Monday, April 10, 2023

It's Orthodox Easter week. As celebrated here, Easter is April 16th.

I'm not sleeping well, due to jet lag, I suppose. Or maybe it's just that I'm in my late 50s, but I get up in the middle of the night and can't fall back asleep. Oh well.

We breakfasted at Jovana's and Zoran's with a traditional Serbian breakfast of priganica (fried, baked fritters) cvari (boiled and fried bacon fat), soft cheeses, kaymak (somewhere between yogurt and milk) and dark, strong Turkish coffee.  

Then we took a walk around the grounds of Kalemagdan, the largest and most important (?) park in Belgrade.  It over looks the junction of the Sava and Danube rivers and for centuries has been a strategic military installation.

Lots of paths and gates to pass through in the fortress.  Monuments to strategic alliances and military victories.

Above is a statue showing appreciation to France.

Above is "The Victor" statue, celebrating a Serbian victory in the Balkan wars. Originally meant to be put in the city center, it was instead installed here, overlooking the bluff, on the edge of the city. This move was due to sensitive, high society ladies (in the 1900s) who complained about the nudity. It's high on a column now, and facing away from the fortress, so it's hard to see any offensive private parts.

After Kalemagdan, we had "sladoled" (ice cream) and narrowly evaded a rain storm.  Much warmer today, 60s with mostly sun. A number of times we enjoyed sitting with coats off.

 

For dinner, we walked down with Jovana and Zoran to the "Skardalija" area of Belgrade, another pedestrian only region, on the east side of downtown, with cobblestone streets and numerous restaurants.  We ate at "Tri šešira" or, "Three Hats".  

From their website, 

"It was opened in 1864 in a building where a craft workshop which had three pleated hats as a logo was previously located. That’s how the restaurant got its name."

I had the "mešano mesa" or mixed meat platter. Chicken, cevapi, beef and sausage.  Maybe I'm overdosing on meat. While it was good, it wasn't as good  as the veal from Sač last night. Also, they didn't have the first two wines that Zoran selected. Finally, they had a 4 piece accordion/violin band that corners you in your table until you fork over some dinars. We were able to escape them just in the nick of time. So, the food was good, but it was a bit of a tourist trap.

After dinner, we bought some chocolates from the Lindt store and then took a long walk  down to the "Beton" (concrete) Hall area of the Sava riverfront. On the way, we passed a lot of cherry trees in full blossom. Many fancy restaurants in this new area and you can walk for a long way, on a pedestrian walkway along the river. Very scenic.  

When returning, we took a shortcut through the Kalemagdan fortress to get back up to the Knez. 

According to my phone tracking, we walked 7.5 miles today (and 5.5 miles yesterday). At least we're burning off calories as we consume them!

Speaking of calories, the goal for tomorrow is to try some knedle, a soft dough covered fruit dessert.