Belgrade - Bombed out buildings

Bombing Central Belgrade

Bombing Central Belgrade

Evidence of Bombing: Central Belgrade.



KML: lat - 44.80570 lon - 20.46005

Belgrade - Attractions - Nickola Tesla Museum

Nickola Tesla Museum

Now for those of you not familiar with Nickola Tesla, of which I am one, he brings to us a number of important developments in the 21st century. And a classic example of a well meaning inventor/artist/creator who died a poor and lonely man.

Great Inventions
Just to fill you in, here are some of the things we can accredit to Nickola Tesla:

• Radio
• The AC motor
• Modern electric supply grid

Visualisation
A brilliant man, Tesla worked through a method of visualisation.
As opposed to 'trial and error', Tesla conceived all his inventions mentally, and consigned the designs to paper, the drawing board then to be built.

Together with Westinghouse, they built the worlds first Hydro-plant in Niagara Falls CA.

Hands on
The museum is small. There is a demonstration and video which through about half an hour with some hands on jiggery pokery, high voltages and van dem clarke balls, illustrates some of Tesla's inventions.

Spoon bender
Tesla invented a radio controlled boat. When demonstrated, onlookers were so astounded, they were convinced he was controlling it with the power of his mind.

Low frequency weapons
He also discovered low frequency weapons, often only heard about amongst kooks and conspiracy theorists.
These are used by governments to invisibly attack dissidents and foreigners alike using a certain frequency band to produce ill effects in targets.

He also developed something called the death ray.
That's right, not an invention of B-movies, it really exists and Tesla invented it.
He intended to solve word conflict.
Nobody was interested.

Ripped Off
Perhaps the most famous is Tesla's invention of Radio transmission.
Patented, yet later taken and adapted by Marconi for which he received the Nobel prize.

Tesla was a great man who illustrates to us the importance of lawyers.
And, if you think people are out to get you, they generally are.

Belgrade - Attractions - Orthodox Church

Orthodox Church

Much of Serbia's population, up to 85%, follows the Orthodox religion, which is why Slobo was successful in stirring up hate against the other minorities.

A new experience
I have never attended an Orthodox service before, but it was something to behold.
The priests actually sing the service. Not a word is spoken.

Great stuff.

It made me want to go again.

Belgrade - Attractions - Square Nikole Pisca

Dedicated to Nikole Pisca, this small park garden and water feature plays host to local bands, PA's and whatnots.

A mobile phone company were using it when I went past.

Square of Nikole Pisca

This is a view from the square of Nikole Pisca facing toward the houses of parliament.

Belgrade - Attractions - St. Marks Church

St. Marks Church - Belgrade

St. Marks Church - Belgrade

Located next to the houses of parliament, when I visit, St. Marks has a wedding party in attendance.

I am surprised by the number of reasonable looking Serbian women.

Comfort in Cash
Obviously they don't have the same problems with comfort eating as we do in the UK.

east vs west
The church of St. Marks with it's domed spires is a mish mash of east and western influence. I was lucky, the wedding had moved all the pews giving an impression of floor space.

St. Marks Church - Belgrade

I could move around to get the right pictures.

Belgrade - Attractions - Castle Kalemegdan

Kalemegdan - Victor the Victorious

Perched up on a hill, Caste Kalemegdan has a great view down on the river below.

The castle started it' s existence in the 14th century. 'Kale' means castle.
It's surrounded by a park 'megdan' which has exhibits from artists writers and poets year round.

In addition, there are some large guns, remnants of the old days used to launch assaults on the German bombers in WWII.
There's some good little panzers.

If you're into cannons or bombs, or a bit of a war buff, you will surely find this exciting.

Kalemegdan - Cannon

Atop the complex is a picture of Victor the Victorious, dedicated to Serbian victories in the Balkans conflict 1930-2.

Belgrade - Attractions - Square Republica

Square Republica - Belgrade

Center of Belgrades touristy pedestrian zone where all seems normal and westernised.

Buses are free in Belgrade and most of them lead here.

History
There is some history about the square. I've no doubt read it and forgot it, so I'm not going to bore you with it.

If you want to shop this is the place to start.

Belgrade

Belgrade was settled in th 4th Century by Celts and has been invaded ever since.

On the confluence of two rivers, one of which is the Danube, it holds some significance for it's fortress purched where the two rivers meet.

Most recently Serbia bore witness to Slobodan Milosovic. Who must still have some popular support as I saw someone walking down the high street with a t-shirt printed up with him and his name on it.

His policy of ethnic cleansing saw Belgrade turned into a war zone with the UN commencing bombing raids for attrocities against the Kovovans located in the south of the country.

Since then things have calmed down a little and town is getting back to normal.
Kosovo has it's own capital in the south, Pristina, which I may not be visiting due to complications in border crossings etc. Things are still not that settled down there.

So we're sticking to Serbia at the moment.

Attractions
For my first day in the city, I took in some of the attactions, as outlined by my travel guides.

I have 4 travel guides for this journey:-
Hands on -
Lonely Planet -
Thomas Cooks -
Michelin Map -

The michelin map doesn't really count but its got some good advice on the back.

Toward the end, I might tell you which one to ditch or try and sell you the others, or give them out as prizes.