We are so lucky to have a decent whack of time here in Belgrade - it means we can revisit and wander about places we enjoy at our own speed. On Tuesday (3 April) we returned to Kalemegdan Park and Belgrade Fortress. It’s one of those great places where you can spend your cash if you’re determined to but it also has swathes of things to explore and enjoy gratis. We took our lunch with us and ate in the sun - spring flowers, tulips and daffodils are exploding in colour right now. We strolled around the exterior parts of the Military Museum - guns, canons, tanks and even small Italian tanks... charmingly called tanketas! True story... the military museum was robbed by the Nazis during WWII. After the war Serbia asked for their museum items back. Germany said they were welcome to it... but to send a list (which they didn’t have) - no inventory had been taken on the looting & pillaging rampage. And they were so good at record keeping too... We had a look around St Ruznica’s church, once a powder storage area which was fine and dandy. The highlight of our park excursion however was the dinosaurs. If we were just a tiny bit younger we would have been into the dinosaur park and playing with the moving models. As it was we stood at the fence and watched on fascinated - haven’t been so impressed by fake dinosaurs since we saw the movie Jurassic Park the very first time. There were several exhibits in the park we avoided on purpose. Pretty much all the undergound things - and that leads us on to Wednesday’s adventure.

We had a spare €20 left from our Italian sojourn so allocated it to supporting the Belgrade Walking Tours company with whom we’ve already done the Downtown free walking tour (and we have the 20th C. and Zemun free tours still to do). We returned to The Horse (world famous Belgrade rendezvous point) and connected with the tour guide and the rest of the group for the Underground Secrets Tour. Don’t normally pay to go on tours - but this one looked great and the fee included the entrance fees to 3 of the exhibits within Kalemegdan and finished with Serbian wine tasting in an old wine cavern/cellar in the gritty, riverside Savamala district.

Now there’s a lot of false advertising in the world of travelling, for instance, when it comes to accommodation these are words to be immediately suspicious of: spacious, charming, boutique, eclectic and full of character. But one of the biggest larks we’ve seen so far is ‘The Roman Well’ in Kalemegdan park. It was definitely interesting, pleasantly cool and actually reminiscent of the great cistern under central Istanbul (think Dan Brown movie - Inferno). They are very quick to point out once you’re inside that it was built in the late 18th century. We all know them Romans got around, but we’re pretty sure they didn’t stay around. It turns out that when the Austro-Hungarian empire arrived in Belgrade they had a simple approach for anything old that couldn’t be immediately labelled ie. “must be Roman”. Funnily enough it’s not even a well. There had always been a bit of a hole there and when the snazzy brick was added they figured they just had to keep digging. Afterall... the Sava and Danube rivers are literally just over there. Nope. No well and not Roman. It has however been used as a grain silo, a prison and most recently, before it all got fenced off and covered with wire, a murder site when a young man pushed his girlfriend over the edge.

The next underground secret was a bit more true to description - Tito’s Bunker. Obviously Tito himself never stayed there, but it was all ready to go. He had it built after WWII when Russia was keen on bringing Yugoslavia into the fold... and Tito wanted to keep his options open - seeing Yuguslavia as a buffer zone between East and West. I’ve christened it the Cool War. The area was actually classified as a military secret and it was only rediscovered and dug out for visits recently... amazing how something can be buried, covered up with grass and essentially forgotten.

The final underground ‘secret’ of Belgrade was was used as a powder storage room and then in the 80s and 90s as a rave party venue (witness the old chewing gum on the floor). Now it’s been well and truly tidied up and presents the Roman collection of the National Museum which has been closed for the last 15 years. Actually a brilliant use of the space and great to be up close and personal with the altars and sarcophigi.

We emerged into the fresh air and wended our way down from fortress hill to the rivers edge - nattering so much with some new friends at that point I have to admit to not paying huge attention. We arrived at the remnants of the old elevator that merchants used to use to get products from the lower to the upper town. Once more, these wine/chilled caverns were once used for parties and night clubs, but were eventually shut down due to noise, now it’s possible to visit for a drink only in a supervised group. The cavern we entered was right next to one of Belgrade’s most well known murals - The Saint of Belgrade (she is wrapping her ams around the city in this building-high artwork). Once more - so happy we actually did this tour - we could have walked past this spot 100 times and not realised the wine caverns were there.

After drinkies we embarked on a stroll along Belgrade’s new and stunning waterfront precinct. It’s a love/hate topic with locals - we however love it to bits and think it will put the city on the map. Stunning apartment blocks are in process, wide promenade for skating, cycling, walking, and eventually a marina. It was a fabulous walk, but at this point there aren't’ many entrances/exits through the construction and old rail yards. We did not know that and ended up overshooting our turnoff to the apartment by 1.6 km - or over 3 kms of extra walking by the time we did get off the waterfront and made our way back. Goes to show you never know when an adventure is just around the corner. Today’s walking tour (plus waterfront walk - pictured - plus extra 3 km of walk) - figure we’re up to about 10 km!

Our walking tour (and add ons) was grand, but we figured we were definitely due a day off. We enjoyed the first one so much that we had another. It was Orthodox Good Friday after-all. Saturday (7 April) saw us finally emerge from the Hardie Hobbit Hole and we trundled off for a walk along the waterfront in the other direction which took us almost all the way around the point. We had lunch with Belgrade’s fortress to our backs and then heading in towards the Belgrade Zoo. We’re not huge zoo goers these days. Singapore Zoo and to a greater degree, Africa have put us off seeing most zoos. This one has a story attached though. The mayor of Belgrade who was wealthy man set it up in 1936 using his own money in addition to city money (as such, one of the oldest zoos in Europe). When Belgrade was bombed in WWII (twice - Germans in 1941 and Allies in 1944) the animals didn’t miss out and many animals were killed. Some were not killed outright by the bombings, but many cages were destroyed which led to wild animals, including tigers, in the streets - which then had to be shot. On a positive note however they do have a very long standing resident... the world’s oldest alligator, Muja. Belgrade’s name (White City) has inspired to zoo to collect albino and white animals - including white tigers and lions - which definitely falls into the category of ‘things we didn’t see in Africa’ as a white lion is a rare colour mutation much more likely to be seen in a zoo than anywhere else.

Funnily enough, we weren’t even interested in the zoo except as a landmark to find our free tram tour (yep... every Friday and Saturday the Tourist Office in Belgrade and the public transportation people get together and run a 1 hour guided tram tour around the city) - it’s info like that that keeps this little show on the road. It appears to be a very closely guarded secret as we were the only 2 people on the 4 pm English tram (and it’s a 30 seat tram). At the last minute we were joined by the 2 people from the 3 pm Serbian tour tram - looks like they just combined the ‘massive’ passenger loads. We had a great ride all around the city passing places we’ve already visited and some new areas too. It was a loooong way. But that’s OK. Once we were back to the starting point we got to walk 2.5 km home too. Whatever doesn’t kill us (and all that).

We pulled up very well on Sunday morning (8 April). So well that we hit ‘launch!’ and tootled into town to join the second of three free walking tours we have planned. Today’s victim was Belgrade Walking Tours, ‘20th Century Tour’. In reality the victims were actually us and the tour guide as five lovely women joined the tour just as we set off, asked dozens of very good questions, which slowed us right down and made the 2 hour tour last almost 3 hours. Right before they hived off 15 minutes before the end as ‘they’d seen St Sava’s Temple before’. Honestly, bit of ticker wouldn’t hurt. Lucky we didn’t chase them down the street. Was an excellent tour though. Just such a miserable century for this city all told. First world war... second world war... (including bombing by the Nazis at the beginning then by the allies at the end). Russia next door. Then the wars in the Balkans then getting bombed by NATO in 1999. Financial meltdown, hyper-inflation and poverty. Even now the average monthly wage is between €300 and €400 (A$650 at most). Cost of living is not bad at the supermarket - but rent alone is €200 per month. Possibly the worst of the stories was that of the broadcasting tower bomb. We walked past this building last week but didn’t fully understand it’s significance. First the general manager apparently had intelligence that the bombing was coming but chose not to evacuate the building... He’s now in jail for life. 99 were injured and trapped for days and 16 young people were killed. It’s not the only bombed building still in evidence in Belgrade, but it’s the only one that’s staying that way as a monument to the times and to lives lost. Truly a world away from what James and I and were doing in 1999 - and less than 20 years ago.

Not surprisingly, Monday was a rest day. Tuesday we took off for a walk all around the waterfront promenade and we were melting in 26 odd degrees in an early Summer heatwave by the time we returned - almost 10km later. Which led to an accidental rest day on Wednesday also. We’re officially half way through our time in Belgrade and bound to be out and about again tomorrow. Forthcoming plans? Free walking tour of Zemun this Saturday - once an independent city (country?) and over the Sava river... in the Austro-Hungarian empire, that was. The novelty of this walking tour? Catching a bus to get there.