A Journey through History

Belgrade is one of the few cities proudly straddling two rivers. And not just any two rivers. First of all, the Danube is Europe’s second longest river fl owing through as many as ten countries. Then there’s the Sava, connecting four republics of former Yugoslavia. The length of their banks, including the city’s six river islands totals 270 kilometers thus equaling the length of Montenegro’s littoral. At the confluence of the two rivers, especially at the time of high water, the impression is one of being at seashore. This feeling is further reinforced by the seagulls that abound here throughout the year.

By Jovo Simišić
Photo by Milan Melka

At the same time, rare are cities with large rivers with so much of its territory being at a respectable distance from the rivers, as is the case with Belgrade. Residential areas, for instance, are rather far from the rivers, so that in actual, fact just a few city sections can indeed boast they are 'right on the water.' Then also, the rivers are not being used as transport route, as there are very few vessels seen using them in such a way. Even the bridges, connecting the banks – linking the old city sections with New Belgrade on the Sava or with the housing areas on the Danube’s left bank – are few and far in between.

Rivers that Connect and Separate

While searching for the answer as to why this is so, several conclusions come to mind. The first of them being that the rivers have always served as borders for this part of Serbia and Belgrade; they did not connect but separated not only different states and empires but also the east and the west as well as the north and the south of Europe. So, precisely for this reason, the rivers had a protective role for the city, as this was where the enemy could be expect at any time. Only the right banks of both rivers had been inhabited – not counting Zemun, which developed as a town in its own right, and in a different empire at that. So, people shied away from living and working by the rivers; moreover, they shunned them. In consequence, the residential areas, although at a distance from the rivers, were turned the other way rather than faced the rivers. They even had no windows looking in the direction of the rivers.

It was only over the past ninety years that the rivers of Belgrade stopped serving as boundaries. And, since that time, the city gradually began to spread onto the left banks of both the Sava and the Danube - initially slowly and then at a more rapid pace following World War II. The rivers thus began to connect the different city sections; several bridges were built, as river transportation albeit rather timidly too was revived, but for the most part only to carry cargo.

Still, one gets the impression that Belgraders continue to shy from their rivers, especially when compared to other large European cities through which the Danube also flows.

However, the fact that residential areas were developed at a distance from the rivers was first seized upon and made use of by fishermen and nature lovers. It was they some forty years ago that they literally occupied parts of the river banks by building specific types of cabins on berthed rafts. In this way, the rivers became favorite sites to many Belgraders, but only for recreation and/or relaxation over the weekend.

Later, attracted by the growing popularity of the small, berthed rafts with cabins, restaurateurs picked up on the trend and the banks became strewn with raft and riverboat restaurants. Needless to say, life on the river has since been prolonged deep into the night. Owing to the raft and riverboat restaurants, that is to the good, clean fun that they offered, Belgrade became a favorite European destination for nightlife entertainment.

Finally, in place of conquerors, tourists from around the world began pouring in by the river to the city. Over fifty thousand tourists annually visit Belgrade in this way – on riverboats and barges.

Willy-nilly, deliberately or spontaneously, Belgrade is gradually instilling life to its banks. And while Belgraders are still trying to find where they stand under these new circumstances, finding many faults, encountering illogical behavior and failures with the manner this issue is being dealt with and demurring, the guests of Belgrade are absolutely enthusiastic by what is being offered them on the rivers. Among other things, also with the offer to cruise the rivers of Belgrade on luxury ships and get to know the city from this perspective as well.

Like a Journey through the Ages

They say that water has beneficial effects on the nervous system, that it relaxes and reduces tensions. And, this is certainly what brings together all those living on the river, visiting the river or merely crossing it to reach town. Once on the river, however, there is another incredible thing to be experienced, and that is the view from the river.

For its guests, but for Belgraders too, in the spring, summer and autumn, there is an increasingly expanding offer of organized riverboats tours: cruises on the Danube and the Sava, the Belgrade by Night tours, the Midnight Cruises... Most often these include rides passing by Jugoslavija Hotel, sightseeing the Zemun beach, the Great War Island, the Lido bathing beach, the sports and recreational complex of "Milan Gale Muškatirović" (formerly known as "25. maj"), the port of Belgrade, the bridges on the Sava, the Sava’s Čukarički branch, the Ada Ciganlija sport and recreation complex, the New Belgrade skyline... Excursions Tours are also organized to Bela Stena, a charming fishing settlement at the western edge of the Forkotumac island, continuing along the entire island and passing on the left the mouth of the Tamiš River and the entrance to the Pančevo Canal and over to the eastern end of the island into Dunavac, which is the narrow branch of the Danube – as well as downstream to Vinča, one of Europe’s major archaeological sites.

Virtually all tours include offering the view from the river of the Belgrade Fortress with Kalemegdan Park, on the old city side of the river, and of the Gardoš hill and towers, on the Zemun side. These two are the oldest, most attractive and best preserved ancient city sites. The two entail two quite different stories, are two completely different historical and in every other way different landmarks today nested in the same city.

Kalemegdan Park is Belgrade’s largest park and at the same time it accommodates a cultural and historical complex dominated by the Belgrade Fortress precisely where the Sava flows into the Danube. This site becomes especially attractive at nighttime with numerous floodlights lighting the walling and the facilities within the complex. The fortress, around which Belgrade has expanded in all directions, is a captivating sight indeed. The first fortifications were built here in the early 1^st century AD, as a palisade with earthen embankments that over time transformed into a Roman castrum (2^nd century), a Byzantine castle (6^th - 12^th century), the fortified medieval capital of the Serbian Despotate (13^th - 15^th century) and finally an Austrian-Ottoman artillery fortification (17^th - 18^th century). Today, it is a history museum of sorts, adjacent to other buildings important for the history of Belgrade and Serbia such as the Cathedral Church, the Princess Ljubica Residence...

On the Zemun side, right along the bank of the Danube, dominates a high point called Gardoš with the remains of a medieval fortress. Only the corner towers and sections of the defense walling have survived. These walls in 1896 were built for the Zemun millennium edifice, which became the symbol of Gardoš and of Zemun. Marking one millennium of their presence in Pannonia, the Hungarians that year built in Budapest a monumental tower and four more identical ones, in the four towns at the farthest reaches of their then country. Zemun, as the southernmost town under the Hungarian crown was one of the four towns. The tower was named after the Hungarian hero and fiercest enemy of the Turks, Janoš Hunjadi, who died in the medieval fort on the Gardoš hill, 440 years before the millennium tower was to be built.

In this way, Belgrade keeps and recounts the history of other nations that had also once lived here.