Belgrade, Serbia

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Country #92! This is the last new country for this trip. We'll be home in less than a week.

We docked here on the Sava River sometime in the middle of the night. Most everyone was up early because of the excessive noise. We have something like the constant buzz of a chainsaw, others hear music. As I type this I hear both. It turns out this morning, the ship cleared without any passenger participation so perhaps I misunderstood the earlier description. We had to pick up our passports before leaving the boat. We were told that Serbia is the only country on the itinerary where we have to have them on us.

It was cold here today with a high maybe above 65 F but not above 70 F. It was also cloudy and breezy all day. We had a good day here. We took the "gentle" version of the Belgrade City Tour and it was good. Our guide was Milos, say Mee-lowsch. He was informative and patient with our group of 10. We shared the bus portion with another bigger group and their guide. We drove to the Kalemegdan Fortress and heard some history and saw the view of the confluence of the rivers Sava and Danube which has been this one of the most contested patches of ground on Earth. We learned it is the boundary between Central Europe and the Balkan Peninsula. We walked back to Prince Michael pedestrian street and the modern shopping mall where we had about 40 minutes of free time. We met back at the bus for a panoramic tour with a stop to visit the unfinished St. Sava Temple. They had us there outside to hear the big bells ring at noon which is the only time they ring every day. Otherwise it is only the little bells. Unlike any other Orthodox church we've seen with their separate free standing bell towers, this one had 2 towers attached. We were back at 12:30 pm for lunch onboard.

AmaCerto was 1 of 5 river boats docked here today. Two left during the day and 1 was replaced. The busiest port so far.

We left for our 2nd tour today at 2:15 pm. It was Quburich Brandy Tasting & Avala Mountain. We got Milos for our guide again! He is a cutie. The trip up a TV tower atop the mountain at the edge of Belgrade was a super bonus and we didn't expect it from the tour description. The brandy was plum and we didn't like it but the tour was interesting and engaging and the snacks were suburb. I especially loved the sugar plum greeting!

Tomorrow morning still in Serbia, port of Novi Sad. Croatia in the afternoon. Sounds busy!

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