Serbia 04

Eastern Europe to the Black Sea

Grand Circle Travel

16 Day Tour/River Cruise 2004

September 12 to September 27, 2004

Under TRAVELS, click under CRUISES, Danube River 04, and Bulgaria 04, Croatia 04, Hungary 04 and Romania 04 for other parts of this vacation.

To speed up downloading time I have used small pictures in place of larger ones.  However, please "Click" on any small one and a larger picture will appear.  Click the "Back" button to return to this story.  

We arrived at Novi Sad, Serbia Montenegro just after noon on Saturday, September 18.  The left map shows our journey in red, the middle map depicts the Kosovo area.  That is the region of unrest because of the unresolved issue of its independence.  Demographic data is at the larger maps.

Novi Sad, the capital of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, is a city of approximately 500,000 and is the second largest in Serbia.  In the afternoon we boarded buses and drove into the city center.  Our guide, Korona, explains that Novi Sad is important as an agricultural market.  In the right picture is the beginning of a block of honey vendors.

These are some of the artifacts in the museum in Novi Sad.  We had about an hour to explore there and in the park just opposite the museum.  

The city was clean with lots of open space.  It seems that the best place for this Toyota dealership was on a boat anchored near the pontoon bridge we crossed to get back to our ship.  The clock is different, see why at the larger pictures.  Our MS River Adagio is waiting for us to board!

We arrived early Sunday morning in the capital city of Belgrade, one of Europe's oldest cities.  It was election day but there was very little visible evidence of it.  We were told that they have elections so frequently that most just ignore them.

A larger ship from the Ukraine raced ahead of us to dock alongside the pier.  We were in the middle and another ship outside us.  The idea was to be next to the pier so the other passengers would have to pass through your ship and would shop at their gift shop.  And some of our folks did!

The center picture is of the Inter-Continental Hotel.  At the right are shots of humble abodes of Gypsy, or other poor, families. 

Milosh, our Serbian guide for the day, brought us to the Marshal Josip Broz Tito Memorial for our first stop of the day.  Here is a web site with detailed information about his life:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshal_Tito

The memorial entrance was guarded by the military and pictures of them and the gate was forbidden.  Judging by the the honors bestowed upon Tito, he was held in high regard.  

The museum on the memorial grounds was filled with interesting objects from the Serbia's past.  Dotty examines some of the clothing displays.

These old weapons were also in the museum.  At right is the memorial building.  We entered the building from the rear.  The guarded entrance gate is to the left of the building but not visible in the picture.

This is supposedly the largest Orthodox Church in Europe.  In the center is another church just to the left of the Orthodox Church.  The apartment building  adjoins the church properties and can be reached without crossing a street.  See details of the Orthodox Church at the larger picture.

Driving inside Belgrade, we saw the Parliament Building, this monument and the German Watch Tower from WW II.  These were special among the sights.

Next we toured the Belgrade Fortress dating to the 3rd century BC.  The ladies were fascinated by this statue.  Why?

After returning to the ship we participated in a lecture on "Serbia:  Past and Present which enlightened us on the Balkans.  Sunday night we were taken into town to a local restaurant.  Dotty at the entrance, garden just inside, our table and a party crasher.

The entertainment was lively and was enhanced significantly when this dancing beauty made her grand entrance.  Todd nearly wore the lady out; she expected him to just hang on for dear life; no way.  He sure showed her a step or two!

Our evening ended much too soon but we had full stomachs and the happiest of attitudes as we headed back for the comfort of MS River Adagio.

Posted on the Internet on 11/13/04, revised 11/16/04.