Belgrade, Serbia (August 2023)

Serbia played the key role in its former federation called Yugoslavia under the President Tito. Thus, its capital Belgrade or Beograd also played a pivotal role. Belgrade has a population of 1.2 million inhabitants out of Serbia's total population of about 7 million people. We once visited Belgrade before so it was not new. 

Its people are Slavic. There are three branches of Slavic people. The Eastern Slavic people include Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine. The Western Slavic countries include Czeck, Poland, and Slovakia. And, the Southern Slavic nations include Bulgaria plus former Yugoslavia, which consisted of Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Quite complicated.

Belgrade was important even during the Roman Empire largely because of its strategic location with two main rivers meet: i.e. Sava River and Danube River. The Roman Empire built a fortress more than 2,000 years ago for its military purpose at the hill overlooking two rivers.

Its current form of the fortress still looks quite strong and formidable.

One of the most outstanding landmarks in the city is Sava Cathedral. It not only stands out among the city buildings, whether during the day or at night, but also it has a gorgeous interior that is not inferior to anything we have seen.  

Talking about former Yugoslavia, I cannot not talk about Tito who established the federation and gained fame as its first and last president. We visited his museum. His serious-looking statue greeted us all.

 

Prince Michael III liberated the country from the Ottoman rule. His statue stands out in the middle of the city.

Serbia is proud of Nikolas Tesla who was a Serbian-American, an electrical engineer, a mechanical engineer. He designed the current form of Alternating Current (AC) supply system. Yes, the Elon Musk's Tesla took his name for his company name because all EVs are using AC in their batteries. There is a museum honoring him, but I could not make it.

The current Belgrade is full of young people and modern buildings. People speak English and their aspire to succeed under the capitalism like many other western nations. The city looked vibrant. Here are several photo shots of the city.

We tried foods at several places and we liked Serbian foods as well. Kristin's smile tells me that she is happy.

We stayed at Hilton Beograd and the hotel had a sauna and jakuzi. We thoroughly enjoyed it to relax and rest. - Jeffrey