13 City Travel - Belgrade - Street Music

Friday, 17th August 2018

Route: Danube Cycle Path 4 (Indija - Belgrade)

Kilometers Covered: 74

Highlight of the Day: Belgrade with its shopping streets and Kalemegdan, the street musicians and the atmosphere

We set off quite early again. There was no breakfast in the holiday apartment, so we bought something in the city. It was quite funny because we don't know Serbian and the saleswoman didn't speak any foreign language either, so we communicated only through pointing and gestures. We had no trouble ordering, but paying was difficult. A man behind us could speak English and translated for us.

Then we started cycling. First, a busy road through an industrial area which was not great, but it was manageable. We also passed by the Fashion Park (an outdoor center) after a few kilometers. Then we arrived at the village that was on the route. However, the village seemed to go on forever. But even the route before that wasn't so great. Somehow, it just wasn't working. We cycled through the village, and eventually, we had to turn right. We stopped at the curve because I wasn't feeling well: headache, a bit of stomachache, and feeling a bit sick. After having some cereal bars, we slowly set off again and cycled the next few kilometers to the next village, where I took an aspirin. After that, I felt much better! In this village, we actually saw a horse-drawn carriage. The next kilometers mainly went through other villages, but I can't remember them very well because I was distracted by my audiobook. Most of the time, we cycled on the road or on the sidewalk next to it. Despite the many people on the road, it was pleasant to ride.

Finally, we arrived in another village where we wanted to take a lunch break. In the middle of the village, surrounded by a large wall, there was a church that was a bit secluded. We sat on a bench there and ate our packed food. We also bought some food and drinks at the supermarket across the street: food, drinks, cereal bars, fruit. Then we took a look inside the church. It was somehow different from our churches: there was a room-filling wooden curtain with many icons in the front altar area, and there was also an altar or mini-altar that was not very clear to see. The rest of the church was empty, there were no benches, only folding chairs like in the Plankstetten Church on the gallery walls. And there were icons and frescoes everywhere.

After a 1 ½-hour break (we also took a little nap), we set off again towards Belgrade. We then cycled on a main road, comparable to a national road or even busier, into the city. There were houses and urban development everywhere, and we had no idea where we were anymore. We kept thinking we had to go left and cross a bridge, then we saw a bridge on the left, but it somehow didn't seem right, it was too new for the map. So we kept cycling, then along the promenade. It was all very pretty, with a beautiful view of the city and the Danube, clean, well-kept, and with party boats nearby, etc. At some point, we passed by a festival that was being set up and would probably take place in the next few days because there was nothing happening yet.

Then we found the bridge, crossed it, and on the other side, there was a bicycle lift that took us back down to the cycle path. That was cool! On the suggested route (which definitely wasn't the shortest one), we cycled a bit through the old town and ended up right near our hotel. That was pretty cool. We checked in first and carried our bikes up to our room on the 3rd floor, as recommended by the friendly receptionist. That was a bit of a hassle.

Yeah, Belgrade is pretty cool! In terms of atmosphere, it's much more relaxed than Budapest. There are all kinds of street music groups, for example, two with electric guitar and piano jamming jazz. We kept encountering them in different places. There were some with flutes, recorders, or completely different types of flutes, and a group that was really funny, they had 2 tenor horns, a trumpet, and a cymbal. Their music was mainly loud but pretty cool! And on the way home in the evening, we even came across someone who was singing. I have no idea what it was supposed to be, maybe traditional music, but it wasn't particularly nice.

Anyway, we walked through the city, with small shops everywhere, and like in all Serbian cities, there were often people sitting on the sidewalk selling their old stuff: books, records, ... it seems to be common there. And there were obituaries hanging on the trees. At the end of the old town, there was a huge department store with a huge glass facade and really nice shops. Julius was particularly excited about that. Then we basically walked out of the old town along a major road because that's where all the people were going. And then we were on the castle hill, the Kalemegdan. This castle complex is a huge area, you have to be here more often to get to know it. So we strolled around and somewhere there was a point where you had a magnificent view of the city, the Danube, and the other river of Belgrade. Then we passed by the military museum with quite impressive cannons - there are even real live knights! We saw 3 of them!

Finally, we got hungry and walked back to the old town. Right next to our hostel was a nice French restaurant where we had dinner. They served Serbian dishes (despite being a French restaurant) and it was very delicious. Before going to bed, we read that tap water in Serbia can cause some stomach problems in the first few weeks, so that was probably why I had a stomachache.