| |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
We sailed through
the night passing Croatia on our right and Hungary
on our left. When we woke up at 07:00 we were anchored
outside Novi Sad in Serbia. The customs officers
were on board being entertained and checking our
passports. |
| |
|
|
 We
started breakfast with Geoff and Bridget, but soon
afterwards the ship moved off and we left the table
to watch as we passed the bridges destroyed by NATO
bombing in the recent past. |
 NATO
had bombed the Serbian bridges crossing the Danube
during the recent Balkans war and the Danube had
been closed to river traffic. All the bridges but
one had now been rebuilt with the assistance of
the EU and the Danube was now open to river traffic
once again: we one of the first cruise ships, since
the war, to venture from Vienna to the Black Sea.
However, at Novi Sad there was still a temporary
pontoon bridge across the river, but Serbia and
the EU could not agree how much money was needed
to replace it, effectively closing the river except
at certain times (Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday mornings).
To open at other times cost the ship €100,000.
Our cruise had been timed to pass Novi Sad at the
Sunday morning a whole year ago. We stood on deck
and watched as we passed this political bottleneck. |
|
|
|
| |
Having passed Novi
Sad, we returned to breakfast watching the Serbian
countryside drift past with its pretty fields full
of horses and curious long-horned cattle. |
|
| |
|
|
We went up to the
sun deck to find that at our entry point to Serbia
late the previous night, two Serbian border police
had got on our ship, and they - man and a woman
– were there drinking coffee. We passed a
greeting and the man – police chief sergeant
Petrovitch – started pointing out places of
interest. I found myself chatting to him for an
hour. He proudly pointed out the highlights of Belgrade
as we approached, including the police academy that
he had attended, and the island which had over 400
species of bird. I said that three years ago I could
not have believed I would ever visit Belgrade. "Life
is full of good surprises", he said. Indeed.
"It is a good city. How long are you here for?"
"Half a day", I replied. "Maybe you
will have another good surprise and come back one
day for a longer visit", he said. How times
change.
We docked at Belgrade, dominated
by a white castle (beo–grad = white castle)
and some elegant church spires. |
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
We went to lunch
and had Serbian rice pilau – cubes of pork
in rice with a light tomato sauce. After lunch we
collected our passports (ready stamped with visas
attached) and we got on our coach. Our guide, Ida,
greeted us and said, "First, we drive slowly
to the Castle". The castle is large with a
splendid entrance. It was built to defend Serbia
from the Ottoman Empire. In fact, it was invaded
in [ date]. |
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
From the
top of the hill on which the castle was perched,
we got an excellent view across the confluence
of the Danube and the Siva rivers. |
|
|
| |
|
|
Then back to the
bus. "Now, we drive slowly to the city centre",
Ida told us as we went for a further tour. Much
of the older city is only 19th century but dirty,
drab and not well maintained (possibly this is understandable,
under recent circumstances). Other areas are modern,
dirty and drab and not well maintained. We were
startled to see so many buildings which had been
bombed still un-repaired. Ida pointed out the Ministry
of Defence which had been destroyed by NATO precision
bombing, and the parliament building which had been
damaged by NATO precision bombing as well as a telecommunications
building. We went to the posh part of town with
large houses and flats. Several of those, too, had
been bombed by NATO’s "precision bombs". |
|
| |
|
|
We got the to the
Church of [ ] a Baroque Serbian orthodox building
of little merit apart from an elegant spire. |
|
| |
|
|
Then a longer tour
of the city and drove over a bridge crossing the
Siva to the new town which comprised some 60’s
ugly buildings and some which were more modern,
but none of architectural merit. At the bridge on
our right we passed what looked remarkably like
a shanty town. Did the bombing drive these people
here? Who were they? Ida did not point them out:
she was saying, "as we drive slowly over the
bridge, look on your left to the view." |
|
| |
|
|
As the tour continued
we were in danger of getting Wimbledon neck as Ida
pointed out "as we drive slowly along, on your
left is the Pedagogical Museum" and "on
your right is the Technical Facility of the University"
and so on. |
| |
|
|
Finally we got
to the main square and were invited to the Hotel
Majestic for a free drink. We walked in and left,
put off by the drab 50’s interior, to explore
the centre by ourselves for ½ hour. |
|
| |
|
|
It did not help
that the day was overcast and warm – 22o C
but I was not impressed with Belgrade. It was in
stark contrast with Pecs yesterday – a colourful,
prosperous town with good looking, smiling people.
Belgrade was drab and its inhabitants dour. Back
to the bus and to the ship where, as we arrived,
the sun came out. Maybe it would have been better
if it had been sunny. But I think not.
On the coach, we discussed recent
events in the area and noted how bizarre it was
that only a few years ago we (well, NATO) were bombing
Belgrade and now we were visiting it on holiday.
We all said it was sad to bomb ordinary people in
Serbia and how they suffered. To our surprise, Irina
from Croatia said, "Well, they probably deserved
it". Some way to go then, before complete reconciliation
in the Balkans…
Before dinner, Elisabeth gave her
short talk outlining the highlights of the next
day. She said that we would be passing the famous
Iron Gates at about 06:00 the next morning –
a strategic point on the river which had marked
the boundary of many cultures.
We then changed for dinner which
we shared with Geoff and Bridgit and the doctor
and his partner. Then there was a music quiz, where
Sheri, who was on board with her two sisters and
parents (and who all had promptly been dubbed "the
family") joined us and with her identification
of the tune "Elizabethan Serenade" helped
us win a bottle of Sekt! We then chatted until 23:30
– a very late night! |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
