We made our way from Vukovar back to the ship around 5:00 pm in time for a Croatian Tamburica Band performance. For such a small country, the diversity and richness of Croatian folk music is incredible. Each region has its own style and traditions, depending on what culture Croatia came into contact with over history. Croatian folk music uses a variety of instruments – percussion and wind but the most popular is the is the stringed tamburica. What is central to all of the styles is that they tell stories and express the feelings of their ancestors.
Typically, Viking sails at dusk and pulls into the next port city sometime during the early morning hours. This evening was no exception; Houdini cast off around dinnertime and docked at Belgrade, Serbia at three in the morning without a bump in the night.
After breakfast we took the included shore excursion, and yes it was called, “Panoramic Belgrade”. A fascinating mix of modern and ancient, Belgrade is also a very hilly city. Belgrade means “White City”. It has had around ten names over the centuries. As each conqueror claimed it, he immediately changed its name. Some of the names have been Belgrad, Gello Grado, Alba Urbs, Alba Graeca, Griechisch Weissenburg, Nandor Fehervar, Nandor Alba and Castelbianco yet each one described its beauty and whiteness, referring to the color of the stone from which it was carved. The first known mention of Belgrade is in a letter from Pope John VIII to the Bulgarian Emperor Mihail Boris on April 16, 878. The only Serbian word commonly known around the world is vampire. More later when we reach Romania.
Interestingly enough Serbia and Croatia share a common language. In 1954, major Serbian and Croatian writers, linguists and literary critics, signed the Novi Sad Agreement, which stated: "Serbs, Croats and Montenegrins share a single language with two equal variants.” The agreement insisted on the equal status of Cyrillic and Latin scripts. So, Serbia and Croatia speak the same language with one major difference. Serbian is written in Cyrillic, Croatian in Latin script.
As our tour bus drove around Belgrade, we noticed several bombed out buildings our guide pointed out that were the result of the NATO bombing campaign in 1999. We detected no residual animosity from any the people we talked to—admittedly a tiny sampling, but it does appear as if they have decided to move on. Indeed, Serbia today formally adheres to the policy of military neutrality. With an upper-middle income economy, the country ranks high by the Human Development Index, Social Progress Index, as well as the Global Peace Index. So there is hope for an end to the bad blood between the Serbs and Croats in spite of us hearing along the way, "Serbs and Croatians speak the same language and hate each other."
Our first stop was the Temple of St. Sava which is it dedicated to St. Sava, the founder of the Serbian Orthodox Church and one of the most important figures in the history of medieval Serbia. Forty years after the initial idea, construction of the church began on 10 May 1935. However, construction was halted due to the outbreak of World War II, followed by the time of Tito’s communist Yugoslavia. Construction was only resumed in 1985 and the church is still under construction. The ground floor and galleries of the temple can house 10,000 people. There is a crypt below that is finished and absolutely remarkable for its golden décor.
After church we were given forty-five minutes to explore downtown Belgrade. For us noodlers this wasn’t near enough time to meet and greet the local environment. We saw as we could, and took the opportunity to grab a burek, which is a Serbian fast food described by the British Newspaper, The Guardian, as the best fast food in the world. It was good but croissants still reign in my parade.
Rushed back to bus, we crossed town to the Kalemegdan Fortress set high above the city and surrounded by park lands. The fortress embodies the history of Belgrade as it has been fought over at least one hundred fifteen (115) times and razed to the ground forty-four (44) times. The Fortress is the oldest section of the urban area of Belgrade. For centuries the city population was concentrated only within the walls of the fortress, and thus the history of the fortress, until most recent times, equals the history of Belgrade itself. We felt like a busload of cameras. Stop, hop off, shoot, hop on, gone.
Back to boat for lunch, after which we prepared for our optional afternoon outing described as Behind the Scenes of the Serbian Opera. Now, for us as opera lovers, this was fabulous. We toured throughout the building but what most impressed us was the dedication of its guild members. Our guide was a young woman with a PhD. Almost members of the opera are volunteers. They build their own sets, make their own costumes and pay their singers little. Hundreds of singers apply but very few get the pittance pay. At the end of our tour we were treated to four arias by two female student sopranos. The first young women opened her mouth and tears began to flow from my eyes. Her voice her and expressiveness was absolutely stunningly beautiful. Shocked into a beauty coma, I somehow managed to regain consciousness before the fourth aria was finished, and I wandered out, bouncing off walls with the memory of her voice.
Do you want to talk about dedication to the arts—these people will make your heart bulge with beauty and hope for humanity. And it’s like that all around the town with public art as well.
