13 May 2018, Sunday
It’s our second day in Serbia and we have a full day today to explore. We left our apartment at about 9:15am and walked towards the Temple of Saint Sava, about 20 minutes away on foot. As it was a Sunday morning, the streets were quiet and clear of vehicles. All the shops were still closed so there was nothing to distract us. It was a very pleasant morning stroll and we enjoyed the stillness of the city.
It wasn’t long before we arrived at the Temple of Saint Sava. This humongous white marble and granite monolith is the largest Orthodox cathedral in the Balkans (the Saint Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Sofia is the second largest) and one of the most important Orthodox cathedrals in the world. It is named after Saint Sava, the first Archbishop of the Serbian Orthodox Church, and it is built on the location where his remains were burned by the Ottomans during an uprising in 1594.
The temple has a tumultuous history. Architectural plans were drafted in the 19th century but construction commenced only in 1935. World War II caused its construction to be suspended as bombs fell in Belgrade. During the intervening years, the temple was used variously as a parking lot by the Germans and then later as a storage space.
Serbia became part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia after the War and requests to continue building the temple were rejected. It was only upon the 88th time of asking that Patriarch German (that’s his name) finally obtained permission for construction to recommence in 1985. The temple walls were built to their full height and the 4,000-ton central dome was lifted and put in place in 1989 during a process that took 40 days.
The 1991 breakup of Yugoslavia delayed construction again as focus shifted to helping people and refugees. Construction continued again in 2000 and the exterior of the temple was finally completed in 2004. Till this day, work on the interior is ongoing and it will be many more years before it is finally complete.
The architectural style of the temple is Serbian-Byzantine, with four 44m-high bell towers. The top of the dome is 70m high. Together with the gilded cross on top, the total height of the temple is 82m. The temple can accommodate 10,000 people inside.
At the time of my visit, I did not know about the history of the temple, so when we stepped in, I was surprised and disappointed to see that it was under construction. The beautiful exterior gave no hints that the interior was so far from being completed. The massive cupola, which has a diameter of 30.16m, was the only thing that stood out inside.
As we were about to leave, I saw a sign that pointed to a crypt, and decided to check it out. It led us down a flight of stairs. To our utter amazement, the crypt was a world apart from the main hall above. The underground crypt had graceful archways and marble floors, it was lavishly decorated with frescoes on the walls, and huge chandeliers dangled from the gold ceilings above. It looked more like a six-star hotel lobby than the crypt of a church. It was mind-blowing and outright impressive. Clearly, no effort was spared here.
After touring the crypt, we made our way back towards Stari Grad, the old town of Belgrade. The main street of Kralja Milana merged into Terazije and we found ourselves in the central town square of Belgrade. Along the way, we passed by the regal Old Palace, built between 1882 and 1884 and now housing the City Assembly of Belgrade. We also passed by Hotel Moskva, one of the oldest hotels in Serbia and a very beautiful one at that.
We then reached Kneza Mihaila (aka Knez Mihailova), the main pedestrian and shopping street in Belgrade. The street is 1km long and many of the oldest and most notable buildings are found here. When we arrived at 11:30am, most of the shops were already open and there was a healthy crowd of locals and tourists thronging the street. We joined in and window-shopped our way through.
At 2pm, we popped in to Restoran Kolarae for a meal. I had a vegetable risotto, mum had chicken brochette (skewers) and dad had beef goulash and we shared an escalope (fried pork filet stuffed with kajmak). Including drinks, the bill came up to 3,718 RSD (S$51.30), which was reasonably cheap. The food was excellent, especially the beef goulash.
After lunch, we went to Kalemegdan Park and Belgrade Fortress. Kale means fortress and megdan means battlefield. Kalemegdan Park sits atop a 125m high cliff and it faces the junction where the Danube River meets the Sava River. Its location is of strategic importance; hence, the fortress was built here.
Kalemegdan Park is filled with trees and open grassy areas, and it is a very popular place for locals to hang out. Admission to the Belgrade Fortress is also free and it is the most visited attraction in Belgrade, with an estimated two million visitors annually. The fortress was built and rebuilt from the 2nd to 18th century and it is generally quite well preserved. From the fortress, we had a nice view of Ušće and Novi Beograd across the river (we were there yesterday).
It was quite hot when we visited at 3pm so I think it would be better to visit in the evening or early in the morning. We decided to escape the heat so we went back to our apartment for a rest.
In the evening, we headed out again for dinner. We were running out of ideas on what to eat so we settled on McDonald’s, a safe and cheaper option. It cost 1,120 RSD (S$15.45).
After that, we went to a bakery to buy some pastries for tomorrow’s breakfast. However, we were having difficulties deciphering the Cyrillic wordings so we didn’t know what fillings the various pastries contained. We tried asking the staff but she didn’t speak English. Just then, a friendly Serbian guy saw us struggling and he came over and helped us out. He spoke very good English. We asked him to recommend some items and he helped us place our orders. This was the second time in two days that a local has helped us out and we were very grateful for their kindness.
We then went back to Knez Mihailova to soak up the atmosphere. The lights had come on and the buildings were beautifully lit up. There was a Greece tourism roadshow at Republic Square so we hung around to watch the live band performance for a while. The whole atmosphere was very lively and enjoyable. After a last bit of window shopping, we retreated back to our apartment at 9pm and packed our bags to get ready for our departure tomorrow.
My closing thoughts on Belgrade: it is a safe and clean city, with beautiful architecture in the old town area. The pace of life isn’t as harried here and it isn’t too crowded like the other major European cities. There aren’t many essential tourist sights or commercial activities but I believe there are a lot more gems if you dig deeper. Most of all, I was touched by the kindness of the Serbian people and their willingness to help strangers in need. The people here seem to be more genuine and less conniving than those in the bigger cities that have been commercialised to the core. And that’s good enough reason for you to visit.