Wag the Dog or A Day in Belgrade

The next morning we woke up in Belgrade, the capital and largest city of Serbia. The city lies on the banks of the Danube at the mouth of the Sava River. Our tour bus was waiting to show us the city. Belgrade, which translates in English to the White city, has a population of 1.7 million, making it one of the largest cities of southeastern Europe. It is a beautiful and totally modern city and as I looked out the bus window all I could think of was, OMG, we bombed these people less than twelve years ago. For those who don’t remember the Kosovo War in 1999, NATO’s bombings caused substantial damage to the city. Among the sites were that were bombed were the RTS (Radio, Television of Serbia) building, the Central Committee Building and another government building. Two of the buildings are currently covered with construction tarps, and one, the Central Committee Building, left open for all to see. There is talk of making it a monument. NATO’s bombing campaign in Kosovo has been the subject of much debate. One criticism was the timing of the NATO intervention, coming as it did on the heels of the Monica Lewinski scandal led many to suspect that the intervention was an opportunistic attempt to distract the American public. One great American movie put it this way:
"Why does the dog wag its tail?
Because the dog is smarter than the tail.
If the tail were smarter, it would wag the dog."
The Cathedral of Saint Sava is an Orthodox church in Belgrade, it is named after a young monk who became a great leader in the twelfth century . The Cathedral is built on the location where the poor monk’s bones were burned by the Ottoman Turks some 400 years after his death. The Cathedral dominates Belgrade's cityscape, and is the centerpiece of the city. Construction of the Cathedral started in 1935 and today the exterior is complete but work continues on the interior.
After visiting the church, my sweetheart and I enjoyed lunch at a street side patio café. We had a wonderful garlic soup and the Serbian National dish of Ćevapčići, which consists of grilled ground meat patties, that are heavily seasoned. Meals, in Serbia and Bulgaria, are traditionally followed by plum brandy which was perfect on the cool, sunny afternoon.
After the brandy it was time to visit the fort. Fort Kalemegdan is a large fort that has been turned into a urban park in Belgrade. Fort Kalemegdan is the core of the oldest section of Belgrade and for centuries the city population lived only within the walls of the fortress.. The view from the fort is over looked by a large statue of a nude man called “The Victor”. The statue was originally supposed to be placed on a square in the middle of town, but ended up at Fort Kalemegdan after people complained about its nudity. Fortunately he faces out over the cliffs and not back into the park.