Belgrade Serbia

We have been in Serbia for the past couple of days, in the capital of Belgrade. This is a country which was part of the former Yugoslavia and has only had peace here for the past 16 years.  In 1999, NATO bombed this country which was under the rule of Slobodan Milosevic because of human rights abuses in this country.  The country is not part of the European Union but is currently under consideration.

They have suffered through both World Wars like most of Europe. Serbia was a communist country under Russian rules and it was very interesting today to get this history and the perspective of our local guide. We toured the Belgrade Fortress which had some pretty spectacular views.

Next we went to the St Sava Cathedral, that has been under construction by the people of Serbia since the 1930's. Building is being funded only by the people here so it is taking time, and interruptions first with World War II, then the communist occupation and finally the 10+ years of Milosevic rule, the church is still not completed.

We then drove around Belgrade to the palace here in the city.  Along the way we went past some of the buildings that were hit by NATO bombs in 1999 that still have not been repaired.

We then had a couple of hours to spend in downtown Belgrade and discovered the pedestrian shops. Had a bit of lunch then rested back at our hotel for a bit.  Later this afternoon we headed to the small town of Topola, birthplace of the Serbian revolution against the Ottoman Turks. We checked out  orthodox church of St George. Inside this church the walls and ceilings are completely covered with tile mosaics that were incredible.

 

The presidents have lived in this town for hundreds of years, and we got to tour one of the modest presidential homes. Inside were some artifacts and we discovered this amazing historic item, the actual document that the president received from Austria declaring War. This was the document that announced the start of World War I.

Dinner was at Arandjelovac, another small town in the countryside for a traditional Serbian dinner.

Tomorrow we leave Serbia and travel to Bulgaria.