Wednesday 9 October

 This morning we wake up in Belgrade on the Sava river a tributary of the Danube. It is overcast and light rain but 18 degrees. We are expecting a high of 24 degrees.

After breakfast we head off on a bus and walking tour of the city. Belgrade is very cosmopolitan but with a mix of Communist brutalism, particular in the new town. The old town is a mix of old French and sometimes Turkish influence with modern buildings interspersed. We have a walk around the Fortress and learn that this where the first shot was fired by an Austrian/Hungarin gunboat that started the First World War. The gunboat is now a floating museum moored near our ship. After the fort visit we have a walk through the Main Street of the city which is a pedestrian mall. The light drizzle has stopped and the sun is trying to break through. Back on the bus and we have a drive through the new town.

Just over the bridge crossing the Sava river is new town and on the waterfront is a lot of building and construction going on. The project will see 50 high rise buildings all financed by the Arabian money. As we move further away from the riverfront there are administration buildings, including one that was bombed by NATO during Miloschovic brutal reign. Half of the building is missing and it looks like it is being demolished. Our guide tells us that the site has recently been approved for redevelopment. We then see the apartment buildings built by the communists, they are very much like the old high rise commission flats. Our guide tells us they could be one, two or three bedroom apartments. They were built during Tito’s rule. Without going into too much of Tito’s history, he was a reformer and was either liked or hated by the populace. Anyone who wanted a job was given one, if they needed a place to live they were given one, but there was no private property, everyone was supposed to be equal, but some were more equal than others, particularly those in the party and of course Tito. Our guide tells us his grandfather hated Tito while his parents loved him, he himself went with his grandfather’s view. Anyone who opposed him were either jailed or murdered and over 100,000 were killed. Tito was a master manipulator as all the west pandered to him because although he was a communist, he was much more liberal than other communist nations.

We visited his summer house and where he was buried in his House of Flowers. Over the years he had been gifted over 20,000 items by nations and those seeking his favour. With his death, Yugoslavia reverted to its previous group of nations with many seeking independence and led to Slobodan Milosevic beginning his murderous ethnic cleansing wars. Serbia has been involved in many wars with and against its neighbours, but its war with Kosovo reached new lows. We learnt so much more, but I do not want to bore you.

Our guide repeated what most of the other guides have told us, they value their independence and freedom, but lament the amount of corruption throughout the government bodies. He is hopeful by the next generation the governments will do more for the people than themselves. Interesting fact, government employees must show a copy of their vote to their bosses and if they vote against the current member they lose their jobs, dead people can still vote and citizens from neighbouring countries are bussed given a meal and told who to vote for!