrible, grey, twenty-five storey communist-era housing blocks that letter the skyline. Belgrade is not a city of tall buildings so these monstrosities are made even more apparent.

 

Our bus came, we boarded made our way a few kilometres along the road back to the city…. and stopped. Into a huge traffic jam we had landed. Being in public transport didn’t help as we had to share the road with the cars. No bus lanes here! Ivana took an Executive Decision and we all jumped off and began the long walk back to the hotel, along with hundreds of other frustrated passengers who had to be somewhere else already. It’s actually always fun to walk through cities in this manner, far away from the well-worn tourist paths. I reckon you get something of a sense of “real life” in the city. After we’d crossed the green steel arch bridge (like a mini Sydney Harbour Bridge) the traffic congestion eased so we took a bus again for the next couple of stops – minus the Birthday Boy. In his eagerness to get home Dennis had prematurely boarded the wrong bus! But he was misplaced for only a short while as he had quickly realised his predicament and got off at the next stop.

Kerry, Mel and I were keen to visit the little museum honoring the life of the great Serbian inventor, Nikola Tesla, the man who discovered alternating current, just a couple of blocks from the hotel. It’s a very small museum with original artefacts from his life and some items which were created by others as a direct results of his inventiveness. Quite a remarkable man and quite fitting that his name be at the forefront of the world’s shift to full electrification. If you can believe the story related to us during the presentation, Tesla foresaw mankind’s insatiable hunger for more power and spent the latter years of his life advocating for the sensible and judicial use of it.

As the day was drawing to a close and the city was beginning to light up (thanks Nikola!!) we walked over to the splendid St, Sava Orthodox Church. A massive and magnificent building standing on a high-point overlooking the old town. The interior is just too beautiful to describe. Hopefully the pictures will do some sort of justice to the masterpiece created by the countless artisans who built her.

We strolled home past the wonderfully lit fountain in the centre of Belgrade’s Slavija Square, a huge roundabout that would rival the roundabout upon which the Arc de Triomphe sits for size. Night had now fallen so we grabbed Rob and sat out in the street in a nearby bar for a well earned beer.