Weather might have gotten better but don't make the mistake it's just a normal Spring. I still schedule my excursions based on the dry slots of the week. And they are far from plenty. At least the rain gives me plenty of time to focus on cooking and my last one resulted to the following omelette:
That's rucola in case you wonder about the green bits and the white ones are blue cheese. Mushrooms are obvious to spot.
So, on this dry exception of the weather I can't miss the chance to walk around Belgrade, especially since my dear old friend Sanda is willing to show me around. Our meeting point couldn't be other than her sweet cafe near Belgrade's castle, hence conveniently located:
And yes, a price list like the one behind is very hard to be found in a European capital, I can vouch for Athens at least.
We walk past the local zoo where the smell is not exactly like the dodgiest blocks of Marrakesh but enough to answer you what's in there. There's more than enough green around to sweeten the impressions though:
And interesting buildings hiding behind the fence and the vegetation:
As you can see we have reached the fortress already which today is the local parking lot:
We pass Leopold's gate and this next shot is at Zindan Gate which, as you can see, is getting some maintenance:
Here's the fortress view right before Despot's Gate:
And here's the gate itself with the Castelian Tower on the right:
You can already tell by the amount of fortifications and gates the importance of this thing and the bloodshed of the whole area through the years.
Here's a few shots from the bridge of that gate:
Just in cased you missed which gate you're at:
From the first step after the gate the massiveness of fortification is beyond obvious:
However, it's not all grey and fortified. As the visitor walks further inside it looks more like a green park, and actually a nice one, which is a hopeful, if nothing else, sign about mankind's evolution:
Now brace cause I am about to show you what one can see over these walls:
What a contradiction to see the legs of that girl laying on the wall carelessly enjoying this superb view compared to what people experienced here in the bloody (literally) medieval years.
There's Ottoman bits here too like this one, the Mehmed Pasha Fountain:
The view behind these walls of course remains impressive:
And the Ottoman bits still remain hence the name of the Defterdar Gate:
Now brace again for the view one can get after exiting that gate:
The local Cultural Monument Protection Institute is an outstanding building:
It's also different than anything else around which helps it stand out. Plus the fact that the sun is on my side highlighting its beauty.
Let's have a break from the sun and the walking - see you on the next part!