Exiting Belgrade's Castle at its South West end I get the following view:
The following one reads "Concrete boat" in Serbian, mainly because that's what it really is:
It floats on Sava river but I guess doesn't tour much. Besides, it doesn't have to. It's purposed to make money to its owner(s) while locals spend their free time on it.
If you turn your back to the river, disrispectful as it sounds it gives you one more intersting viewing angle to the city with the top of the war museum standing out in the background:
Sava river is not as big as Danube but it's big enough to have a port authority, hosted in this nice building with uninterrupted sunset view:
This building hosts (among others) one of the best restaurants around but the arty touch applied on those stairs caught my eye the most:
No shortage of nice buildings near Branko bridge either:
It's one of the many massive bridges of Sava river and I took a few shots from its least flattering side which is under:
Gives you an idea about the size though. And a view to the next bridge walking South, the old Sava bridge:
Here's Branko again, now from a distance:
While the sun plays seek and hide with the clouds:
I don't complain at all. Not only because the shitty weather of the past days has lowered my expectations dramatically weather wise but it also spares me some sweat while walking in the absence of direct sunlight. Still, thirst knocks the door sooner or later and I think I just found a good way to deal with it:
The following piece shows that an artist found a great way to beautify the old bridge:
That's how it looks from some distance with Branko in the background:
You might have seen this thing in the background of previous images of mine:
It's still in the background but as I get closer it catches my eye even more:
At this point it's clear to me what it looks like:
And as I describe it to my friend, she decides to make it clear to you too:
Did you see it as a bottle upside down too? Once I did I could not unsee it ever since.
I mean...come on...:
It really looks like one right? We're talking about the Belgrade tower:
There's a large construction site around it:
But the "bottle" keeps standing here like this in total ignorance:
The rest buildings around, tall as they are, stare at the "bottle" in awe and envy:
The "bottle" is even taller:
And it's actually more curvy and sophisticated than it looks from far, making it less of a bottle from close. But, as I said, I cannot unsee the bottle 🙂
I finish my beer by the river,
and focus on the tower's details that are not obvious from far. See how different its shape looks from close:
Especially from this side:
Now you can see more bottles in the river than in the shape of this tower for sure:
The rest is muddy but garbage free fortunately:
Time to say goodbye to the ex bottle now tower:
And continue to the rest of the city. The following statue is dedicated to the fallen coast guards during WWII:
And this is the Austrian embassy:
It's pretty close to the French one which, to my surprise, has also named the street (Pariska).
Feels like the heart of Christianism beats in this neighboorhood with the impressive church of Archangel Michael,
and the local patriarchy:
The latter is massive and couldn't fit in just one shot so apologies for the demeaning image. Not that I am religious but I don't like it when things are not put in their real dimensions, literally or metaphorically.
Next block walking South East is the house of Princess Ljubica which today is a museum:
You like peanut? Then you'll like this one:
Seriously now, there's obviously other reasons to like this building, either your taste in Architecture or your love for science in general as Dom Mike Alasa was the house of Mihailo Petrović, Mathematician:
That balcony eh? Wow.
On a much more contemporary note, this is the local shopping center, contradicting the past of the city on the right:
A few steps later the past wins, here at the Serbian Academy of Science and Art:
And when you have such a rich and glorious past even an Adidas store is hosted at a great building like this:
Like so many others around here:
Among the most emblematic squares of the city is the one dedicated to Democracy and named after it where one can see the National Museum:
The National Theater:
And the monument of Prince Michailo Obrenovic:
If this is too much history for you there's plenty of chances to digest it with the help of some grafitti:
That's how I ended my walk around Belgrade, a city which triggered more emotions than I initially expected. Imagine that it gave me so many images worth sharing by walking just a part of it. Thank you Beograd and of course my dear friend Sanda for making my life so much easier spotting the highlights than doing it all on my own as usual.
My Serbian time is far from over though, stay tuned cause there's more to come!
I hope you enjoyed it so far 🙂