Passage to Eastern Europe: Belgrade Fortress (8/22/2021)

Sunday, August 22, 2021

Although it was hot, we apparently missed the heat wave of 100 degree days in Eastern Europe!

A stray dog joins our included shore excursion of
Panoramic Belgrade, where the motorcoaches first dropped
us off at Београдска тврђава/Belgrade Fortress, which
has been turned into Парк Калемегдан/Kalamegdan Park

Захвалност Француској/Monument of
Gratitude to France (1930, by Ivan Meštrović)
as a symbol of friendship and cooperation between
Serbia and France during the World War I

In 1915, French forces helped cover the Serbians retreat across Albania and eventually into French-occupied Corfu. In 1918, the French accompanied Serbian forces north to liberate Albania, Serbia, and Montenegro. Additionally, about 3,000 Serbian children (mostly boys) were evacuated to France and were educated.

Карађорђева врата/Karađorđe Gate (18C) (KSS)

Tennis clay courts beneath the walls of the fortress

We were informed that Serbians are great at tennis, basketball, and water polo!

Fortress doors were made with bronze over wood

Дино парк/Dino Park

Below the second set of walls, the basketball courts (KSS)

Споменик утемељивачима српске кошарке/
Monument to the Founders of Serbia
Basketball (2018), basketball was introduced
to Serbia in 1923 by William Wieland,
a missionary with the Red Cross

Later in 1945, the Crvena Zvezda sports society was founded and headquartered in this park. Four members of their basketball team were Borislav Stankovic, Nebojsa Popovic, Radomir Shaper and Aleksandar Nikolic, of which Stankovic and Nikolic are in the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, MA.

Унутрашња Стамбол капија/Inner Stambol Gate (c 1750)

Inner Stambol Gate Coat of Arms of Serbia

This gate door has dents from cannonballs

Inner Stambol Gate Guardsman graffiti (KSS)

Below the third set of walls, weapons from World War I,
plus a  S-125 Neva SA-3 GOA Soviet Surface to Air
Missile Launcher, and including Big Bertha/M-Gerät
German siege howitzer ...

... and weapons from World War II

Сахат кула капија/Clock Tower Gate (1688)
and Clock Tower (1740-1789 in Baroque style)

Skateboarding ramps

Спомен-камен тријумфа Нандорфехервараe/Memorial
Stone to the Triumph of Nandorfehervar (Hungarian name
for Belgrade) against the 1456 siege by the Ottomans (KSS)

Ostaci zamka/Castle (1404-1427 )remains

View of the Sava River coming from the left to join
the Danube River flowing from top to bottom on the right,
and New Belgrade on the horizon

A man is walking along the fortress wall!

Победник/The Victor (1913, by
Ivan Meštrović) commemorate Serbia’s triumph
over both Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian
Empires during the Balkan Wars and WWI

The Victor statue was originally meant to be erected in the center of the city, but because it was a nude, it was considered immoral. Eventually in 1928, the statue was placed at the corner of the Belgrade forest on top of the ridge overlooking the confluence of the Sava and Danube Rivers.

The Victor holds a strategically placed sword
handle and a dove, representing war and peace

The 4.25 m/14' statue stands atop a
8.65 m/28' column, so he is at some
distance from one's sight

The Victor's dove

Corner turret of Belgrade Fortress

New Belgrade is across the Sava River

Mост на Ади/Ada Bridge (2008-2011, by Viktor Markelj
and Peter Gabrijelčič) is a cable-stayed bridge with a
 single pylon, and is unique due to the asymmetry of the cables

Built 1902-1904 for the Serbian Army, rebuilt 1923-1927 in
traditional Balkan style, this building now houses the
Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments

Claytonia virginica/Spring-beauty;
what is this wildflower doing in Serbia?

Ipomea sp/Morning Glory

Entrance to the so-called Римски бунар/Roman well,
actually a cistern built by the Austrians between 1717-1732

Small gunpowder magazine

Дамад Али-пашино турбе/Damat Ali-Pasha's
Turbeh (1784) is a mausoleum for an
Ottoman governor and general who died
fighting the Austrians in 1716 (KSS)

Apparently Damat Ali-Pasha was a benevolent governor, so his tomb has been preserved.

The doors to the tomb have ribbons tied
to the grille, supposedly representing
wishes of visiting Turks

Barrel of British Muzzle-loading Cannon (18C) from
which material was taken to create the crown for
Karađorđe Petrović, King of Serbia after
the First Serbian Uprising of 1804-1813

The cannon has a crown etched into the
barrel to indicate its part in the Serbian crown

Sewer cover with the name of the park: Калемегдан/Kalamegdan

Outside the park, a lace and embroidery vendor also
had a strange fox pelt, perhaps a red fox morph

Mobile tire repair was helping a young couple in the blue car

We piled back into the motorcoach to continue our tour.

Next: Belgrade Sava Cathedral.